Los Angeles daily herald., 1876-04-02

manner; "nor can perceive
aught that is reprehensible in the
honest attachment have this day de-
clared for Gertrude Gray"
"Would you do her real service"
III would die for herp said George
earnestly.
"You would do her greater favor
at less cost" returned the other,
dryly.
"Name it,"
"Never see her-never speak to
her. 1 am not one lightly to make or
break promise; and / solemnly prom
Use that, should you repeat your foolish
avowal to Gertrude, and should she
be weak enough to listen to it, instead
of ofbringing you fortune with which 1t
has been my promise to endow her,
she shall come to you a beggar like
yourself"
"You do me rank injustice, an
swer George, whose cheek flushed,
"by the intimation which has just
escaped you. 1 have not thought
of Miss Gray with an eye to any pros
poets she may have in connection with
your fortune / have loved her for
her own sake"
''Then for her sake desist from a
scheme which, if success full, must
reduce her to beggary. IF you pos
profess, yon will heed this warning
and go your way. Ihave other plans
for Gertrude" -ss.. $50
A moments reflection convinced
George that, as harsh as Mr.. Peyton's
words were, in one respect they were
just.
1t would be selfish to persist in
seeking happiness at the cost of her
whom he pretended to love.
shall leave this place tomorrow,
he said, and turned away:
The morning papers announced the
loss of great steamer, bound for
San Francisco.
Nearly all on board had perished;
and among the names of the lost was
that of George Hayne.
Gertrude Gray swooned when she
read it, and Mr.. Peyton felt not quite
easy in his conscience.
That evening, as he sat moOdily in
his study, he was interrupted by a
visitor, woman, whose form, once
tall, was bent with age, and whose
wrinkled face and wild eye had some
thing sinister in them.
''Pray be seated, and explain the
reason of your visit, madame" said
Mr.. Peyton, pointing to chair.
Taking the preferred seat, she re-
manned for time silent, gazing in.
tently on the face before her.
Time had craven deep lines upon it,
snd sorrow deeper still.
AS she perused them, a smile of
satisfaction, more like shadow than
smile, fitted over her countenance.
"You had son. she said.
The lines grew deeper on the face
she was studying, and a panied ex-
preston came over it.
81, too, had son." she continued,
ian only one, as yours was. ,'''I'T a
sudden affair he had the misi.-sune,
in moment of passion,ta slay his
antagonist, who was quite. Jolamable
as himself The jury d6-rded it MUIR
der, but recommended him to mercy.
Others Joined in petition for Glenn
ency. My boys life was in your hands.
begged it of you on my knees. The
law had entrusted you with the dis
pensation of mercy, but you had no
mercy. You turned aside from my
prayers, and my son was left to die a
felon's DEATH"
Godfrey Peyton now rememb cred
the face that had often haunted him
since the day it had been turned
pleadingly upon him, and vividly re-
called the look of anguish it had worn
when he spoke the relentless words
that crushed hope out of mothers
heart.
"That day." she resumed, 'I took
an oath to make you feel, if possible,
all l then felt. 1 stole away your
child.p
"My child!-is he alive?"
"Listen. stole away your child,
and left you to mourn him as dead.
L took him to distance and reared
him as my own. l bore no malice
towards him. l only hated you. /
brought him up tenderly, educated
him as my moderate means would
allow, and felt thankful that in in
flicting punishment on the father, l
had been enabled to do it with so
little injury to the child"
"Is he alive?" cried the old man,
piteously. "Speak, woman!-h ave
you no mercy"
"You had none when 1 sought to
appeal to it'' she answered. "That
your son is not alive, and that your
conscience may accuse you of his
death, is the reason am here. The
young man you drove away be-
cause he presumed to love one for
whom your pride had prepared other
plans, was your own son! Before he
confided to me the cause of his going,
and on reading the announcement of
his fate L resolved that you should
feel over again the agony of a parents
bereavement, heightened now by the
sting of remorse."
"Your story is false" he cried,
springing up-"a devilish invention,
gotten up to torture me! But / will
put you to the proof. My son bore
a mark upon his person, put there
clandestinely by an old nurse in
India, when we travelled in that coun-
try, who attached some superstition to
it. If the child you say you reared
was my son, you must have seen and
can describe that mark.
IA serpent's head, and some strange
characters, in India ink, ON the left
arm below the elbow" was the an
swer.
Godfrey Peyton staggered, and fell
into the chair from which he had
risen.
He seemed like one stunned by
terrible blow.
The woman stood over him for a
moment, peering down into his an
guisli-stricken face with look of tri-
umph, and then walked quietly away.
"Good news! good news!" cried
Gertrude, bursting into the room.