The post. [volume] (Middleburg, Snyder County, Pa.) 1864-1883, 1874-03-05

A Mothers Vengeance.

A proud, stern man was Geoffrcy
Peyton, and rich withal, in wealth
and honors. He had won distinction
q. the bar and on the bench, and had
filed the executive chair Of an East
ern State. How deeply his proud
heart had suffered, those familiar
only with bis cold and naughty boar.
ing would have been surprised &c
know.
Not very early in life he married
one wh ,m he bad long loved with
an ardent devotion, often character
istic Of men like him, md of which
weaker natures are incapable In
his early struggles with poverty, he
had kept his love u secret. He
would have suffered his heart to
break sooner than have had it whis-
pored he was seeking advancement
through an alliance with rich old
Ronald Mason's daughter.
But when he could hold up his
head with the highest in the land,
he no longer hesitated to speak the
words he had been 80 many years
waiting to utter, and which Alice
Mason had been as many waiting to
hear.
A few years of unalloyed felicity
followed their marriage. Though
proud and stern as ever to the out.
side world, not the same man was
Geoffrey Peyton at home, his wife by
his side, and his bright-eyed boy
prattling on his knee. There he for
got his pride, save that he felt in
those he loved, forgot fame, and am
bition, and greatness, and remember
ed only that he was happy.
Then came q blow which fell none
the lighter on the proud mans head
because he gave no sign Of yielding.
Death crossed his thresholdand took
from him first his wife aud then his
child.
The last OF these bereavements was
peculiarly distressing. The child
went for walk with hisnurse by the
river side, and in o moment of mat.
tention on the part Of the nurse, had
strayed out of sight. Soon after his
hat was found floating on the water.
Alarm was given search was made ;
the river dragged; but in vain. The
child was nowhere to be found. The
body, in all likelihood, had been
borne out by the tide.
Geoffrey Peytnn bore his loss in
silence. What his grief was no one
knew, for no one was permitted to
look upon it, and sympathy he
would have resented as an imperti-
nence.
Years sped, and Geoffrey Peyton
had become an old man, AT his
death, his large fortune would de-
scend by law to a distant relative, a
young man whose avarice kept him
free from ali costly vices, aud who,
most vices being costly, enjoyed in
consequence an excellent reputa'
tion.
But Mr.. Peyton had opinions o.
his own as to the disposition Of hi,
property. Like many men OF hi'
caste, he had an aversion to the dis
position of estates and while moi
inclined to disinherit his kinsman, o
whom he knew nothing but his rep
utation, which, we have already sale
was good, there was one other who's
claims he felt it would be unjust :,
Overlook. He had brought up il
his house, aud in some sort adopted
Gertrude Gray, the orphan daughte
of an old friend 10 whom no ha.
been beholden in his day Of struggle
and who had died leaving his onl,
Ichild destitute.
Mr. Peyton's plan, duly set fort
in his will, was TO settle his proper
! lty, in equal portions, ON Gertrud
land his kinsman. provided they woul'
lmazTy each other In . given period