The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1871-01-05

I
ward Is Miss Irby-the golden haired
Blanche and with whom you have ex
changed letters?"
"Ies. My father formed project e
have me marry Blanche. He did not wisl
Us to grow up together, lest we should
learn TO regard each other a. brother ana
sister. When Blanche came to live al
the Court nv father sent me to Germany
The night before / left home, he called
me into his library and told me all hi,
hopes and plans for nay future, and en-
treated me to continue worthy of his in
nocent ward, and To keep my heart pure
for her. / have done so, Jasper. / have
never yet loved any woman. And yes
terday | received my fathers summons IL
come home. He has recalled me after
five years of absence. | know the wish
that lies nearest his heart. He wants me
10 return and marry Blanche. ] shrink
from the proposed marriage. dread 20
ing home. And | dread offending my
dear father, whom love better than any
woman. 1t 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 -
lis ii = said Lowder drily, and with a
strange smile full of sneeriug bitterness
" My experience has been widely differ
ent from yours, Tressilian. Did / ever
tell you of my father:'
NO. l took it for granted that he Is
dead"
perhaps he is. don't know" said
Lowder, with reckless laugh. But /.
he is living, he is a scoundrel. Don'l
start, Tressilian, at my unflial speech
Wait till you hear my story. am in II
desperate mood tonight This storm
stirs up all the bad within me. As near
ly as | can discover, my father was th,
younger son of Il proud old country fami-
ly-"
You do not know, then ?" asked Tres
silian, pressing his companions hand.
II have no proofs of it. All j posi-
lively 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 Il lodging
house, and my father, a gay, dashin2
young fellow, came to lodge with her. -
As might have been expected, he fell in
love with his landlady's daughter. lie
offered the young girl marriage, on condr
ton that the union should be kept secret
until his affairs frightened and he chos,
to divulge it. 4 he young girl loved him.
Her mother was ambitious and penuri-
Gus. The result was the lover had hi,
way, and married the daughter of hi,
I 81.
he took his bride 10 London, TO cheaI
and obscure lodgings, where. year later
| was born"
The wind, for a moment, drowned hi
voice As it presently lullcd, be resum
ed recklessly, and with passionate bitter
ness:
For years my mother and | lived IN
those stuHy, obscure lodgings until hu
bloom had faded, and she had grown
thin and wan and nervous. My father
visited us at stated seasons, once or twic,
a week, but he never brought any Of hi,
family to call upon us. | doubt T.
his aristocratic relatives even suspected
the existence OF the faded wife and son o.
whom he was secretly ashamed. / have
good reason to believe that he had fine
lodgings at the West End, where he wa
supposed to he bachelor, and that he
went into fashionable society, while my
poor mother and | lived Obscurely. III,
was a proflgate and rou'e, but he had an
air of fashion that awakened my bOyish
admiration, and aroused my mothers nj
fectionate pride in him. She was alway,
pleading To be introduced TO his relative,
and to have her son publicly acknoHl
edged. But my father always put her
off, saying that he was not yet ready
Worn out and despairng my mother
died when was ten years old.
Again the wind shrieked past, again
the vessel lurched, the sea sweeping ben
deck.
The Captain screamed his orders to biz
men, and for a few minutes disorder
reigned.
"A nasty bit of weather - said Low
der. And bad sky! !"
Eyes, but I've seen rs bad, returned
Tressilian. 1--WE shall make port all
right, never fear. We must be well on
toward the Cape di Gallo. And it Is on
ly seven miles from the Cape TO Pal
ermo."
But the seven miles in this storm are
worse than seventy in good weather
These coasts are dangerous, Tressiian. :"
Lowder shuddered as he surveyed sea
and sky.
But about your father, Jasper" said
Tressilian, who had become deeply inter
ested in his companions story. NV hat
did he do after your mothers death =
/" | 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
killed by being thown from his horse.
NV 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 old grandmother. Her
sons were dead; she mad given up keep
ing dodgers, and was grown misery. lie
promised her FIVE hundred pounds a year
To keep me, and to keep also the secret OF
my paternity, solemnIy promising 10 ac
knowledge me some day rs his son and
heir. The old woman agreed To carry
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 twentyone came into
my grandmothers money, the fruits of
years of saving she dying at that time.
Nv 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"
IAN old, romantic story! But why
did your father abandon your
''rhat he might be freed Of encum-