nterest in the contents. It was
"One-eyed Dutchy" who handed it to the owner, and stood there watching
out of his single eye the face of his former master. The old man
smiled as he folded the letter and put it into his pocket, saying as
he did so: "By next ship I leave for Hamburg to take life up where I
laid it down."

_A Statesman Under a Cloud_

I was sitting on the bench near the door in the bunk-house one day at
twilight, when I noticed a profile silhouetted against the window. I
had seen only one profile like that in my life, and that was when I
was a boy.

I moved closer. The man sat like a statue. His face was very pale, and
he was gazing vacantly at the walls in the rear of the building.

Finally I went over and sat down beside him.

"Good evening," he said quietly, in answer to my salutation.

I looked into his face--a face I knew when a boy, a face familiar to
the law-makers of Victoria for a quarter century.

I called him by name. At the sound of his own name his paleness turned
to an ashy yellow.

"In Heaven's name," I said, "what are you doing here?"

He looked at me with an expression of excruciating pain on his face,
and said:

"I have traveled some thousands of miles in order to be alone; if you
have any kindness, any pity, leave me."

"Pardon me," I said, "for intruding."

That night the Ex-Club invited him to take part in their deliberations.
He refused, and his manner showed that he considered the invitation
an insult.

I had known this man as a brilliant orator, a religious leader, the
champion of a sect. In a city across the sea I had sat as a
bare-legged boy on an upturned barrel, part of an immense crowd,
listening to the flow of his oratory. Next day he left the bunk-house.
Some weeks afterward I found him on a curbstone, preaching to whoever
of the pedestrians would listen.

At the close of his address I introduced myself again. He took me to
his new lodging, and I put the questions that filled my mind. For
answer, he gave me the House of Commons Blue Book, which explained the
charge hanging over him. Almost daily, for weeks, I heard him on his
knees proclaim his innocence of the unmentionable crime with which he
was charged. After some weeks of daily association, he said to me: "I
believe you are sent of God to guide me, and I am prepared to take
your advice."

My advice was ready. He turned pale as I told him to pack his trunk
and take the next ship for England.

"Fac