| Show A STORY OF A LOG CABIN AND A MANSION cartwrights CART WRIGHTS TRUSTEE BY EVERETT HOLBROOK COPYRIGHT BY CHARLES B etherington ETHE RINGTOM I 1 HEN cameron tilted back his chair against the rough and rugged wall of the log house the light ot the alre shone upon bis abundant gray hair and ruddy ace but he had drawn out 0 the heat the collar ot ats nannel shirt flared away upon each side and I 1 saw his rounded and strong throat with a triangular bit of his bare chest below for myself I 1 found the radiation from the fire none too warm at a respectful distance and I 1 waa envious of this man twenty years my senior in whom the lame of health burned with the strength of youth now for the interview he said pausing between the words to draw upon his newly lighted pipe with keen enjoyment why am I 1 here the matter of interest Is t why do I 1 live in this adirondack wilderness after those tools over there and he waved his hand toward a deal table littered with pens and paper have brought me that which you are pleased to call sue cess you certainly could afford to live in vew tork said I 1 evan Carn cron laughed through a big cloud of smoke let me tell you how I 1 came here be and then you may guess why I 1 do not go away upon this he told me the following etory I 1 visited this region arst said he with a hunting party about ten years ago the others were men whom I 1 had come to know in one way or another men of means all of them while I 1 could hardly raise the amount of my railroad tare and really depended upon their charity for the expenses of the trip in some way which Is not important to this narrative I 1 became separated from my friends one day when we were roaming the primeval forest together it was a startling experienc for the chances were excellent that I 1 might wander all night in the cold and at that time I 1 was not robust however just as it was growing dark I 1 fell in with a roan upon whose neck I 1 could have wept tor joy though I 1 had not flite pleasure of a previous acquaintance with aln he might have been 0 retired pirate but the essential kinship fit men had been impressed upon me by choso hours of loneliness in the big woods and I 1 recognized this individual tor a brother he may have been forty years old aa an indian slender tall and lithe his voice biad a cheery anc hla eyes were bright his language had the way of the woods but when we passed beyond the arst quick questions and answers I 1 perceived that he did not lacet cultivation ills name was robert Cartwr leht he led me to this housa and though he tried to moderate his pace to mine I 1 had hard work to follow him the feli low seemed to weigh nothing at all his step made no noise upon dry leaves he threw back hla head now and then and drew in a great deep breath that him up for the next i A halt mile and at such times he would smile with boyish delight or perhaps cry out how alne a thing it was to walk in the pine woods the last time he said it I 1 was so weary and breathless that I 1 thought to fall dead in the path but almost immediately we came within sight of the house and I 1 found strength to stagger on when cartwright set foot upon the blab of rock that makes the step outside there the door was suddenly flung open and a pleasant voice cried why bobble how late you are the next moment bobby was being kissed in a very simple unaffected and altogether enviable fashion and he was contributing liberally to the demonstration when he happened to remember me which Is more than I 1 had a right to expect under the circumstances mrs cartwright had not yet LET ME TELL YOU HOW I 1 CAME HERE become aware that her husband was not alone for ebe had come out of the brightness into the duk du k there Is como one with me I 1 heard cartwright whisper and then he presented midmost agreeably yet there was a touch of formalism in hla words and manner they savored of the city and when mra greeted roe she was not quite so fine a woman aa she had been a minute batora with her arms around her husbands neck I 1 had introduced an element of I 1 had carried them back this I 1 know from loas thinking upon the I 1 was not then capable of comprehending indeed I 1 wa hazily glad that I 1 had fallen among cultivated people though my heart was strongly net upon food and alre to the exclusion of great interest in the providers of three comforts 1 I wish our boy were here said cartwright presently then eee our little home just right cut ha ganeto 0 warding school JA KS A ath tt we are sorry that we sent him said sirs cartwright and then she showed me a photograph of a boy of ten years I 1 was able to say without prevarication that bobby junior was the image ot his sire but there was less sincerity in the sorrow which I 1 expressed on account of his absence for children were my especial terror at this point cameron arose from his chair and paced back and forth in the cabin a dozen times before resuming his seat with the utterance of these words gently but very am pres pronounced at certain periods of my life I 1 have been a fool well we had a great supper for which I 1 had the better appetite because of waiting while the preparation of it was completed in this task the husband assisted there being some special dish in regard to which he was considered an expert there waa much merriment during tills time and yet I 1 think it would have been the keener tor my absence not that there was any lack of hospitality but the remay have been a certain amount of constraint due to the fact that I 1 could not tall in with the spirit of these people I 1 was a very formal fellow in those days my manner was as stiff as a starched shirt collar and he pulled his fl anneli garment open a little wider at these words from the outset I 1 could see that mrs cartwright detected the flavor of my breeding and that her wo mans nature would not let her admit any deficiency on her own part indeed there was no need of tor she was born and bred a lady and quite in the circle of my own fam ilys acquaintance as I 1 learned presently tor she was a wayne of the old connecticut stock and the camerons were proud of an alliance with them two generations ago when both were rich some talk of this very distant relationship tion ship brought us nearer together and carried ua farther from the woods I 1 answered many questions about the news of cities and heard some old stories which led me to know that cart wryght had not lived always in the wilderness by any means it waa late in the evening however before I 1 ventured to ask what had led them BO far away from the centers of cultivation and refinement which would have been their natural you remember II olmes line said put not your trust in money hut put your money in trust well my father put his money in trust for me and this la the result my trustee got away with it god blesa halml said the lady taking her husbands hand she faai on the arm of hla chair at the time and looking very sweet in tha firelight I 1 could not think of her as the mother ot a ten year old boy ehe looked BO young and BO light hearted and hopeful yet she was a beaten woman by all the rules she was married to a man who wag poor and would never be otherwise her real youth was gone and even should cartwright dieas i the duty of a poor man with a pretty wife I 1 fancy mrs returning to fight the battle over again she would probably grow old from grief and besides sho was saddled with bobby junior so it seemed that she could never be more than the chatelaine of a loe caa tie in the big woods yet I 1 could have that she was happy it la true that I 1 waa puzzled by the fervency of her prayer for the diction 1 1 est trustee though I 1 judged it was a part of her fidelity to her husband a part of her long resolve never to reproach him for their poverty he raised her hand to his lips before he answered the question which he had seen in my eyes 1 I suppose he saved my life said cartwright and that Is why marjory blesses him may heaven bless her I 1 waa a wild boyar cameron my father always gave roe plenty of money and I 1 went the pace as the phrase Is he was not so bad I 1 guess eald marjory with a hand upon his head where I 1 observed that the dark brown hair was thin at the back of the crown let my bald be the witness my crimes eald he reading my eye again it was bigger at twenty alve years than it la now and a fellow get such an ornament for nothing late hours champagne bad tobacco in stifling cafes under the glare of lights yes yes it Is a blessing that my trustee became a thief before I 1 had time to become anything self i 1 I was beginning to feel the strain my pet doctor pointed out an open grave to me every time I 1 went to see him and finally he drove me up into the woods for a little rest he did it by promising that the relaxation would give me life tor a year and perhaps two of tha fun that I 1 was having fun echoed mrs cartwright upon my soul said arr husband it was the emptiest most sodden wretched and hopeless existence ever suffered by a mortal creature but I 1 know it then well I 1 came up into the adirondacks with halt a dozen other profligates before whom the grave also dawned yawned and we endeavored to restore our health by all day and night in the room WAS SITTING ON THE ARM of HIS chain of a little hotel a few miles from her drinking bad liquor and playing card for money I 1 remember that the luck was dead all the tl meth worst run I 1 ever had indeed about the third day I 1 sent a hurry call to my trustee for funds but mr cameron at the very moment when I 1 was writ ing to him he ana a bankrupt and twenty tour hours later he wina on hla secret way to south america or some say to china with the wreck 0 his dishonesty heaven forgive and bless him it was the beginning of a new life to roe t tou went back to town and started over acain I 1 suppose 1 I have never been out of these woods since then said cartwright except when I 1 took my boy down to albany to school at he beginning of this tall in the old days when that thunderbolt hit me I 1 went to bed believing that the grave which my doctor had pointed out me was my only refuge and wishing to encourage it to yawn as hard and fast as possible presently my cross and crabbed old uncle william cartwright from brooklyn appeared upon the and favored me with the details of my ruin he closed by offering me a email allowance on the bargain that I 1 would live up here in the woods for a year or for longer unless my health should be fully restored 1 I was willing there was no reason why I 1 should go back I 1 merely wished to stay here and die but dying so easy up here strangely enough I 1 acquired an appetite tor life I 1 began to go out hunting with a guide and surprised him and myself tar more by developing into a farst rate shot with a rifle before the end of that winter I 1 had gained nearly twenty pounds though you call roe fat as I 1 stand and I 1 could eat bear meat right oft the bear mr cameron I 1 liked the life 1 was ripe for it I 1 had had enough of the other kind I 1 resolved to stay here and here I 1 am my uncle gave me money enough to buy this house and a bit of land running down to the lake and here I 1 established a hermitage alb voice changed and his eyes began to glisten in the long winter evenings he continued 1 I began to write to a little girl she was only sixteen and she was coins to school I 1 wrote bear sto rles tor her and lonesome tales of the woods tou must understand that just before my pecuniary disaster I 1 had chanced to sec her and somehow her beauty at athla point mrs cartwright tried to cover his mouth with her hand her beauty he persisted and her innocence had remained with me and she had remembered me think of it me the profligate what miracles doth heaven grant well well I 1 wrote her stories of the woods and finally I 1 wrote her love stories and so at last being quite free in the world though only nineteen when athla happened ahe camo up the wilderness to see me and we were married at pine knot five miles down the lake therefore ho went on extending his left hand toward a pitcher of cider on the table 1 I shall propose the health of all thieving rascally trustees who steal the money of those foolish delra wha arc not fit to have it ah mr camron think what he did tor me think ct this pure healthy life among the fragrant trees I 1 am supremely happy I 1 bless him I 1 honor ahlm heres to eimold archibald may the saints receive him I 1 was about to raise my glass but laid it down again archibald bald I 1 why I 1 know him lie has offices in tho same building as myself youre of hit son said cartwright pardon me I 1 rejoined the man im thinking of cant be the son of any one now living he Is more than a hundred years old I 1 should say though he grown a day older in ten years he Is tall as a tree straight as a gin barrel and he bears a scar upon hi left cheek that he says he got in abi civil war though I 1 think it was mon likely the revolution archibald in new cried cartwright he has made an other fortune then he has always been rich said I 1 he was never ruined he never fled we were all upon our teet by this time and very much excited cartwright said I 1 your uncle lei ma about him you say that he was I 1 CALLED AT THEIR HOUSE LAST YEAR strict severe by heavens he took this means to reform you with tons connivance of course was there any provision in your fathers will which could give the color of honesty to much was left tons discretion said cartwright in a trembling voice and yet the money ts undoubtedly mine did anybody ever hear of such a scandalous infamous robbery as marjory my poor gurll and 1 have kept you slaving in this wilderness without a rag of clothes without a jewel we have been happy here she said through hysterical tears but for our sons sake I 1 think we ought to make some attempt to have our rights t attempts cried cartwright well you just watch me ill stand these two old villains on their venerable heads ill at this point mr cameron became too deeply affected to continue his story until ha had walked many times around the table whereon long ago had sat the pitcher of elder from which cartwright would hav t pour edthe material for the drinking of aie alth to ats dishonest trustee the great bodily strength and ahe rugged health which amr cameron had gained in the woods at last enabled him to control hla feelings sufficiently to finish the narrative intelligibly not with any profusion of detail oh dear oh de arhe continued to thank what I 1 did to them those kind anda happy folks who welcomed me to hospitable table that w they went back to the city and they found the truth to be as I 1 conjectured it had been done for rood so they got all thear money he rambled on and a great sum it was cartwright gave me 1000 and this cabin he and his wife took a house on fifth avenue and they went much into so the sake of the child they said though what difference it could make to a boy I 1 dont know it it had been a girl but why discuss it I 1 called at their house when I 1 was in the city last year and mrs cartwright had me to lunch her husband was too to come down stairs too to sea me in fact I 1 dont wonder they live very high and whyna man has been used to open air and good wholesome whole somo food the change goes hard with him A woman of course can stand anything except worse clothes than her neighbors and mrs cartwright dresses wonderfully well but ashes beginning to look old poor woman poor woman I 1 she was so pretty so rosy GO happy and healthy here that night in th light of the alre and its not so long ago cartwright sent down word to m that it there was anything I 1 wanted I 1 need only ask for it he would set no limit upon his gratitude to the man who brought him into his fortune I 1 take anything As a man ot heart aa a man from outdoors by jingo X do it |
