Show A STORY OF MONEY LOVE HOPE AND trustfulness THE WAY OF THE TRUTH BY EVERETT HOLBROOK COPYRIGHT 1902 BY CHARLES B etherington ONS uncle had said to him you are too young to make sue a decision the youns lady may be the essence of perfection fec tion I 1 eay not word to the contrary but dont marry her yet walt you engaged yourself to her dont go abroad travel for a year and then see what you two people think of each other the match may have been made in heaven all right it la more likely to have been made there than here upon this earth where social distinction are itell ot very great importance tell her youre going abroad upon business tor me dont ask her to wait for you bee whether ebe does it ot her own will when you come back ill listen to argument am bangmon had gone to the girl whom he loved and had told her that he wae going abroad on business for his uncle and the lie had blistered his heart harder and harder afterward as ts the habit of alleter bl leter both physical and they had parted a friende tri ende though there was friendly in hia feeling for her it was all love but coupled with an Inde clelon which had descended to him from some vacillating ancestor a which the shrewd old uncle had cleverly played upon in thia instance upon the other aide of the water the young man had strayed into out 0 the way regions and had returned to paris to find a great accumulation 0 mall and cablegrams cable grams his uncles death was the news that had been flashed to him under the ocean he bad inherited a great fortune by the slower medium of the mall there had come word that the woman whom he had lied to and run away from had married dudley warner then youna mr morrison Morr lson perceived that hie inheritance was of no ue to him that he might ae well have received the gold upon a desert leland where ft could neither benefit himself nor any one elec when he arrived in new york ha consequence to be was of mentioned in the newspapers newe papers the fact wae telegraphed to boston tor the are of the back bay upper cruet and there happened to be d in the dispatch the fact that the heir of ex senator morrison Morr lson had taken hodg las at a hotel 0 going to hia late uncles costly and somewhat pre tent lou residence the truth I 1 that the value of the attro estate would not have hired langdon Mor rleon to beet toot n that house eliere the walls and belling cel ling would have echoed corneel cou neel that and 11 wae his happiness had boet him not altogether hia own awful loa that tormented him it waa not for that alone that he curbed hia uncle memo ry and could not bear to look upon abo houie which had been hie home he believed that the of the wo man be loved was equally destroyed dea troyed foche bad known dudley warner arora him boyhood nd there vae no goodgo wae a eliell a husk without the aa map honor poi ot a i mere ingenuity that sufficed to protect him rom ever threatening ruin and disaster socially and financially this roan warnar stood upon a thin and crumbling cruet with the bottomless pit beneath it all the way across the ocean merrl morrl son had repeated to himself one question why did ahe choose him why him ol 01 all men and he could find no answer except that warners whole life had been imposture and thelt the unscrupulous enjoyment of that which wae not rightfully his the man had assiduously served the devil and had always been palan stolen goods lie bad never been openly disgraced un viola dane had accepted him upon hie own false and perjured belt valuation morrison spent hia farst day in new absolutely in retirement except or a lawyers visit he was at riving THE BOSTON to school hemelt to meet viola with precisely the right countenance it was BO part of plan 0 life to give up the echt of her he would be to her all that he honorably might there would be no peril to her for it was now clear that ehe hart never cared or him more than he had let be seen and that was little anoush at 3 in the morning he wae ly in awake deadly tired unable to close his eye there is a weakness wea knese that comes with weariness an excess of all th under sentiments and of belt pity that a man should be ashamed of yet many strong men to whom allep Is denied gutter it and tread it there 1 are whose eyes have not been wet with tear bince their youth except between 2 and the dawn there wa a knock upon the door and a muffled voice called telegram Teler ram arose and the mea aff rjake j S aage which had been sent from boston and ran as follows dudley wirner in M G blurt in cab tonight chance ot fatal I 1 hare kept name quiet tell viola and coma with her saw your amrital and address in afternoon paper jica the sender 0 this message was dr john newton the lettera M G stood for massachusetts general hospital where newton was burgeon he was a cousin of and had often been his adviser in earlier days he was the only man living to whom morrison Morr lson had ever confided the truth about his pitiful romance his love and his wretched doubts of himself and of the constancy of any emotion in him and this he had done by letter just before he sailed and too late to profit by the elder mans counsel sirs warners address was not given in the telegram and it was obvious that dr newton had not known it otherwise he would have felt compelled to communicate directly with her this involved the further inference that warner waa unconscious and that the chance of fatal result amounted to strong probability upon this matter morrison Morr lson strove to think sanely and decently he could not hope for warners death he could not think of viola in the light of what might follow such an event it was bis duty to be merely hopeful without a thought beyond her present need before her viola had been a teacher of in a private school it was possible that her address could be ascertained at that place though it was summer and the school must be closed the building when he reached it in the gray dawn seemed entirely deserted but a vigorous ring at the bell brought forth a servant who by great good fortune knew where the warners had lived her information guided morrison Morr lson to a boarding house and in the parlor thereof at in the morning the young man confronted a shrewd faced but not unkindly woman to whom he disclosed as much of his errand as seemed necessary mrs warner here said the landlady shee gone to visit some friends in newark but hell be back during the forenoon 1 I will wait eald morrison Morr lson the landlady twirled a plain gold ring upon her finger and appeared to consult this familiar token for advice do you want to know what id do it were you ehe asked suddenly you are a friend of hersa real friend of hers aint you well you go on to boston by the first train leave word tor her to follow you what do you mean the young man demanded the landlady looked over one ot her thin ang nilar boulders hould ers and then over the other though there waa no one within hearlie hear lne it you want my opinion he said 1 I think that man ha skipped what they call ive looked him up hes all tied up in no end ot coubles roubles rou bles lies no good and never wa hes run away and left her but the know it gripped the anna ot hi chair and stared at the woman he owes me money she continued nut X dont care tor that I 1 like her do you understand shee beep an ornament to this house chate what I 1 call her an ornament and tf theres any I 1 decency left in him perhaps you think enough ot her to try to bring it out perham you can him w I 1 t f 1 ar I 1 A and advise him and bring him back when he gets well but anyhow you see him first before she does do you understand and keep the truth from her morrison Morr lson arose slowly and stepped forward to take the comans womans stiff and withered hand 1 I understand said he ill do it take this money she may not have enough tor the journey dont eay I 1 left it dont say that I 1 was here he walked toward the door and when his hand was on the knob he turned suddenly tell her the truth he said say I 1 was here and left the money thinking she might lose time if ahe happened to TELL lack the necessary amount at the moment I 1 dont feel like leaving a lie behind me for her it was 1 when morrison Morr lson reached boston and he drove immediately to the hospital newton gave him no greeting but a grip of the hand you are just in time he said A shudder ran over gl ganio frame and the sudden spasmodic pressure of bla fingers made the doctor wince lie la conscious or was ten minutes ago aalde but its all over I 1 have had a telegram from hr she cannot be here till late in the afternoon and I 1 think she will not see bin alive i how wae he hurt A trolley car a cab and the hand of providence eald the doctor slowly ithe man has confessed to rne that he was running away what hae he said or her he mallte mostly nebout himself wee the reply hea abald were not doln we can or him hes afraid to die ive heard a good deal from him about the hard luch that hee had in the world but very little about hie I 1 affection affect ton tor his wife we must alx UP some hind of a story for her said morrison Morr lson turnlee shade paler he it wa when viola reached she wae chown at once to dr newtons New tons room alie ind and her n r lence aa she entered she looked from one to the other la dead she said quietly the two men inclined their heads then alie doctor looked at morrison expecting him to speak the young man waa white a paper and his lips were firmly compressed K you will excuse me said the doctor 1 I have many duties I 1 will leave you together borrlson orr lson looked at her his deep blue eyes drinking in the beauty for which they had thirsted so long he was surprised to fand her so little changed lie had expected that she would seem older different woman with eyes or the past he found her the same she was neither spoiled nor in any way changed her wide brown eyes still looked to the future they were open like a childs as they had always been she had not lost her beauty her innocence her courage or her hope she was as ehe had been when he had stood arf the light ot her presence and had told her that he was going abroad upon his uncles business the shame ot that memory pick ened him viola he said 1 I was with dudley when he died he told me the whole truth about himself and I 1 am going to tell it to you because I 1 cant help it am very glad said she looking straight into his eyes 1 I hate lie As to this truth I 1 already know it he had deserted me it he still had any tor me it was choked by his own troubles and fears it Is hard morrison Morr lson began it was hard she corrected him but it waa known and suffered weeks ago let us not speak of that tell me what must be told and advise me as to what must be done morrison stood speechless his heart waa throbbing out the question what I 1 had told her a lie it I 1 had brought her false messages in ahta bitter hour presently they eat down and talked together a lone time with sincerity without exaggeration without blame or the dead who in life had been him belf and no other working out the nature that was la him viola was an orphan there was no on to whom she could naturally look for aid at such a time it was necessary that one should take into his hand that tangle of business affairs which dudley had led behind him Morr leor asked for this task and viola had no alternative but to it to him so when the dead had been laid to rest he went to work to bring out of the strange chaos 0 debts with the result that many men had sound pecuniary reabon to bless the fate that had taken dudley warner out of the world t wa 0 mouths and atton it boutas ions as he could ho had begged 0 viola the privilege of malting no report to her un til he could make a complete one she was child tn mattere of buel nesa and did not realize the nature ot the obligation which he had assumed she expected in the end conff schedule ot debts which ahe would labor to pay in tha meantime aho lived cheaply with her friend tn newark and narrowly met her expense by the returns from a few 1 in music morrison Morr lson aaa her rarely and hia life haunted by the dread of what she buet eventually face it avae tn hia heart many a time to falsity the whole serle 0 accounts to force a balance r u W aff n violas favor and conceal from her forever the fact that the source of it was his own pocket at the last he compromised the matter with his conscience he would confess the fact that he had incurred some expense in the settlement of the estate but would say that it was a trifle and would beg of her in the name of their old friendship to permit him to cancel it and that was what he did she heard him through without comment or question with a batting calm that frightened him he dreaded to hear her speak of him as a creditor to her say that she would work to pay him the cold sweat wae on his tore head at the thought for the best part of a year he had dragged this malter along and she bad worked as well as she could tor a living there Is little more for a woman in this world when he had concluded his statement he paused and the wae about to speak but he checked her viola he cried there Is more than one man in this world tor whom I 1 would do this thing and more why cant I 1 be the same friend to you that I 1 would be to john newton if he were in the same trouble why he and I 1 would laugh over it since I 1 am rich he would know that I 1 was glad of the chance cant you look at tt the same wayt well eay nothing about this money and and it you need come more she checked him with a gesture and it seemed to him her face brightened with new and hopeful thought can you tell me indeed she said that this Is all a service can you do this tor me just as you would tor your cousin I 1 can ee how TWO MEN INCLINED THEIR HEADS man might accept it ut a woman beems alway beggar yet it you are my friend she paused and morrison Morr lson looked at her with a sort ot agony he WA bade again in the same familiar situation the easy way was the fal way the way of he viola he said there la something te ot quite hoo eti led too often to take the path of evasion but but I 1 cant do it with you any more I 1 was punished tor it once I 1 cant even now tell you this lie there Is no more similarity between my feel ins or you and my friendship tor jack newton than there Is between fire and ice bakri what I 1 offer because I 1 love you and let me go away and never see you again the honest way and my soul wont let me consider any other once eald she you came to me with leathan les than the truth and you ceas ed to be yourself you went out of the world for me just now you have quite come back langdon in the light of the truth that you have told roe I 1 will take all you have to give and I 1 will give you all in return |