Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-01-06

| 1SS0sS4 ANSNA'SN y S~"'S'
ME to return home without writing
l shall telegraph from Marseilles
that you will come home with me
And you will, will you not? Yor
will not abandon me, my friend?
will charge myself with your future
I will see that you obtain the posi-
ton to which your talents entitle
you. You have no ties to keep you
on the Continent"
A strange expression passed over
Jasper Lowder's face.
"No, l have no ties" he said husk-
lily.
"And you will go home with
me?"
"What will your father say to my
coming?" demanded Lowder. "He
will think your generosity Quixotic,
lie will dismiss from his house the
hired companion who dares to re-
semble his son-'
A sudden lurch of the littlei YES
sci, a wave sweeping over the deck.
interrupted the sentence.
"You wrong my father" said
Tressilian, his blue eyes kindling.
when the vessel had rightcd. ole
is the noblest man in the world. lie
will welcome my friends rs his own.
You will love him, Jasper, as l do.
when You know him."
ale doesn't seem very affection,
ate," remarked Lowder. "You have
been away from your home for five
years, and he has but just recalled
youn'
Young Tressilian's checks flush.
ed, as Lowder saw in the lurid glow
that momentarily lighted up the
tempcstuous scene.
"You know, or can guess the rca.
son, Jasper" he said, with some
thing of an effort. "My father has
a ward, the daughter of an old
friend. All! hear that wind shrek
The gale is increasing!"
EYES," assented Lowder. "And
the ward is Miss Irbv-the golden
haired Blanche Of whom YOU have
talked so much, and with whom you
have exchanged letters:"
eyes. My father formed project
to have me marry Blanche. He did
not 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 wor.
thy Of his innocent ward, and to
keep my heart pure for her. Ihave
done so, Jasper. | 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. l shrink from the propo.
sed marriage. | dread going home
And l dread offending my dear fl.
ther, whom | love better than any
woman. 1t is hard, Jasper, to re-
volt against the hopes and plans OF
kind and generous father, whose
very love for me causes him to urge
on this marriage!''
cit is?" said Lowder dryly, and
with a strange smile full of sncering
bitterness. "My experience has
been widely different from yours,
Tressilian. Did l ever tell you OF
my father?"
"No. ! took it for granted that
he is dead"
'Perhars he is. l don't know"
said Lowder, with a reckless laugh.
''But if he is living, he is scoun-
drel. Don't start, Tressilian, at my
unfilial speech. Wait till you hear
my story. l am in dcspera e
mood tonight. This storm stirs up
all the bad within me. As nearly
as | can discover, my father was the
younger son Of a proud old county
family
"You do not know, then?" asked
Tressilian, pressing his companions S
hand.
81 have no proofs of it. All
positively know is this: My moth
er was of humble station, pretty,
with blue eyes and 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, a gay, dash
ing young fellow, came to lodge
with her. AS might have been ex-
pected, he fell in love with his land
lady'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 divulgc it. The young girl
loved him. Her mother was ambi-
tious and penurious. The result
was the lover had his way, and mar
ried the daughter Of his landIady
quietly, almost secretly. Then he
took his bride to London, to cheap
and obscure lodgings, where, year
later, l was born"
The wind for a n nomcnt drowned
his voice. AS it presently lulled,
he resumed recklessly, and with
passionate bitterness:
''For years my mother and I liv-
ed in those stutfy, obscure lodgings
until her bl ,om had faded, and she
had grown thin and wan and nerv-
ous. My father visited us at stated
seasons, once or twice a week, but
he never brought any of his family
to call upon us. ! doubt if his ariS-
tocratic 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 he was supposed to be
a bachelor, and that he went into
fashionable society, while my poor
mother and | lived obscurely. lie
was a protligate and a rouc, but he
had an air Of fashion that awakened
my boyish admiration, and aroused
my mothers aflectionate pride in
him. She was always pleading to