All in a garden fair; the simple story of three boys ... - University Library

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ALL L\ A GARDEN FAIR.
leavinc: a letter in which he confessed all. Your
father was ruined.'
* What had he—Stephens—done, mother ? '
' I do not know. That is, I knew once,
because they told me. But I have forgotten,
I know no longer. He had robbed all the
money, he had borrowed more in the name of
the Firm ; everything was gone, credit as well
as money. Your father's good name was gone ;
no one, he said, would ever believe that he
knew nothing of the frauds—think of the word
fraud— the frauds perpetrated by his partner ;
ruin and disgrace were before him, very likely ;
most likely, he said, a criminal prosecution and
a prison. Think of that, Allen. Oh !
boy, you
have wondered why your mother never laughed
she can never laugh again, because of that
night. All these things he told me in a quiet,
cold way, without any anger or any hope, so
that I knew his heart was quite broken. Pre-
sently, it was then half-past eleven, he kissed
me—oh ! God
of mercy, it was the last kiss he
would ever give me, my dear—my good— my