Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-12-31

! "My father has ward. the daughter of al
old friend.-Ah! hear that wind shrek
The gale is increasingw
eyes," assented Lowder. "And the ware
is Miss Irby-the golden haired Blanche o
whom you have talked so much. and witt
whom you have exchanged letters?"
"Yes. My father formed project to have
me marry Blanche. He did not wish us tc
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 night before left
home, he called me into his library and told
me all his hopes and plans for my future, and
entreated Inc to continue worthy of his inno-
cent ward, and to keep my heart pure for her.
l have done so, Jasper. l have never yet
loved any woman. And yesterday received
my fathers summons to come home. He has
recalled me after five years of absence.
know the wish that lies nearest his heart. He
wants me to return and marry Blanche.
shrink from the proposed marriage. /
dread going home. And l dread offending
my dear father, whom love better than any
woman. 1t is hard to revolt against the
hopes and plans of kind and generous IA
ther, whose very love for me causes him to
urge on this MARRIAGE
''Is it?" said Lowder dryly, and with a
strange smile full of sneering bitterness.
''My experience has been widely different
from yours, Tressilian. Did l ever tell you
of my father?"
"No. Itook it for granted that he is dead. ~
"Perhaps he is. don't know, said Low
der, with reckless laugh. ''But if he is liv-
ing, he is scoundrel. Don't start, Tressil-
ian, at my unflial speech. Wait till you hear
my story. am ina desperate mood to- night.
This storm stirs up all the bad within me.
AS nearly as I can discover, my father was
the younger son of proud old county fam
lily"
"You do notknow then?" asked Tressilian,
pressing his companions hand.
II have no proofs of it. All positively
know is this. My mother was of humble
station, pretty, with blue eyes and an apple
blossom face, and tender, appealing ways.
She was the daughter of widow, residing at
Brighton. The widow, my grandmother,
kept lodging-house, and my father, gay,
dashng young fellow, 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 the union
should be kept secret until his affairs bright
ened and he chose to divulge it. The young
girl loved him. Her mother was ambitious
anu He result was tue lover Ildu
his way, and married the daughter of his
landlady quietly, almost secretly. Then he
took his bride to London, to cheap and obscure
lodgings, where, year later, l was born"
The wind for moment drowned his voice.
As it presently lulled, he resumed recklessly,
and with passionate bitterness:
'For years my mother and l lived in those
stuffy, obscure lodgings until her bloom had
faded, and she had grown thin, and wan and
nervous. My father visited us at stated sea-
sons, once or twice week, but he never
brought any of his family to call upou us.
doubt if his arstocratic relatives ever sus-
pected the existence of the faded wife and son
of whom he was secretly ashamed. l have
good reason to believe thathe had fine lodgings
at the West End, and was supposed to be
bachelor, and that he went into fashionable
society, while my poor mother and lived
obscurely. He was a profiigate and roue,
but he had an air of fashion that awakened my
boyish admiration, and aroused my mothers
affectionate pride in 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
little vessel lurched, the sea sweeping her
deck
The captain screamed his orders to his men,
and for few minutes disorder reigned.
"a nasty bit of weather." said Lowder.
'And bad sky!'
Eyes, but / have seen as bad, returned
Tressilan. eve shall make port all right,
never fear. We must be well on towards the
Cape di Gallo. And it is 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 surveyed sea and
sky.
''But about your father, Jasper?" said Tres
silian, who had become deeply interested in
his companions story. "What did he do after
your mothers deathf'
~ relnained at our old lodgings with our
single old servant month or more, my father
visiting me several times, and expressing anx-
iety as to what he should do with me. A week
after my mothers death he told me that his
brother was dead. A month later his father was
killed by being thrown from his horse. My IA
ther came into riches and honors by these
AT last, deciding to rid himself 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
He promised her FIVE hundred pounds
a year to keep me, and to keep also the secret
of my paternity, sOlemnly promising to ac-
me some day as his son and heir
The old woman agreed to carry out his wish
es. She would have done anything for mon
ey. l never saw my father again. l wentto
school, grew up, and at the age of twenty one
came into my grandmother's money, the fruits
of years of saving, she dying at that time My
father had deliberately abandoned me. did
not know where to seek him if had wished to-
/ took my money and came abroad. had been
two years on the Continent and had spent
my little fortune when met you. The rest
you know.
San odd, romantic story. But why did
your father abandon your"
''That he might be freedof encumbrance to
make grand marriage. From what my grand
mother said at different times, conclude that
my father was in love with a titled lady before
my mothers death. No doubt he married this
lady. Ifhe lives, this lady's son may be his ac-
heir. My father has utterly dis
owned the son Of HIS first hasty, i'll starred
have fancy that l shall meet
him some day." and Jasper's brow darkened to
deeper blackness. 'However, | stand no
chance of ever receiving justice at his hands"
ssWhat is your fathers name Jasper 2"