Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-12-29

all his hopes and plans for my future, ant
entreated me to continue worthy OF hi
innocent ward, and to keep my heart pur'
for her. | have done so, Jasper. l hav'
never yet loved any woman. And yester
day I received my fathers summons t.
come home. He has recalled me afte
five years of absence. I know the wisl
that lies nearest his heart. He wants nj
to return and marry Blanche. I shrink
from the proposed marriage. 1 dreat
going home. And I dread offending my
dear father, whom I love better than any
woman. 1t is hard, Jasper, to revol
against the hopes and plans of a kind ane
generous father, whose very love for mi
causes him to urge on this marriage !"
els it 2" said Lowder dryly, and will
strange smile full of sneering bitterness
"My experience has been widely different
from yours, Tressilian. Did | ever tel
you of my father ?'
"No. took it for granted that he /:
| dead"
"Perhaps he is. l don't know" sale
Lowder, with a reckless laugh. But il
he is living, he is scoundrel. Don't
start, Tressilian, at my unflial speech
Wait till you hear my story. | am in
desperate mood tonight. This storm
stirs up all the bad within me. As nearly
as 1 can discover, my father was the
younger son of a proud old county
family"
"You do not know, then :" asked Tres
silian, pressing his companions hand.
81 have no proofs of it. All | posi-
lively know is this. My mother was Of
humble station, pretty, with blue eyes and
an apple blossom face, and tender, appeal
ing ways. She was the daughter of a
widow residing at Brighton. The widow,
my grandmother, kept lodging house,
and my father, gay, dashing young fell
low, came to lodge with her. AS might
have been expected, he fell in love with
his landlady's daughter. He offered the
young girl marriage, on condition that the
union should be kept secret until his affairs
frightened, and he chose to divulge it.
The young girl loved him. Her mother
was ambitious and penurious, The result
was the lover had his way, and married
| the daughter of his landlady quietly al
most secretly. Then he took his bride to
London, to cheap and obscure lodgings,
where, a year later, | was born"
The wind for a momen. drowned his
voice. As 1t presently lulled, he resumed
recklessly, and with passionate bitter
ness:
For years my mother and l lived In
those stufy, obscure lodgings, until her
bloom had faded, and she had grown thin
and wan and nervous. My father visited
US at stated seasons, once or twice week,
but he never brought any of his family to
call upon US. | doubt if his aristocratic
relatives even suspected the existence of
the faded wife and son of whom he was
secretly ashamed. have good reason to
believe that he had fine lodgings at the
West End, where he was supposed to be
bachelor, and that he went into fashion
able society, while my poor mother and l
lived obscurely. He was profigate and
a roue, but he had an air of fashion that
awakened my boyish admiration, and
aroused my mothers afectionate pride in
him. She was always pleading to be in
troduced to his relatives, and to have her
son publicly acknowledged But my
father always put her off, saying that he
was not yet ready. Worn out and de-
spairing, my mother died when I was ten
years DID,
Again the wind shrieked past, again
the little vessel lurched, the sea sweeping
her deck.
The captain screamed his orders to his
men, and for few minutes disorder
reigned.
ga nasty bit of weather." said Lowder.
"And bad sky ~
Yes, but I've seen as bad" returned
Tressiian. We shall make port all
right, never fear. We must be well on
toward the Cape di Gallo. And its only
seven miles from the Cape to Palermo"
" But the seven miles in this storm are
worse than seventy in good weather
These coasts are dangerous, Tressilian."
Lowder shuddered as he surve yed sea
and sky
"But about your father, Jasper ?" said
Tressllian, who had become deeply in
terested in his companions story "What
did he do after your mothers death ?"
remained at the old lodgings with
our single old servant month or more,
my father visiting me several times, and
expressing anxiety as to what he should
do with me. A week after my mothers
death, he told Ime that his brother was
dead. A month later, his father was
killed by being thrown from his horse.
My father came into riches and honors by
these deaths. At last, deciding to rid him
self of me, he took me down to Brighton,
to my old grandmother. Her sons were
dead she had given up keeping dodgers,
and was grown misery. He promised
her five hundred pounds year to keep
me, and to keep also the secret of my
paternity, solemnly promising to ackow-
ledge me some day as his son and heir.
The old woman agreed to carry out his
wishes. She would have done anything
for money. [ never saw my father again.
l went to school, grew up, and at the age
of twenty one came intomy grandmother
money, the fruits of years of saving, she
dying at that time. My father had de-
liberately abandoned me. / did not know
where to seek him if had wished to. 1
took my money and came abroad. IIhad
been two years on the Continent, and had
spent my little fortune when | met you.
The rest you know"
can odd, romantic story But why
did your father abandon YOU"
That he might be freed of ncum-
brance to make grand marriage. From
what my grandmother said at different
times, [ conclude that my father was in
love with titled lady before my mothers
death. No doubt he married this lady.
If he lives, this lady's son may be his ac-
knowledged heir. My father has utterly
disowned the son of his first hasty, i'll
starred marriage. [ have fancy that I
shall meet him some day." and Jasrer's
brow darkened to deeper blackness.
However, stand no chance of ever re-
ceiving justice at his hands"
What is your fathers name, Jasper2o
asked Tressilian.