poor woman--and no more! Now, sit down at that table, and write as I
dictate."
The man looked at him in wonder, but obeyed.
"Write," said Brooks, "'I hereby certify that my accusations against the
late Pulaski Wade of Heavy Tree Hill are erroneous and groundless, and
the result of mistaken identity, especially in regard to any complicity
of his in the robbery of John Stubbs, deceased, and Henry Brooks, at
Heavy Tree Hill, on the night of the 13th August, 1854.'"
The man looked up with a repulsive smile. "Who's the fool now, Cap'n?
What's become of your hold on the widder, now?"
"Write!" said Brooks fiercely.
The sound of a pen hurriedly scratching paper followed this first
outburst of the quiet Brooks.
"Sign it," said Brooks.
The man signed it.
"Now go," said Brooks, unlocking the door, "but remember, if you should
ever be inclined to revisit Santa Ana, you will find ME living here
also."
The man slunk out of the door and into the passage like a wild animal
returning to the night and darkness. Brooks took up the paper, rejoined
Mrs. Wade in the parlor, and laid it before her.
"But," said the widow, trembling even in her joy, "do you--do you think
he was REALLY mistaken?"
"Positive," said Brooks coolly. "It's true, it's a mistake that has cost
you a hundred dollars, but there are some mistakes that are worth that
to be kept quiet."
*****
They were married a year later; but there is no record that in after
years of conjugal relations with a weak, charming, but sometimes trying
woman, Henry Brooks was ever tempted to tell her the whole truth of the
robbery of Heavy Tree Hill.
THE MERMAID OF LIGHTHOUSE POINT
Some forty years ago, on the northern coast of California, near the
Golden Gate, stood a lighthouse. Of a primitive class, since superseded
by a building more in keeping with the growing magnitude of the adjacent
port, it attracted little attention from the desolate shore, and, it was
alleged, still less from the desolate sea beyond. A gray structure of
timber, stone, and glass, it was buffeted and harried by the constant
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