Argosy, Vol. 1 (December 9, 1882) — page 164: what you’re looking at

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

THE HERMIT’S SECRET. 157 The captain of the Hebe told the story as it had been related to him by both the capitalist and his wife; and the listener gave the closest attention to it. ‘‘ But in spite of that story, Mr. Gayland may be your father,” said Cavan, when the young man had finished his narrative. “He may have been se- cretly married for reasons of his own, and did not care to reveal the facts to his young wife, or let her know that he had a son. Such things have happened, and I had something to do with a case in New York not unlike it.” “The only difficulty I have in believing that such a thing might be is in the fact that Mr. Gayland is an honest and true man; and he said that I was not his son,” was Phil’s comment. | “Of course he could not acknowledge you. But I have not mentioned the fact which suggested this idea to me, Paul,” continued Cavan. “If you were only his adopted son, and he found that you were a villain, wicked enough to rob his house after he had given you a thousand dollars only the day before, he would have been willing to drop you, cast you out like an un- clean thing, and let you go to prison where you deserved to be.” “T think so myself.” ° “Instead of doing this he is deeply grieved at your conduct, and-is ready to save you from the consequences of the alleged crime. Only himself, his wife and I know that you visited the house as one of the burglars, for he almost swore me to secrecy, and insisted that his wife should not mention the fact.” “He seems to be even more devoted to me than I had supposed,” added Phil, wiping the moisture from his eyes. “I have not seen him for a month when he did not repeat his injunction to be silent in regard to you; and he told me he had even threatened his wife if she ever betrayed the secret.” “T don’t understand the relations between Sparks Gayland and his aunt; but she seems to be quite as much devoted to him as her husband is to me,” said Phil, looking to the agent for a possible explanation. “ He is a good looking young fellow, and he has done everything he could to work himself into her good graces, evidently for the purpose of obtaining her influence with her husband in the disposal of his property. But Sparks has ruined himself.” ‘“T should say that he had if the whole truth comes out.” “TIt-must come out!” exclaimed Cavan, manifesting more excitement than he was in the habit of displaying. “If I hand this money over to Mr. Gayland, saying that you brought it to me, it will look to him as it did to me, that you had simply concluded to return your ill gotten gain. That will not do just yet. You said that the two burglars had another job on their hands.” “TI did; ” and Phil repeated some portion of his former narrative. ‘Possibly it will be better to let them carry out their plan; and then there will be no doubt about their intentions, for the return of this money by you has a bad look.” Just then, with the remembrance of what he had heard at the shanty re- peated a moment before, something more of the talk of the burglars came back to him, and he leaped out of his chair as a new train of ideas came into his mind with startling force. cComicbooax<s COLNT —_ a