Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1871-01-11

ana dread OffcndlDG my utaT idlAef, WHoul
| love better than any woman. Is hard
Jasper, to revolt against the hopes and
plans of kind and generous father, whose
very love for me causes him to urge on this
marriage
is it p said Lowder, dryly, and with a
strange smile full of bitterness. My ex.
perience has been widely different from
yours, Tressiian. Did [ ever tell you oi
my father?'
No. | took it for granted that he is
dead
Perhaps he is. I don't know" said
Lowder with reckless laugh But if he
is living. he is a scoundrel Don't start,
Tressiian, at my unilial speech. Wait till
you hear my story. | am in desperate
mood to night. This storm stits up all the
bad within me. As nearly as | can discov-
er, my father was the younger son of a
| proud old county family
~ on do not know, then p asked Tres
sillan, prc ssing bis companion hand.
Il have no proofs of IT, All positively
know is this. Ny mother was Of humble
station, pretty, with blue eyes and apple
! blossom face, and tender, appealing ways
She was the daughter Of a widow residing
at Brighton. The widow. NV grandmother,
| kept lodging house, and my father, gay,
dashing 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 condi-
! tion that the union should be kept secret
until his affairs frightened and he chose
| TO diVulge 1t. The young girl loved him.
| Her mother was ambitions and penurious.
The result was the lover had his way. and
married the daughter OF his iandlady quiet
! ly, almost secretly. The he took his bride
! IL, J i l. l..
where, year later, | was born"
| The wind for = moment drowned his
voice. As it presently lulIed, he resumed
j recklessly, and with passionate bitterness :
For years my mother and lived in those
| stuffy, obscure lodgings until her bloom had
faded, and she had grown thin ard 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
L doubt II his arlstOcratlc relatives even
suspected the existence Of The faded wife
and son of whom he was secretly ashamed
| L have good reason to believe that he had
| fine lodgings at the West End, where he
was supposed to be a bachelor, and that he
went into fashionable society, while my poor
mother and / lived obscurely. He was a
| profligate and roue but he had an air Of
fashion that awakened my b0yish admira-
| pride in him. She was always pleading to
be introduced to his relatives, and to have
her son publicly acknowledged. But ply
father always put her off, saying that he
was not yet ready. Worn out and despair
ing, 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 a few minutes disorder reigned
"A nasty bit of weather, said Lowder.
And bad sky
Yes, but I've seen as bad" returned
Tressilisn. I'VE shall make port all right,
never fear. We must be well on toward
the Cape di Gallo. And it's only seven
miles from the Cape to Palermo.
But the seven miles in this storm are
worse than seventy in good weather. The
coasts are dangerous, Tressilian."
| Lowder shuddered as he surveyed sea and
sky.
But about your father, Jasper ?" said
Tressilian, who had become deeply interest;
ed in his companions story. What did
he do after your mothers death p
Il remained at the old lodgings with our
single old servant month or more, my faith
er visiting me several times, and expressing
anxiety as to what he should do with me.
4 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 father came into riches and
honors by these deaths At last, deciding
to rid himself OF me, he took me down to
Brighton to my grandmother. Her sons
were dead she had given up keeping loig
ers, and was grown misery. He promised
her five hundred younds year to keep me,
and to keep also the secret Of my paternity,
solemnly promising some day to acknowl-
edge me as his son and heir. The old wo
man agreed to c.Try out his wishes. She
would have done anything for money. /
never saw my father again. | went to school,
grew up, and at the age of twenty one came
into my grandmother money, the fruits of
years of saving, she dying at that time. My
father had deliberately abandoned me. |
did not know where TO fud him, if had
wished to. ! took my money and cane a
| broad. had been two years on the Contl-
nent. and had spent my little fortune when
met you. The rest you know"
AN odd, romantic story But why did
your father abandon you?"
That lie might be freed Of encumbrance
/ TO make grandmarrlaCe. From what my
| grandmother said at different times, | con-
/ clude that my father was in love with q tt
/ tied lady before my mothers death. No
/ DOUBT he married this lady If he lives
/ this lady's son may be his acknowledged
! heir. My father has utterly disowned the
son OF his first hasty, illstarred marriage |
have fancy that | shall meet him some
day, and Jasper brow darkcned to deeper
blackness. However, / stand no chance of
ever receiving justice at his hands
Nv hat is your fathers name, Jasper 2"
asked Tressilian.
Lowder's face darkened He bit his lips
savagely.
What ] have told you about myself
learned from my own observation, or from
chance words of my parents and grandmoth-
! er. My mothers maiden name was Jeans
ette Lowder At our London Lodgings my
| father bore the name of LoHder. I dor t
know his real name, but | should know his
| face anywhere, although have not seen him
IN thirteen years. My mother was actually
married, Tressilian. but | neger heard my
father name. The clergyman who married
my mother was dead; the witnesses also.
When my grandmother was dying she tried
| to tell me she story She had put it off too
long. All that could understand of her
mumblIngs was the name Of Devereux. |
shall never forget that name-'Devereux =
Probably that was my fathers name-my
own rightful name. But as l should never
! G,J liz. H., - \