The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1871-01-13

''Anasty bit of weather !" said Lowder. 'And
a bad skyr'
''Yes, but I've seen as bad returned Tres
silian. 'NWe shall make port all right, never
fear. We must be well on toward the Cape di
Gallo. And its 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; ,a..r
silian, vino had become deeply Interested his
companions story. What did he do after
your mothers DEATH"
at renamed at tbs old lodgings with our
single old servant G month or more, my faith
er visiting me several times, and expressing
anxiety as to vnat 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. NV father came into riches and hon.
ors be these deaths. At last, deciding to rid
himself of me, he took me down to Brighton,
TO ny old grandmother. Her sons were dead;
she had given up keeping dodgers, and was
grown misery. He promised her five hundred
pounds a year to keep me, and to keep also
the secret of my paternity, solemnly promis-
ing to acknowledge me some day as his son
and heir, The old woman agreed to carry out
his wishes. She would have done anything
for money. Inever saw my father again. i
went to school, grew up, and at the age OF
twenty-one cam into my grandmother's mon
ey; the fruits of years of saving, she dying at
that time. NV father had deliberately aban-
doned me. 1 did not know where TO seek him,
CT 1 had wished to. I took my money and
lame abroad. 1 have been two years on the
Continent, and had spent my little fortune
when 1 met you Tn rest you know"
"An odd, romantic story! But why did your
father abandon You!"
'fThen he might be freed of encumbrance to
make a grand marriage. From what my grand
mother said at different times, / conclude that
nv father was in love with q titled lady before
my mothers death. No doubt no married this
lady. If he lives. this lady's son may be his
acknowledged heir. by father has utterly dis
owned the son of his first hasty, in-starred mar
rage. Ihave q fancy that I shall meet him
some day." and Jasper's brow darkened to
deeper ~blackness. "Howe ger, I stand no chance
of ever receiving justice at his hands,"
What is your fathers name, Jasper asked
Treesilian.
Lowder's face darkened. He bit his Lip saw
agely.
'What.I have told you about myself I learn
ed from my own observation, or from chance
words of my parents and grandmother. Ny
mothers maiden name was Jeanette Lowder.
Atour London lodgings, my father bore the
name of Lowder. i don't know his real name,
but I should know his face anywhere, although
1 have not seen him in thirteen years. Ny
mother was actually married, Tressilian, but /
never heard my fathers name. The clergy
man who married my mother was dead; the
witnesses also. When my. grandmother was
dying she tried to tell me the story. She had
put it off too long. All that I could under
stand of her mumblings was the name Of Dew
ereux. 1 shall never forget that name-DEy-
EREUx! Probably that was my fathers name
my own rightful name. But as 1 should
never find him if I sought him, and he would
repulse me if 1 did find him, 1 stand no chance
of inheriting his property. He may be dead.
He may have other sons who have succeeded
him. 1t is all a mystery, but the prominent
truth is that 1 am an o~utcast, poor, disowned
and friendless."
He leaned over the bulwark, the spray dash
ing over his face violently.
Tressilian's heart warmed to him.
iEMy poor friend" he said. "Must l say
again % are not friendless while I live. Ny
father has influence enough to obtain for YOU
a government appointment. This tangle ma
straighten itself outsome day. But if It don't,
you are resolute enough to make your OWE
happiness"
He grasped Lowder's hand, and looked with
warm bright eyes, full Of sympathy, into Low.
der's lowering face.
There had been q temporary lull in the storm
But as the two stood there. the tempest re
vived and swept over the wild sea in maddened
rage.
There was no time for talking now. The
wind rose so high that words would scarcely
have been distinguished. The storm that hac
gone before had been but play to this awful
outburst. Tn vessel drove on, creaking anC
groaning, a nero cookie shell on the pillows.
Mother of Merciesl" walled the captain
"1t's all up with us, signores. 1 can't make
out the Cape in this darkness. We shall go OF
the rocks. st. Anthony save usl"
The seamen echoed his cries.
The two young Englishmen, comprehendinG
their peril, clasped hands in silence.
For the next few minutes it seemed that
P-andemonium reigned.
Then a noise like the report of a cannon
suddenly doomed through the storm and the
darkness. The little vessel shivered, stagger
ed, and careened upon her side.
She had struck upon a rock.
A few moments of bu~ffetings and tossings
Of vain struggles and agonized, involuntary
prayer, and then Jasper Lowderfelt his senses
slip from him, and became unconscious.
When he came to himself, he was lying upor
a rocky beach of the Sicilian shore, sore
bruised, and weak as a child.
He opened his eyes. The wind had spent
its fury, and now moaned along the coast with
a d~esolate, despairing wall. The waves beat
against the rocks.
Wrecked! u he muttered. al am cas-
ashore, while the others are drownedl Oh
this is terrible I have lost my best friend
tonight !"
He moaned and wrung his hands.
II is dead, who would have done 80 much
for me, andL so worthless, I'M saved! All my
hopes of IN easy AID luxurious life must b
resigned now!"
At that moment he beheld a dark object q
a little distance in the water. The waves
hurled this object against the projecting heaC
of a sunken rock. Al the same instant Low
der recognized it as the body of q man.
He crept toward it, and the waters dashet
the body on the shsre at his feet. He put hi,
hands on the face. How cold and wet it was
It felt like the face of a dead mani LoHder'i
fingers came in contact with tine soft, silker
mustache, and he knew that the body was thai
Of Guy Tressilianl
OF the five who had stood on the sloop't
deck a half-hour earlier, these two alone wert
left. The captain and his crew had found
deaths among the cruel, yaBning waters.
Lowder thrust his hand under the waistcoai
of his friend, but he could not perceive the
beating of his heart. Despair took possession
of him.
.DeadI" he said shrily. 'Deadi And he
would have lone so much for me If he had
lvedl And his father and the young girl he
was to have married will wait in vain for his
comingl His place at Tressilian Court d
empty. Who can fill it"
1t seemed to him that some demon at his side
echoed the question: Who could fiji the pLdct
left uacantby noble Guy TTessiliGn?
A thought came TO him-a thought SO strange
and sinister that he shivered ~involuntarily.
Again he felt of Tressilian's heart. It gave nc
throb against his hand. He passed his hand
over Tressilian's head and discovered a gaping
wound in the skull. The hair was clotted with
blood.
Putting his band into his breast pocket, Low
der drew out his little waterproof m~atch-safe.
He opened it with trembling fingers and struck
a light. The red flicker danced on young Tres
silian's face
How CHASTITY and terrible it lookedl The
eyes were closed, the smile was gone. The
seal of death seemed set on the noble features.
Lowder examined the wound. It had been
made by contact with the sharp rock, and even
Lowder perceived its terrible character.
"If he is not dead, he soon will be-" he
muttered fHis brain has received an awful
injury. He viii never know who he Is again.
He won't live till morning, and he Is perhaps
dead already He must be dead!"
Again it seemed to him as though some
demon echoed his words.
The match dropped from his fingers into
the water. For a little while he crouched on
the wet stones in silence, battling it may be
with the better and nobler instincts OF his ma
ture.
At last, with sudden and abrupt STEALTH
ness, his hands stole into the breast pocket of