The Morning herald., 1877-10-26
CHAPTER XIII.
TRUE NOBILITY.

CHAPTER XIII.
TRUE NOBILITY.
The good man who had rescued little Ar
thur from that perilous position on the
bridge was, at that time, a widower, and
with no children Of his own to care for; ano
very gladly did he welcome to his generou.
neart the Little child whose life had, aimoss
by d miracle, been preserved.
Having reached his nome with the priz
| 20 strangely won, he set to work to call.
the poor little fellow. and TO prove to him
t1rat he had fallen then into tender hands,
| and was with one who could love. and woul..
be father to him.
And little Arthur knew, from the first
moment, that he was safe with his rescuer,
and chung to him tenaoiously Is he was car
ried BY hum to his home "nnd when there,
would not leave his good friends knee.
As time rolled on, his tesEors were for
gotten; their very cause ceased to be re-
hsmbered his infant days passed from his
mind, with them, all memory Of the per-
sons by whom he had been beloved. and OF
those, too, by whom in those days, he had
been treated so barbarously.
lie soon ceased to remember that he had
ever known another hone than that which
now sheltered him, that any other had ever
cared for him save that best Of all men
wn6m now he 80 dearly loved, and by whom
no was himself 70 perfectly adored. More
precious than the very Me-blood coursing
xrough his veins, was little Arthur 10 the
man who had preserved him.
And little Arthur was damb-that sad
ruth was an additional claim to the pity
and love of his preservsr-not naturally
mute, but rendered SO by the mighty terror
with which he had been stricken when
swung round high above the head of the
uurderous ruffen who had been about to
cast him into the raging waters bslow:
Thst had been comprehended by the good
man, when little Arthur, having recovered
somewhat from his great terror, opened his
Eps to lisp his thanks. started, and Looked
amazed that no sound had follewed-again
and again the poor child essayed to speak,
and still no articulate sound issued from
between the parted lips, and the boy was
frightened at himself, and bitterly cried.
His rescuer remembered that strange cry
which had come from the bridge, and which
had 90 suddenly and 30 abruptly ceased,
and had no doubt that, by the great shock
the child had then received, the organs OF
his speech had become paraaysed; and 80
indeed it had been!
John Barnard.-that was the name ef him
Who had preserved poor Rosalies child from
horrible death-at once made up his mind
BY no means to endeaeor to attain to u dis
covery Of little Arthur's parents or other
relatives, since it was his opinion they could
not, whoever they were, be fit protectors tor
the child whom he had saved. Indeed, he
inclined to the belief that it could be only
they who had doomed the poor boy to the
death he had so narrowly escaped.
The locket which contained the miniature
Of herself which Arthur Gresham had, as
will be membered, painted, Rosalis one
day hung around the neck Of little Arthur,
who was very fond Of it Us plaything. and
Rosalie had suffered It to remain with him,
aid indeed it had become the childs pet
tov, and he would never consent TO have it.
for single instant, taken from him. It
was as though some angel had whispered to
the poor boy that his every hope OF happi-
ness in the future depended On hts posses.
sion of that miniature.
It had so CHANGED that Mistress Camel
ford had never seen the locket which con-
filmed Rosalie's miniature in the hands Of
little Arthur and it had happened that it
lay concealed beneath tho child s'dress when
Augusta had stolen him from his cot to give
him to the tender mercies of her ru6Ranly
agent.
Margaret Burford had not thought It
necessary to deprive the child Of his moth
er's portrait, and though her husband had
seen the locket he did not attempt to pos
ssss himself of it, since It appeared to bs Of
no intrinsic value.
John Barnard had, OF course, no thought
to deprive the boy Of his only treasure; and
50, through all the perils, through ell the
many cruel vicissitudes Of Arthur's young
life, the miniature Of the bereaved mother
who had never ceased to weep his loss,
remained with him, though he himself had
forgotten that he had ever beheld the hv-
ing features Of her whose image he 20 cher
ished.
John Barnard would often look upon the
miniature of Rosalie, and say 10 himself
that the young girl whose features it repre-
sented could not have been the mother of
the boy he had saved from death, or must
be herself dead, for the face there depicted
was like that Of lovely angel.
If. after that terrible night at tho bridge,
Arthur had not forgotten his name. 10 had
become impossible to him to make hh pre-
server understand what had been that
name, and Barnard therefore re.shristened
the little fellow. and hncefor@ called him
Edmund.
John Barnard was but poor man, . eop-
mon artizan-a carpenter. in fact-who
had enough to do to live; but hs contrived
Hat hm boG. Edmud--S0 hiv. own uvo1a,