Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1870-12-24
blue eyes klndling, when the vessel had righted.

blue eyes kindling, when the vessel had righted.
HE is the nobIest man jn the world. He will
welcome my friends as his own. You will love
bim, Jasper, as | do, when you know him.
He doesn't seem very affectionatc, re
marked Lowder. You have been away FROM
your home for five years. and he has but just
recalled you!'
Young Tressiliau's cheeks flushed, as Lowder
saw 10 The lurid glow that momentarly llghted
up the tempestuous scene.
"Y GU know, or can guess, the reason. Jas
per" he said, with something OF an effort
My father has ward; the daughter OF an o,d
friend. Alb hear that wind shrek The gale
is increasing !"
YES" assented Lowder And the ward is
Miss lrby-the golden haired Blanche OF whom
| you have talked 50 much. and with whom you
have exchanged letters p
Eyes. My father formed PR, .ct to have
me marry Blanche. Ho did not wish US 10
grow up together, lest We should learn to re
gard each other as brother and sister. When
Blanche came to live at the Court my father
sent me to Germany. The Dight before l lett
home, he called me into his library and tod me
all his hopes and plans for my future, aod en-
| treated me TO continue worthy OF his innocent
ward, and to keep my heart pure Tor her. |
have done so, Jasper. have never yet loved
| any woman. And yesterday received my
| fathers summons to come home tie has re-
called me after five years OF abscLce. l know
| the wish that lies nearest his heart. lie wants
mo to return and marry Blanche. shrink
! from the proposed marriage. dread going
home. And dread offending my dear father,
whom love better than ary woman. 1t is
hard, Jasper, to revolt against the hopes aud
plans OF kind and generous father, whose very
| love for me causes him to urge oD this mar
riage" 49,
strange smile full OF sneering bitterness. My
experience bas been widely different from yours,
Tressiliau. Did l ever tell you OF my tather?'
mo. took it for granted that be is dead. "
perhaps he is. | don't know" said Low
der, with reckless laugh but it he is living,
he is scoundreI. Don't start, TressiliaD, at
| my un6Iial speech Wait till you hear my
| story. am in desperate mood to night
This storm stirs up all the bad within me. As
nearly as can discover, my father was the
younger son OF proud old country family
You do not know, then?' asked Trsssilian,
| pressing his companion hand.
II have no proofs OF it. All | positi Vely
know it this. My mother was OF humble sta.
ton, pretty, with blue eyes and an apple bios
som tace. and tender appealing ways. She
was the dauQ hter of widow residing 10 Brgh-
ton. The widow, my grandmother, kept a
| odging house, and my father, gay, dashlng
young fellow, came to lodge with her. AS
| might have been expected, he tell IN love With
| his andady's daughter. He offered the young
girl marriage, on condition that the union
should he kept secret until his affairs brighten.
| ed and he chose to dlvulge it. The young girl
nh md
penurious. The result was the lover had his
way and married the daughsEE Of 9 BIS Ja5E aAEt1dlss ls
55tids 5GIdIsr to London, TO cheap and obscure lodk
mos where, o year later, was born.
Tho wind for u moment drowned his voice
As it presently luled, he resumed recklessly'
and with passionate bitterness.
For years my mother aud L lived IN those
stuffy, obscure lodgings until her bloom had
faded, and she had grown thlu and wan and
nervous. My father visited US at stated sea-
sons, once or twice week, but lie never
brought any OF his family to call upon lis. |
doubt if his aristocratlc relatives even suspected
the existence OF the faded wife and son OF
whom he was secretly ashamed. have good
reason 10 believe that he bad fine lodgings at
the West Eod. where be was supposed to be a
bachelor, and that be went into fashionable
society. while my poor mother and lived OBJ
scurejy. He was profigate and roue. but
he had an air of fashion that awakened my
boyish admiration. and aroused my mother 5
affectiona,e pride 10 him. She was always
pleading to be introduced to his relatives. and
70 have her son publicly acknowledged. But
nv father always put her off, saying that he
was not vet really. Worn out and despalrng,
nv mother died when | was ten years old.
Agaiu the wind shrieked past, again the little
| vessel lurched, the sea sweeping her deck.
The captain screamed his orders to MS men,
and Tor few minutes disorder rtigned.
"A nasty bit of weather!' said Lowder.-
And bad sky - ,n
"Yes, but I've seen as bad,' returned Tres
sIian. "We shall make port all right, never
tear. We must be well on towards the Cape
di Gallo. And it's only seven miles from the
Cape to Palermo
but the seven miles 10 this storm are worse
than seventy in good weather. These coasts
are dangerous, TressiliaD.
Lowder shuddered as he surveyed sea and
but about your father, Jasper?" said Tres
siiap who had become deeply interested IN his
com panion's story. What did he do after
your mother death p
II remained at the old lodgings with our
single old servant month or more, my la'ner
visiting me several times, and expressing aDxle
ty as to what he should do with me. week
alter NY mothers death, he told me that his
brother was dead. A mouth later, his father
was killed by being thrown from his horse
My father came iuto riches and honors oy
these deaths At last, deciding to rid himself
of me, he took me down to Brighton, to my
old grandmother. Her sons were dead ; she
had giving up keeping lodgers. and was grown
misery. He promised her, five hundred
pounds year TO keep me. and TO keep also
the secret of my paternity. solemnIy promis-
ing to acknowledge 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. lWent
to school, grew up, and at the age of twenty
one came into my erandmother's money, the
fruits of years Of saving, she dying at that
time. My father had deliberately abandon,
ed me. | did not know where to seek him,
il had wished to- took my mopey aud
-, ,hrood T had haen TWO years on the