The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-11-23

and looked into the earnest eyes of this child, C
whom she Loved too we'll and pressed rn him heS
the child involuutarily shrunk then, when t
she let him 60, the poor little fellow made on
os then apa
supposed mother were still in tears, when, If
so, it was his invariable custom to kiss them
away.
About this time Ella began to be wretchedly
unhappy; her health was not good as for
merly; she had long dismissed her handmade
s ssf and The boy ON her very small
How to educate him, was the question that
puzzled her the most, SO she determined with
work, solely to give her the means to educate
him properly, for she used sometimes to say TO
herself, :" When am dying, will tell him
who he is; and they shall see 1 have not ne
The boy had natural taste for painting, so,
| as Ella was perfect mistress Of her art, she
was careful to instruct him in this point. and
had tho satisfaction of seeing that he out
| stripped herself. ~,
There were times, too, when the poor Ella
fortunate boy was really her ewn child hence,
she told him contradictory stories. and even
at this early age the suspicious OF the oh'ia
1t were hardly to be wondered at, that with
Ella for the boys sole companion, he should
grow up a reserved and somewhat melancholy
youth-fond of study, caring little for play,
} and holding himself aloof from others OF MS
sex and age.
MY beautiful, clever boy" she womb soino
times say to herself, as she watched him bend
= ing over the pages of his French and German
Q grammar, both of which languages she knew"
:: would have had tutor. Ali, we'll, never
f mind, 1 love him too we'll to do him any wrong
r l will go and give lessons again next sPrns. l
con teach him till he is twelve years old, and
f then 1 will place him at some good school Tor
d three or four years."
n AS to ever telling him the story of his birth,
y and thus restoring him to the estate to which
he was the heir, as we'll as to his afflicted pa,
], rents such an idea never entered Elias head
1t for a moment the boy had simply become as
1t the love she to bore him 4; and to have separa
10 ted herself from him would have been to give
~ herself her death blow. Ever toiling, eve
le striving, then, that the boy should grow
DIT into a well-educated youth, the years passes
,e rapidly by, and as each recurring epoch mad
the remembrance of his abduction more AM
-, more obscure, she almost ended by believing
Id that he was really her own child.
I s CHAPTER XII.
a The Last Summons.
"a -"Harkt there is-the sound of carriag
10 wheels Herbert is yet in time, for 1T surel
a. must be he," said Mrs. Forester, as she turne
,n away from the sick-bed of her dying HUSBAND
~ and leaned for support on the arm of q frient
na who along with Sister of Charity kept waite
:, ~ | in the chamber. :.
ng Mrs Forester has changed very much wit
~ ~ that he should be able to track the steps
ce Ella, was, as the reader knows, rendered III
zee possible by her cunning; but the poor lac =,
had never ceased to lament and pine over u
"a uncertainty of the boys fate-sometimes r
r., garding him dead, at other times fancyir
tbs he would some day return, some fortuito
.I I chance making known to him his parentae
my which che felt rightly Ella must have co
the cealed supposing he were still alive.
GnS How her heart had bled, even when s
the bened he were still alive, at the thought tn
.t n he was brought up in all the horrors of pc
GO no ury, perhaps unedneated; perhaps, whisper
10 ~ O woman's pride, &" should be ashamed OF r
ally own SOB, as one uneouth, his mind unculti,
ateT ted, thrown, perhaps, in low society, by
s q of poverty of that unhappy En-" .r
an years ago. She was now about to lose her b
per- per band. Her eyes were dim and heavy W
Ao- weeping; her hair gray; her figure mad !
nIiy once happy mistress of Ashleigh Thorpe! /
po3 G second son, absent at college, had been tt
ton graphed for, whom his fathers illness assun
1 a dangerous character, and as the hours 81
p .,s on she watched the dying man with int
inc NJ, anxiety, fearing lest his spirit should p
= 3 o away before the sons arrival.
hose Approaching the window, Mrs. Forres
NJ drew aside the blind the sun was setting
:, tf ~ all the glory of balmy summer evening
81 w plautiye notes of the cukoos were to be he
We IN and looking forward she beheld her son /
bert alight from fly, and two minutes Ia
pressed him TO her bosom.
" Heaven bs praised" she whispered,
are in time He has been so uneasy--wist
and so, my dearest Herbert, to give you some
,ress, structions before his death"
elves Herbert Forester, tai! and hands
lives youth, drew near to tho bedside of his eH
ears, ing parent, and gently pressed his hand.
shall dying man looked up, aud his lips move'
n we though about to speak then, after a nome
f life pause he sald, IN low ana broken voice.
ween "My boy; 1 am so x lad to see you befo
die I want very much to say q few word.
over beg of you to put my advice in Practice
Fitz have gone from you"
from "My dear father" said the youth,
arged overcome by his emotion, fairly broke d
# the when his father ceased speaking l nave
long ways loved you dearly, and felt myself hi
great in obeying you in life, how faithfully
aking shall not strive to act as you desire "nen
rainy has taken you from me-"
ting {" You have, my Roy. we nave away
g. each other dearly, and now listen to wi
i, and say. Many years slnce' our hrst-pnrn son
gence as you are aware, stolen away. we nav
Chose reason to believe that he is dead, and if q
v, she at any time he may come forward as clair
;r the to the estate. l want you, my dear sou, t
BOD is only to consider yourself as holding i
must charge as it were. for this elder brother
trinity of course, in his absence, you will take pc
,cure; sion after my death. l am especially
th her too, that it has pleased God to give you
bland cation to enter the priesthood; had the
looked been otherwise, the struggle might have
! ,ybN hot ina hall IN ms