"Now that I was my own master I was brought face to face
with the problem of making my own way in the world, and of
some day being able to have a home of my own. Through some
college friends I was not long in getting a place in a bank in
Richmond. Here I go,t along quite well until I made the mistake
that ruined my life. The old conservative way of making money
seemed so slow that I began to look around to find a shorter cut to
wealth. Why not try my hand at stocks? I thought. At first I
was quite successful and was led to risk a larger amount. Of
course I never meant to be dishonest, for I always expected to pay
it back. But the evil day came at last, and I found myself an
embezzler. What should I do? There was no one to whom I
could turn. I was too proud to apply to my father. The only
thing left was flight. So I came up here a fugitive from justice.
The first winter was very hard. I worked in lumber camps, and,
later, along the river. Very little news could I get from home.
Once in a while a letter from Margery would reach me in the
woods, and if it hadn’t been for the assurance that she was still
true Ido not believe I would be here now. One day there came a
message which thrilled me through and through. She had grown
weary of waiting, she said, and was coming to share with me the
life of an exile.
“I can never forget her coming. It was a glorious day in the
late fall, just when the maples were turning into great cones of
yellow and orange and red. I remember so well that she spoke of
them as we drove along the road. We were married the day after
in the quiet little village of Beaulieu, and our nex-t thought was
about a home. Our log job that winter was along the Madawaska,
so I built a little cabin within easy reach of the camp. How
bright and happy were those first days of our life. Sometimes,
now, when the memory of them rushes over me, I find myself
asking why a merciful God should have allowed such a sorrow to
come into mv life.
"That winter was unusually long and severe. It was after
Christmas that I first noticed that her health was failing. She