Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1870-12-30

mo. 4LooA AZ ava 6At~As~ N' IO 40
dead" @ q. II
'Perhaps he is. don't know" s0id
Lowfier, with reckless laugh. but if |
Abe Is living, he is scoEndrel. Don't start. |
Tressiliau, at my unfilia1 speech. Wait
till you hear my story. am IN desper,, |
ate mood tonight. This storm Stlrs up Oil
the bad within me. AS nearly as L can
discover. my father was the younger son
of proud old county family
"You do not know, them asked Tres
siliap. pressing his companions hand.
"I have no proofs OF it. All positively
know is this. My mother was of humble
station, pretty, with buo eyes and an
| apple-blossom face, and tender, appeal
| ing ways. She was the daughter OF
widow, residing at Brighton. The widow;
my grandmother, kept lodging house, and
INV father, gay, dashing young fellow,
came to lodge with her. As might have
been expected, he fell in love with bis
>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 dlvulge It,
| The young girl loved him. Her mother
was ambitious and penutlous. The resuit
| " 8 the lover had his way, and married
the daughter of His landlady quietly,
almost secretly. Then he took his bride
to Loudon, to cheap and obscure lodgings,
where, year later, WAS born"
The Wind for moment drowned his
voice. As it presently lulled, he re
sumed recklessly, and with passionate Bit
terness
.sFor years my mother and lived in
those stnffg, obs cure lodgings until her
bloom had faded, and she had grown thin
and wan aud nervous. My father visited
Us at stated seasons, once or twice week,
but be never brought any of his family to
, call upon u.s. [ 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 be was supposed to be a
bachelor, and that be wentinto fashionable
society, while my poor mother and lived
ohscnrely He was profigate and roue,
but ho had an air of fashion that awakened
, my boyish admiration, and aroused my
mothers 8ffectionate pride III him. She
was always pleading to be introduced 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 despairing, my mother died
when was ten years old.
Again the wind shrieked past. again the
D little vessel lurched, the sea sweeping her
deck.
Y The captain screamed his orders TO
his men, and for few minutes disorder
0 reigned.
- ga nasty bit OF weather.! said ho"der'
t ''And bad sky"
/ Eyes. but I've seen as bad returned
= Tressi!ian. Owe shall make port all rlght,
/ never fear. We must be we'll on toward
= the Cape di Gallo. And it's only sever
, miles from the Cape to Palermo"
r ''But the seven miles in this storm are
1 worse than seventy IN good Weatner. IneSe
coasts are dangerous, Tressilian.
4 Lowder sbuddered as he surveyed sea
g and sky. -,
Il "But about your father, Jasper ?" said
Tressilian, who had become deeply inter
+, ested in his companions story. "Wha1
e did he DO after your mothers death"
:. .I remained at the old lodgings with
9 our single old servant a month or more
u nv father visiting me several times, ano
u expressing anxiety rs to what ne snoulo
b do with me. week after my mother
r death. he told me that his brother wa
: dead. a month later. his father was kill
u ed bv being thrown from his horse M,
father came into riches and honors b.
d these deaths. At last, deciding to RI
d himself OF me, be took mo down q
- Brighton, 10 my old grandmother. lie
a sons were dead; she had given up keeping
II lodoers and was grown misery. he PFC
IS missed her five hundred pounds year t
ID keen me, and to keep also the secret OF IN
or paternity, solemnly pro1a1s1Dg to acknoW
" ledge me some day as his son and heii
Is Tho old woman agreed to carry out hi
wishes. She would have done apythin
ee for money. never saw my tatner agalL
@. [ went to school, grew up, and at the az
Of tyenty.one came into my grandmother
TX oonev. the fruits of years Of saving, sh
ID diving ct that time. Ny father had de
ID liberately abandoned mo. [ did not kno
to where to seek him, if [ had wished to-:
,r took nv money and came abroad. i ha
g. been two years on the continent ana IA
10 spent my little fortune when met yo'
III The rest you know" :.
i'll can odd, romantic story But Why Gil
Ill your father abandon you ?"
" .sThat he might be freed OF cncun
nr brance to make grand marriage. Frol
ne what my grand mother said OF dlherei
u. times. I conclude that my father was ]
n love with titled lady before my mother
death. No doubt he married this lad.
W II be lives. this lady's son may be MS o
knowledged heir. My father has utter
disowned the son Of his first hasty, Il
starred marriage. I have q fancy that
l. shall meet him some day." and Jasper
nk brow darkened to deeper blackncss. "Ho
IS ever, stand no chance of ever receiVlr
10 justice at his hands.
"What is your fathers name; Jasper
q asked Tressilian.
cd Lowder's face darkened. He bit his !
"What have told you about myself
,ei learned from my own observation, or fro
-; ;n chance words of my parents and gram
d d mother. My mothers maiden name "
a. jeanette Lowder. At our London LODI
ings, my father bore the name of Lowde
-. I don't know his real name, but L shou
az know his face anywhere, although ha
' @y not seen him in thirteen years. My mot
'"' er was actually married, Tressilian. but
o. never heard my fathers name. The Gle
-. gyman who married my mother was dea'
We the witnesses also. When my grandmoth
''' was dying she tried to tell me the stol
She had put it off too long. Al that
d. could understand OF her mumbllngs "
an tbo 0an1o ~ Daverenx. shall never fl
ter get that name DEvEREUx PrObat
nd that was my fathers name-my own rigl
fnl name. But as I should never find h
the if sought him, and as he would repu
red me if did find him, stand no chance