The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1871-01-03


Blanche Of whom you have talked SC
much, and with whom you have exchang.
cd letters ?"
Yes. My father formed u project to
have me marry Blanche. lie did moi
wish us to grow up together, lest We
should learn to regard 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 me to continue worthy Of
his innocent ward, and to keep my hear;
pure for her. have done so, Jasper.
have never loved any woman. And yes
terday l received my fathers summons to
come home. | know the wish that lies
nearest his heart. He wants me to re-
turn and marry Blanche. shrink from
the proposed marriage. l dread going
home. And I dread offending my dear
father, whom l love better than any wo-
man. 1t is hard, jasper, to revolt
against the hopes and plans of a kind and
generous father, whose very love for me
causes him to urge on this marriage !"
d" Is it 2" said Lowder dryly, and with
a strange smile full Of sueering bitterness.
-" My experience has been widely different
from yours, Tressilan. Did | ever tell
you of my father ?"
mo. | took it for granted that he is
dead"
Perhaps he is. l don't know" said
Lowder, with reckless laugh. a. But il
he is is living, he is scouudrel Don't
start Tressiliau, at my uniial speach.-
Wait till you hear my story. l am in Il
desperate mood tonight. This storm
stirs up all the bad within me. AS near.
ly as l can discover, my father was the
was the youngest son of proud old
country family -"
you do not know. them" asked
Tressiian, pressing his companions hand.
IL have no proof OF it. All posi-
tive know is this. My mother was OF
humble station, pretty, with blue eyes
and an applc-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, a gay, dashing
young fellow, came to lodge with her.
As might have been expected, he fell III
love with his laudlady's daughter. He
offered the young girl marriage, on condi.
ton 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, almost secretly. Then he took
his bride to London, to cheap and obse.
cure lodgings, where, year later, I was
born"
The wind for moment drowned his
voice. AS it presently lulled he resum.
ed recklessly, and with passionate bitter
ness :
For years my mother and 1 lived in
those stutfy, 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 a week
but he never brought any Of his family tie
call upon us. doubt if his aristocratic
relations 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
bachelor, and that he went in fashiona.
BILE society, while my poor mother and !
lived obscurely. He was proaigate and
a route, 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 in
troduced to his relatives, and to have her
son publicly acknowledged. But my
father was 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 lite vessel lurched, the sea sweeping
her deck.
The captain screamed his orders to his
men, and for few. minutes disorder
reigned.
"a nasty bit ofweather!" said Lowd.
err. "And bad sky"
"Yes, but I've seen as had" returned
Tressilian. ave shall make port all
right, never fear. We must be well OIL
toward the Cape di Gallo. And it's only
seven miles from the cape to Palermo. v
"But the seven miles in this storm are
worse than seventy in good weather
These coasts are dangerous Guy"
Loxder shuddered as he surveyed sea
and sky.
but about your father, Jasper p
said Tressilian, who had become deeply
interested in his companions story
II 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 me that his brother was
dead. A month later, his father was Kill.
ed by being thrown from his horse. My
lather came into riches and honors BY
these deaths. At last, deciding to rid
himself of me, he took me down to Brigh.
ton, to my old grandmother. Her sons
were dead; she had giving up keeping
dodgers, and was growing misery. He
promised her five hundred pounds year
to keep me, and also the secret of my pa.
ternity, solemnly promising to acknow.
ledge me some day as his son and heir
Tho old woman agreed to carry out his
wishes. never saw my father again
l went to school, grew up, and at the age
oftwenty-one came into my granemother's
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
| took my money and came abroad. ]
had been two years on the Continent ,anc
had spent my little fortune when me
vou Tha raot 500, Loo,y