THE STORY-TELLER.

Evening Post, Volume LXV, Issue 121, 23 May 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE STORY-TELLER.

Silas's O'ertouptng Ambition. , So old Captain Moffat left Mexico City and oamo to San Diego. But tho strange part of this ia that BUas Wire accompamed him j that Silas bought a hotel (which the tourists never patronised) ; and that Silos took care of the captain in it, and watched his declining days with/sly, mild, yet glittering, eye. A curious ajtair, that of the oaptain ■with Mm*. Tala, oi Mexico. She wan fourth cousin oi the Emperor Iturbido. Why, she wa* royai I— having inherited titles and estate*. The captain lought for Maximilian, und loved JSimo. Tain, which love she returned; but, of court>e, for imaginary, dead, 'and theoretical reasons of state, the captain could never marry the heiress to those defunct imperial names. So the love became a long, long platonio one: and now they wero both old. To the astonishment of the whole clerical party, she announced that she' had willed her immense fortune to Captain Moffat, for she had no children. Yen, the captain, quite as absorbed in the Cathonc Church as she, could be trusted to use that wealth when -she waa dead (for she was older even than ho, and feeble) lor the church's benefit and tho clerical party. "Who knew? — if others should follow her example, Dias and his upstarts might yet be laid low. 80 eager waa she to leave incredible sums to her platonio lovor, and thence, through him, to tho priests, that she waa even embroiling her lost years with a terrible lawsuit to recover a portion of the estate once deeded away. For Mme. Tala's mother, in a fit of boncvolence, had long ago parted with the convent garden on San Andres-street to certain relatives. American business now made that convent garden trebly valuable, and already it was cut up into business blocks. Plainly tho deeding of it away was illegal ; and Mme. Tala was fighting furiously in the courts, with her last breath, to get it ' back no that she might leave, that, too, to Captain, Moffat and the church. Her lawyer, cold, white-faced Bernabe, that patrician, Spanish specimen with the pointed black beard, ' porceived that Captain Moffat was too shrewd to bo allowed to remain on the ground. A woman you can work j incredible fees can ' be wormed out of a woman; and hor passions were such that she wa« always ready to embroil herself further; which meant moro fees, Bernabe saw long years of rich litigation stretching before him — ' if only he could remove the too shrewd councils of^ the captain, her protector. This accounts for his cooly Dribing tho doctors, in tho captain's last illness, to recommend San Diego, whose California climate is mild, marine. Ah — just what the captain must have, lest he die 1 His- illness so scared the captain that he fell into the net ; and Silas Wiro was instigated by Berna-bi* to take the old gentleman north. Silos had failed in hit hotel in Mexico. Silos had proved himself, .nevertheless, suave and capable; and his influence over Moffat (who had boarded with him) was enormous. So Silas happened to sell his hotel about that time, and remove 1 to San Diego; and the captain chanced to jump at the opportunity to remove thither also, and live in the little new hostelry which Wire n6w opened on Coronado Beach. ■ 1 Strange that the captain's funds after ' that always ran so low ; and that the little doled out to him from Mme. Tala'o embroiled estate waa never enough to permit his return to Mexico 1 "That climate would kill 1 you," murmured Wire, rubbing his long hands together in the captain's room. , "Wire! Wire!" cried tho haggard old I man, raising- hjg trembling arm, "death ' has cot me anyhow I Look at me—deserted—broken—sinking into the grave. I'll die before her. yet. 0 that honey! And me—me— Wire, look at tthis threadbare bore coat ; and millions waiting for we yonder. Silas, you are my only friend." "Silos smiled that feline smile. "-While I live," he iiaid, gassing blandly •round on tho bare room," "you shall never wont for comfort." i Tho captain irtured out of a window"! into the night. Xonder the fantastic Hotel del Coronado lifted its peaks ; yonder beat the sea on the wind ; and the mujric of ah orchestra coma floating faintly from that luxurious spot to tho prospective millionaire's unlovely quarters. The feeble old man began to weep, "Wire, somebody else -will get that money. And they wilt not give it to tho blessed church. lam dying— and Mme. Tain's wealth will be scattered to the winds!"' Now Wire fautenodi his glistening oyes on Moffat, and put his soft, cold hand on the captain's palsied one, "Captain Moffar," said he, "I am unworthy of the trust. But somebody can be found. Make your will now, and leave the wealth to some trusted friend to do with it as you «ay." , The captain's eyes were completely conquered. He stared ; ho trembled, whitened as he was with age. Never yet had he been able J to stand Wire's gaze. Now he cried out:, "I have contemplated that a. long time. Ah me ! I havo longed for such a trusted friend. What can I do with that money? tt drives me mad. Even if the dies next week (Wire, they say she is very ill), I may live but a week longer, and havo no chance to diaposo of it. Silas," he clutched at Wire's coat And pulled' Wiro' 11 face up .close to his, "Silas, you are my only friend! Promise me—Oh, now let me trust ib t*> you. I don't know what else to do with it, Wire. I am a lonely old man— why, Wire, I don't know what else to do." And tho captain waved his hand all round with, decrepit wildneos, and then cried like a baby. Now while' the iron was hot, Wiro struck. Suddenly before- the captain 1 thoro were pen, paper, anil ink; and there, too, were Silas's insinuating smile, fawning suavity, long hands rubbing one another. "Unworthy as I am, Captain Moffat, I cannot withstand the request of a dying man. And I plpdge the everlasting life of my soul to spend that money an'you have directed." "But Wait," cried the captain, clutching at him again, "one thing morel" "Whatever you say," wheedled Wire. "If she wins this suit," cried Aloffat, "it will make half a million more. That you shnil use," the captain's mind seemed wavering here, "to erect statutes of Iturbide in every city of the land." "Certainly," breathed Wire, "I promise." Then the captain, as though in despair and yet weeping like a child, wroto his will and gave everything to Wire. Silas's eyes watched eaoh mark, then taw the captain totter to a trunk and put the will away; after which Silas leaned back with a long, comfortablo tigh. This little scene wns the culmination of three months of labour. Strango how Wire* mind had conquered at lost. .Abd now for the first time came to him the thought of poisoning Moffnt, if Madame Tals died, that he might not change his-wilL,

. The fourth day of Wire's silent exulta- | tion was broken by the unexpected arnvul j of Bernabe from Mexico. 'Ihe white fuce, accustomed to sneer, with its carefully trimmed black beard, suddenly uppoarcd in the dining-room, where there wus no guest, nor any wanted, only Wiro by himself. They wont up together to sco | Captain MofTafc, and sat down in his room, Whose windows jjotve view over some lawns with palm-trees, out to the beach and tho big hotel .on the ono side, and doAv'u. to the ostrich farm on. the other. The sun canio streaming through tho windows, and showed tho captain, exhauHted, fallen into~a chair. ! "Madame Tala. is very ill," said Bernabe, coldly ; "she -will die. Hor will made to you, Captain Moffat, she declares unalterable. But now sho threatens to withdraw from tho suit for the convent garden." "And why!—- death of my soul — a half a million !" cried Moffat, while Wire's still eyes rested on Bernabe. Bornubo'g face- was contemptuous. "Who knowe?" ho said, briefly ; "some trick of conscience. I. have exhausted my powers of persuasion. We can win — yet now, nearing her death, she gives i up. Captain Moffat alone can iniluonco • her." Ho turned his gaze on Wire. "So ; to Captain Moffat I came, to beg of him , to return to Mexico with me, to persuade I her." I Bornabe's face, hiding its fears of in- ' credible fees lost, was like a mask of some I Medici. Up started Captain MofTat, staggering. "But I have no money; I have no strength!" he cried in a broken mixture of joy and despair. "1 ahall advance you the sum," said Bernabe, brief and to tho point. . Now Wire, seeing the captain sliding, through his hands, fearing that, under ' Bcrnaue's control, Moffat would divtilg* tho secret of the will, came forward m soft struggle with tho lawyer. "Tho captain could never stand the journoy," murmured Silas, with an anxious face. "I will! I will 1" cried Moffat, seeming to havo lost his mind ; and then, aa though to prove one© for all that Wire was right, he reeled across the room in an excess of eagerness, lost himself, ejaculated gutturafiy, and fell without warning prone on tho floor. Wire, exultant, sprang thither and put the captain on his bed, where he lay almost unconscious. Some faint suspicion darkened Bernabe's face ; but Wire had won ; Wire held the prey. They gazed at one another. ' ''I see,". said Bernabe, iaintly sneering, faintly bitter; "he could not stand the trip. The litigation will have to cease." And Bernabe went back to Mexico. Tho captain but partially recovered ; for ho was indeed nearing death. At times he could grope about his room, and much did he. mutter of his will. The* days were anxious, unendurable, to Wiro. .For, what if. the captain changed Mi miad? Once Moffat had even cried out, in tho night, at tho very hour when Wire had ■ stealthily entered his room to eeo if the will wore still intact: "I will tear it up!" This so terrified Wire that tho long growing evil of his nature now crystalised into crime. Why — the captain -would, die in a fow short weeks, anyhow ; and Silas had learned' that Madamo Tala was already on her deathbed, though Moffat knew it not. What sin to hasten Moffat' • dissolution ? Death was inevitable ; and a fow days mora or less of misery were naught to this wreck. No,' it is no sin, SUns. , •' Quickly that brown .powder dissolved in the captain's coffee every , morning ; and Wire, assiduous as ever, always brought the cup with his own hand. No, no; this wan not poisoning the Captain., This was only assisting death a little — relieving the captain of a fow of his wretched days. Moffat very soon grew so weak that it would have been impossible for him to writs a will; andtnoro in tho trunk, whero Silas saw it every night,' lay the one that would make him rich. ,The papers said that Madamo Tula, last of that branch of the family of Iturbide, could live but a day. Here they wore, the old-time loyors, relics of the imperialpast, dying so many hundreds of miles apart ; one watched by the Spaniard, one by the Anglo-Saxon bird of prey. Then, ifodamo Tala died. The paper spoke of her grand funeral, attonded by ail tho great of Mexico, in the beautiful church of La l'rofesa. Great wealth was there— but here tho captain, unable to road news any more, lay in poverty. ITcr death seemed to cause sonic souldisturbance in him. These last days he was restless, wild. Ho cried out, from his pillow, desperate things About his wealth, and the changing of the will. And Wire, terrified lest even yet the old man might arise and destroy the paper, and knowing that Bernabe would come ; treading in some day to pry with his cold eyes into everything — Who grew desperate. • To-day the quantity of brown powder was doubled. , All afternoon the, captain lay moaning ; tnd Wire, pule, stood and glared out of the window. Yonder. ro»e Florenco Heights; yonder stretched the sea ; yonder across 'tho bay rose Point Loma and, against tho blue sky, the distant building» of the Universal Brothorhood. That night with a. loud cry Captain Moffat suddenly camo to the. threshold of his death. Into tho room ran Silas in. a night-gown, hollow-eyed. "Wire 1 Wire I" shrioked the dying warrior, then fell back, and mumbled, "Iturbide," and died: Ho was burled soon, and quietly. Now, the hotel being quite empty, and Silas engaged, in packing a trunk, in walked Bernabe, tired from his three days' ride from Mexico. "Wo wKI search for his will," said Bernabc. They did, and found it.'1 havo also," said Bornabe, with a curl of his fine lips, "a copy of Madame Tata's. Let us read them both." They sat down on opposite sides of the dlning^able, where thero was no cloth, nor any dishes ; nnd Bernabe opened Captain Moffat'a will. "All my property, both personal and real, I leave to Silos Wire to bo his for over," said the instrument in effect. Slowly Bernabe's eyes 'were' rataed to Wire's. Wire answered them with tho flittering gaze of his own ; for Silas was ult of the, exultation of the conqueror. They were both white j and Bernabe's face still sneered, with the kind of sucer jthat burns. Then after some long minutes I tho lawyer smiled ; his smile wan strange. "Let us read Madame Tula's," said he ; and this was the substance of her will : "All my properly, personal And rtnl, I leave to Captain Franklin Moffat, on one condition. We have sinned in fighting through the Courts my relatives. On my death b*d I do bitterly repent. I have renounced the suit for the convent garden, and havo writton with my own hand a full apology to my relatives and plea for forgiveness. And Ido now make Captain Moffat my heir solely on this one condition, that ho do likewise write with his own hand, and send to them, as atonement for the sin of our cunidity, a like apology, renunciation of the suit.

and plea for forgiveness. In. -case ho foil so tn do, I bequeath to the church, through my old friend Father Ignncio EchegiUTov, all my propecty, save one huudrod thousand dollius in cash, now in tho .Banco do ilondrea y Mojico, which I do then bestow upon Senior Don Juan Bornabc, my trusted attorney." No\v the two men sat still, observing each other. "Too bud, too bud," said Bernabo, oddly lifting bin fingers to tho tip -of his pointed naso, "that Captain Mo flat must die too soon to write nis apology. Too bad that ho could nob live, hero Bernabo smiled his cold, keen smile, "a few moro days." And Silas's faco gicw grey. — Charles Fleming Kmbree, in the S.\n Francisco Argonaut.