Argosy, Vol. 1 (1882) — page 270: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

BY FORCE OF CIRCUMSTANCE. a time that he had almost forgotten the sound of it. “Jack,” said the voice. “ Jack— Mr. John—thank God I have found you!” He turned suddenly, to find himself almost in the embrace of a man who was past the prime of life and who bore the unmistakable stamp of ‘a respect- able upper servartt. “ Oh, my lord, you are alive and well, are you not? Iam not dreaming? It is really you? I have searched for you every day all the year; every day; and I knew that I would find you. You will go home with me now, sir? Every- thing is just as you left it. Do you remember, my lord, that it is just one year ago tonight that you went away?” The man talked rapidly, so that Ash- ton had no chance to speak until he had finished; and he was. startled when he was reminded that it was in- deed the anniversary of his going away. “Who are you?” he asked the stranger, wondering if he had really mistaken him for another person, or if the man were crazy. “ Ah, my lord—Mr. Jack—don’t say that you have forgotten Robert. These old arms carried you when you were too young to walk. Don’t say that you do not remember Robert. You will go home with me now, won't you, sir?” “T have not forgotten you, Robert, if that is your name, for the reason that I never knew you,” he said calmly. “ Never knew me? Never knew old Robert? Have you forgotten, my lord, who I am?” “ Robert,” said Ashton, slowly, “I perceive that you are in earnest, and that you mean all you say ; that you be- lieve it. But you have made a mistake. I am not the man you seek. I am not a lord. You are an entire stranger to me. I have never seen you before. You will have to search elsewhere for your master. I wish that I might help you to find him.” The expression of that wish was like 261 a flood of light upon Robert’s intellect. He was positive in his own mind that it was his master who stood before him. He remembered having read _ of strange cases of ‘men who had wan- dered away, forgetful of their own identities, of the faces of old friends, of everything, and he felt sure that Lord John was suffering from a malady of that kind. It explained his strange disappear- ance; it accounted for the continued ‘absence; and it brought a pathetic hap- piness to the old servant, for by reason of it he knew that his master had not wilfully absented himself from his home, his friends and his bride. “ Tf I-can only induce him to go back with me,” was the thought in Robert’s mind when Ashton expressed the wish to assist him in the search for his mas- ter, and he prasped at the straw thus thrown out. “ You are so like him, sir,” he fal- tered, finding it hard to pretend to de- ceive the man before him, whom he so thoroughly believed to be Lord John. “Perhaps you could assist me. Will you tell me your name, sir?” ‘‘ Ashton,” was the calm reply, for the reveries of the day had decided him to put aside the name of Cornell, and to reassume the one given him by Henry Hollister in memory of a college friend. Robert smiled, well pleased, for the name was another proof of the correct- ness of his theory. “ My master is the earl of Ashton, sir. Ashton and Cowingford. Is your given name John, sir?” “Yes. My full name is John Cow- ingford Ashton. I was named for an Englishman ; perhaps he was a relative ‘of your master’s. It is the only way in which I can explain the coincidence. Now what can I do to help you, Robert? ”’ “Oh, you can do a great deal, I know. Will you come home with me and let me tell you the story? ” “No, no; you'can come to me to- morrow. Perhaps it will give me some COMIC OOKS CO