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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXV, Issue 41, 18 February 1898, Page 10

The Chinese Government have signed an agreement with a British syndicate for a loan for the construction of railways in China,

I suppose ?" he queried with a comprehensive glance at the young man's shabby apparel. " I don't work anywhere just at present," was the reply. "I cannot get any work to do."' As he spoke, a faintness came over Anthony, and he involuntarily placed his hand on the back of a chair to steady himself. "You are weak, ill !"' exclaimed the other, rising in alarm and forcing him to sit down. " You are not well, eh ?" Anthony looked up with a smile that was meant to 'be cheerful, but was only piteous. '• I have not eaten anything for two days," he said wearily ;" " I am afraid I am starving."' " Mon Dieu ! " ejaculated Mr. Leduc, hastening to his desk and touching an electric bell. In a moment a servant appeared at the door. "A glass of port wine, Cccile, and quickly," ordered her master. The maid tripped away and returned within a few moments with the wine. Mr. Leduc met her at the door and took it from her. He gave it to Anthony and made him drink it. "Prepare some supper in the diving-room at once," he said briefly, '• something substantial." " You are better now," he said, as the colour came back slowly to the young man's face. " You are very kind," murmured Anthony, gratefully. "Eh bien ! and why not, my friend ?" demanded Mr. Leduc, smilingly. " I think the obligations are on my side ; there were six hundred dollars in that pocket-book. Now we shall nave some supper, and you will stay here to-night ; my housekeeper will find you a bed. To-morrow we shall see what can be done in the way of providing you with a situation."' "You had better hear my story first, Mr. Leduc," said Anthony, quietly. "It may cause you to change your mind." Then he told it, slowly and deliberately. Mr. Leduc listened patiently, shading his face with his hand. When Anthony had finished, he looked up and said, thoughtfully : " You have been most unfortunate, but I do not believe you were guilty. A man who is honest when he is starving is not likely to have been dishonest when he was prosperous. I know Mr. Wayington very well ; he is a good-hearted man but very obstinate ; and of course, appearances were against you. I do not pretend to say how the missing pocket-book came into your trunk, but I am quite sure you did not put it there. God is good ; perhaps the guilty person will yet confess. In the meantime, what can you do ? Can you write shorthand ? Yes ? "Very good ! I am in need of a stenographer, you are'in need of a situation ; what could be more convenient ?" Anthony tried to stammer some words of thanks, but Mr. Leduc silenced him and led the way to the dining-room, where such a supper was spread as the outcast had not seen for many days. Dame Lecours, the merchant's housekeeper, looked somewhat token aback when told to prepare a chamber for this very delapi-dated-looking guest of her master's, but she felt reassnred when he addressed her in the very best French, and thanked her courteously as she was leaving him. The next morning a difficulty arose. Anthony's clothes were scarcely in keeping with his improved fortunes. However, his benefactor had not forgotten the fact, and before the young man had time to realise his embarrassing position, Mr. Ledue's valet appeared with an armful of clothes belonging, to his master. '• Monsieur Ledue's compliments ; and he hopes the garments will serve until monsieur has time to call upon his tailor." Anthony was somewhat slighter than this new-found friend, but the clothes fitted very well, nevertheless, and Mr. Leduc scarcely recognised him when he came downstairs, so much improved was he in appearance. "One thing I musfprepSre yon for, ' v said *£ie French gentle-^ man, kindly, as they walked down town together. It will not be long before someone recognis* s you, and you may be made to feel uncomf oitable, but you must be brave and live down your trouble. Remember I hold you innocent ; and remember also that le Bon Dieu can dissipate the clouds when it shall eeem good to him to do ] so. Are you — pardon me — a Catholic ?" " I have that happiness," answered Anthony, simply. " That is good — you have, consequently, many motives for faith and patience. Here now is the office — follow me." For about a week all went well. Anthony's frank erood nature soon put him on terms of good-fellowship with his brother clerks, and he seemed on the high road to happiness once more, when all at once the clouds lowered over him again. One morning he went into the office and not a voice returned his cheerful salutation. Everybody seemed too bupy to notice him. "It has com?," thought Anthony, hanging up his hat and walking into Mr. Ledue's private office, where a desk had been placed for him. Mr. Ledus himself arrived about an hour afterward, and he was scarcely seated when the heai clerk from the outside office brought in a paper and laid it before him. He glanced at it, and then looked up with a frown on his usually calm face. " Send them all in here," he said, sternly. A moment later half-a-dozen of his employes stood before him. most of them looking decidedly uncomfortable. " I understand from this petition," he said, in French, topping the paper, " that you object to an employe of mine. Now, I want you all to understand, that I am perfectly well aware of Mr Greyson's hit-tory ; that I knew what I was about when I employed him ; and that I intend to keep him in his present position until he leaves it of his own accord. If any or all of you are not satisfied with my arrangements, you are at liberty to send in your resignations. You may go." TVe little knot of clerks made their exit with an alacrity that would have amused Anthony had he not been overwhelmed at the moment with shame and mortification. Mr. Leduc looked at his crimson face and smiled. '• Come, come, this will not do, mon ami," he said reprovingly, but there was genuine sympathy in his eyes, nevertheless. '' It i& only what I warned you of. You must have courage, courage. Oh,

yes, they will perhaps send you to — to — how do you say it? to Coventry, eh ? But never mind, the lane that turns not is long, is it not 1 Now we will not speak of it again. Here is a batch of letters, let us get them out at once." After that Anthony found his path a little thorny. None of the protestors sent in their resignation, but they all combined to cut him dead and he could not help feeling it acutely. " I don't think I'd ba so hard on any of them if our positions were reversed," he thought more than once ; and indeed it is probable he would not, for his was one of the rare natures that would rather raise a fallen brother than trample on him because he was down. Once or twice in the days that followed he was tempted to give up his position and leave the city ; but the knowledge that his story would certainly pursue him sooner or later deterred him. The stigma that hung to him was only to be removed by years of honest industry — unless, indeed, which seemed unlikely, the one responsible for the original wrong should confess it and so clear his character. Almost imperceptibly his nature broadened and deepened under the adverse circumstances that surrounded him. -From an easy-going, pleasure-loving youth he developed into a thoughtful, serious-minded man, to whom the world was worth exactly its real value and nothing more ; he had seen beneath its surface and the lesson just learned, without embittering him, cured him of many illusions. He had always been a practical Catholic — indeed, uncommonly so for a young fellow who had been his own maßter from the age of 18 — but his piety had been of a dutiful sort. It was the right and proper thing for a Catholic to go to Church on Sundays, to observe days of abstinence, and to receive the Sacrament several times during the year, and he had been careful to observe all these points — would have felt uncomfortable had he not done so — but his religion had not entered into, and become the best and dearest part of his life as it was now doing. He had not dreamed that it could fill to overflowing the vacancy made in his existence by the , withdrawal of a Pharisaical world ; but it was doing so daily and he rejoiced at the discovery. Truly his tribulations had not been in vain. Happiness and prosperity, fair fame and the respect of his fellows might all be his in the future, but he would never again be in danger of placing fictitious value upon them. Then one day his faith and patience were rewarded. Mr. Leduc came to him with a newspaper and pointed out a paragraph which ran thus : "if Anthony Grey3on, late of Wayington and Sons, will call at the General Hospital, he will hear of something to his advantage." " Take your hat and go at once, my boy," said the merchant kindly ; and Anthony hurried off, the prey of coniending hopes and fears. When he reached the hospital he was shown up into a ward that a glance revealed to him was occupied chiefly by consumptives. A nurte mot him as he entered, and when he told her who he was, she led him to the end of the ward where a screen was drawn around one of the beds. " The person who advertised for you is in there," she said, and returned to her duty, leaving Anthony to anuouuee himself to the invisible patient. I He walked softly around the end of the screen and found himself face to face with a man who had been a fellow-clerk in Wayingtons ; but so worn, and emaciated that Anthony was a full minute before he recognised him. " You have come at last, I am glad," said the sick man with difficulty. '• I was afraid you had gone away." .Anthony took one of the shadowy white hanls in his own and pressed it sympathetically. " I had no idea you were here, l'reston, or I §hould have come to see you sooner," he said kindly. '■ Is there anything fcan do for you ?" "The t-irock of-seeii)gf>im oW atqxuxiut- _, ance in such a condition had made him forget momentarily the peculiar circumstance that had caused the meeting. " You can't do anything for me except grant me your forgiveness,' 1 answered the other feebly. "It was I who took Wiiyingtou's pocket-book — I who put it in your trunk when I found detection inevitable, and I who let you go to the gaol when a word would have saved you. It was to tell you this that I advertised for you. I suppose I ought not; to expect you to forgive me, it was a terrible wrong ; but it you knew wnat I have suffered since, I don't think you would find it in your heart to let me go into eternity unforgiven." The beads of moisture stood around his brow and lips and he closed his eyes as he spoke. Perhaps he dreaded reproach or invective. Anthony sat as if turned to stone. In all his speculations as to the identity of the one who planned his ruin, he had never once thought of Gilbert Preston. It was not in human nature to recall the misery, mental and physical, that this man's cowardly act had been the cause of inflicting upon him, and it all recurred to him with the vividness of a flaih of lightniDg. But the memory and the feelings it evoked lasted only long enough to remind him that he would one day ne- d a generous pardon himself, and there was no trace of anger in his face or voice as he leaned over and wiped the perspiration irom the face of the dying man, saying gently at the same tune : '• i forgive you as I hope to be forgiven myself. Are you strong enough to tell me how it happened f ' Preston opened his' eyes and looked up, an expression of relief struggling with shame in his perp <cr thin face. " You are wry generous, Greyson,"' be said weakly. " '] hank God , I had the courage to speak ;it bas taken a load off my mind. Yes, I will tell you how it happened. I had got into trouble — gambling debts ; and the fellow 1 owed them to, threaten* d to write and tell Mr. Wayingt(n if I did not pay up by a certain date. You know the sort of n;au the boss was ; he'd have turned me out there and then if he'd known the rig I was running and that would have meant ruin to me. I was desperate — didn't know which way to turn — and that very day Mr. Wayington left a wallet on his desk with five hundred dollars

in it that he was about to take to the bank. So many of us were passing in and out that I fancied the suspicion was not likely to fall upon me more than another, and I put the wallet in my pocket and went out to lunch as usual, taking the opportunity to run round to my boarding 1 house and hide the money before going back. When I returned to the office the place was in an uproar. The money had been missed and old W ayington was raving about like a madman. Everyone had to Bubmit to being searched, as you no doubt remember ; but as half of the staff had been out for lunch of course the search was useless. You have reason to remember how that afternoon passed and the misery everyone was in. Well, as soon as five struck I hurried home and secured the wallet and was just about to set off with it to pay my persecutor when I heard strange voices downstairs, and looking over the balustrades I saw a detective coming up ; a man I knew very well by sight, as it happened. " It flashed upon me at once that Wayington had set him to hunt down the thief before the money should have been got rid of. and I felt myself in a trap. He would certainly not let me go until he had searched my room and myself thoroughly. My heart died within me and I looked about for a means of escape. Your room, you remember was next to mine, and had two doors ; one leading into the hallway and the other into my room. I knew you never locked either, and so I slipped back into my own room, passed into yours, and threw the wallet into your trunk, which was standing open. Then I went back again and met the detective as he entered my room. "Of course a search followed. He went into every nook and cranny, and searched me from head to foot — I am sure he suspected me, for I must have looked guilty — of course he found nothing to reward him. He went into your room and I went with him, he hunted nearly everywhere before he went to the trunk, and I was hoping he would not touoh it, for it did not lock a likely hiding place with the lid flung back the way it was. He did go into it however and — and — you know the rest. " There was no one to prove that you had not visited your room since morning — the street door was open all day and you might have gone in and out a dozen times without being noticed — so your only defence broke down and you were punished for my crime while I stood by and held my peace. When I think of it I wonder how you can forgive me." He paused exhausted, and Anthony gave him a spoonful of wine. "Don't say any more about it," said the latter sadly, " you didn't do it through spite or malice, but just to save yourself. Let it go now, it is all over and I am none the worse, thank God." " You shall be none the worse, for I have put a written confession in the hands of the doctor who attends me, with instructions to publish it as soon as lam dead," said the sick man, feverishly. " I meant to die without trying to see you, but I could not. I dared not face the next world until 1 knew you had forgiven me. Surely God will not refuse what His creature grants. Do you think He will ?"• •' G-od never refuses to hear the penitent sinner," said Anthony, reverently. " Have you — have you seen a clergyman .'" He felt diffident about asking the question, for Preston was not of the household of faith The sick man bhook his head wearily. What good can they do me ? he asked. '• Read a chapter of Scripture and extemporize a prayer ; I can do that myself. If I had time enough left me I'd study up your religion. It mubt be immensely comforting to you Catholics to believe that the Lord allows His ministers to assure you of forgivem ss, so that you won't go out of lite in a state of uncertainty. But Tin too late for that now, and must take my chance." '• Not at all, if you are thoroughly in earnest," said Anthony, eagerly. •• Since you don't care to have one of your own ministers, will you have one of mine ?" '•If you think he can help me, bring him by all means," said Preston. '• Who knows, perhaps he may be able to me back the peace of mind 1 lost twelve months ago, when I wronged you so teiribly. Do you know, Greybon," he added, with a ghost of a smile, •' I think you are responsible for the disease that is taking me off, because I went to the dogs altogether after that time. My sins didn't avail me much, after ;ill, fur old Wayington gave me the bounce before you'd been in gaol a month. Heigho ! What a hand I've made of niyt-tlf . But go now, like a good chap, and bring one of your priests to me ; he may be able to patch my poor soul up a bit before it bets out on its long voyage." T^ie anxiety in his sunken eyes gave a denial to the seeming flippancy of his words, and Anthony went away with a warm thrill of exultation in his heart. Surely to help this poor storm-beaten derelict into port was a revenge worth having ! Half an hour afterwards he returned in company with a grayhaired priest, whom thirty years of missionary labour had familiarised with all the weakness and frailties of poor human nature. A man who had been all things to all men that he might gain them to Christ. Leaving the Father with the dying man, Anthony sought out the hospital authorities and arranged with them to remove him into a private ward, where he anl the priest could have access to him at all hours. This done he went away, treading upon air, to recount to his kind patron all that had befallen him. Mr. Leduc congratulated him warmly, and then marched out to th other office and informed the clerks that Mr. Greyson's character had been cleared of all stain, and that they should Know the name of the real criminal before long. It was, however, nearly a fortnight before Gilbert Preston passed away, comforted and sustained by the Sacraments of the Church, into which he had been brought almost by a miracle. Friends--, old and new, flocked around Anthony Oreyson when his innocence was established, and Mr. Wayington would fain have had him back at almost double his former salary, but Anthony was faithful to the interests of Mr. Leduc, to whom he felt he was under obligations that he could never repay.

Years have passed since then, and the one time convict is now a prosperous merchant, distinguished amongst his fellow-merchants for honesty and integrity, but especially known by those who know him be3t as an ardent and zealous promoter of the devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in whose honour his life and fortune are spent. — The Irish Catholic.