Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-04-15

ing of where my boy vas b ~
ing but the bare fact OF hi I
lob, do not blame me -
nv way to the river to end hen
I met Freddie!
Mother looked at me and hnper-
ed:
The grandmother who BED teddie
has driven her mad. Let he1 y Nth
me, while you try to find out sethlg
about her.
But / have no right TO for rnl
into her private Affairs, ! sai}
She il Freddie's mozbap
yoa . right.
1t would be tedious to tell IN detail
all the long conversation that followed,
but, authorized by Mrs. West, / called
upon her husbands lawyer, and there
heard her story.
l think. the lawyer said, confidently,
that the Vests are the proudest people
I ever knew. Proud Of their family,
their money and their beauty. Carroll
West was the only son, Lucy the only
daughter, when the old man died. He
left n considerable fortune, but Carroll
has increased his share of it toimmsnse
wealth, his mother, was very DESTROYS
of having him make great match, and
proportionately furious when he mar
ried a little dark eyed seamstress, of no
family in particular, and sewing for
living.
/ thought of the exquisite face, the
low, tender voice of Freddie's mamma,
and mentally applauded Carroll choice.
Carroll, continued the lawyer, had
sufficient good sense to keep up his own
establishment until he went into heavy
cotton speculation that called him to
New Orleans in the heat of Summer
Then he left his wife and child under
his mothers care, and before he went
he made his will. Now, doctor, said the
lawyer, speaking very slowly, and with
marked emphasis, that viii leaves half
his fortune to his wife, half to his child,
the half that is his goes to Mrs. West
and her daughter Lucy. II the moth
er dies, all goes to the child, to revert
again to the Vests if he dies without
direct heirs. Do you see ?
l did see! I saw again the hard de-
termined face leaning over the sleeping
child, denying him; the weaker woman
sanctioning the deceit, but falling sense
less in the room. Understood now the
disappointment that had greeted the
tidings that the child was neither dead
nor dying, but recovering. IL was all
clear now, but shuddered as recall
ed the mothers face when abe COMES
sed that she had contemplate 6hicide
rather than bear her widowed, childiess
lot.
We could never tell whether the I'M
natural grandmother and aunt would
have risked legal investigation. The
recognition between mother and child
was complete, and the clothing We had
carefully preserved was fully identified.
Mrs. West did not return to her moth
er-in-law. For some weeks she was
my mothers guest, and my patient, be-
ing Frustrated with low, nervous fever,
and then she rented the house next to
our own. her own claim and Freddie
to Carroll West property being undis-
puted.
We were warm friends for two years,
and Mrs. West, senior, with the beauti-
full bolde, were occasional visitors at
the widows house, but when the violet
and white took tire place of Grape and
bomba:ine, l ventured to ask Adelaide
West if second love could comfort her
for the one she had lost, and my moth
err became Freddie's grandmother in
truth, when his pretty mamma" be-
came my wife.
Mrs. West is dead, and Lucy married
to titled Italian, who admired the
blonde beauty, but unlike many of his
compatriots, finds the lovely lady fully
able to take care of her own interests,
and guard her money against his too
profuse expenditures.
Other children call me papa, and Ad-
elaide mamma, but 1 do not think !
give any of them a warmer or truer love
than l feel for brown eyed Freddie, who
was lost and found.