The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-05-24

" '.''.
CHAPTER NNIL
'FIrt tell me about yourself Mr.
Gaems, 81 such De your name; aud 7
suppose am not mistaken in believing
you 20 be E,heis, that Is. 9Irs. Chalm-
vrs', sister,"
'I am Malcom Gneme, at your SER
vice. madam"
"Uu'c9lm Gf1-ucg1
II was now my turn to be astonished.
who are you, 0lyIors"
The stranger laughed uneosily.
'I beg your pardon, sir" ] continued,
'but I am very much aslonished. Ny
fathers name is Graeme Malcolm
Gmeme-'
"Ah, indeed ?'
"The very same"
'Ihen / suppose &c viii not be out Of
order for me to repeat your question,
'Who are you, anyhow ."
Itwas now my turn 20 laugh uneasily.
"I am Mrs. Gerald Grey" I said,
hesiadnely; "wife Of Captain Gerald
Grey, formerly of Her Najesty's SER
vice"
"And now deceased O"
Malcolm Graeme looked at me with
an eager sympathetic gaze, as he asked
the question, and I could with diff
Guilty restrain the feeling Of Indignation
that prompted me Co say outwardly, as
] did say under my breath, "Alas, no;
he is not Dead bu. would 10 God he
werer'
"Iy husband isin San Francisco, sir.''
AS 7 spoke the name Of the Golden
City, the memory OF my husband as
had seen him last, brought so vividlv
before me tbe vision Of the black ewes.
blonde hair, and baby features Of the
woman who, hand in hand with rum,
had lufed him 90 ruin and me TO desti-
tuition, that ] forgot alike my interest
in my courteous stranger guest, and the
curious coincidence between his name
and my blunt ana honest fathers.
'Is your husband sGl employed in
Her Majesiy's service2"
'No. sir.H
For my lils 7 could not have added
another word.
"Do you expect him here soon o"
"1So. sir"
'1ladamr is it possible that you aud
Gerald Grey have quaueied ?"
$50, SIR"
"Ihen beg pardon. The savage
American custom of coujugal separa-
tion one meets with upon this coast will
not. hope. affect Fngl shwomen."
"It has not affected me, sir"
fThen what is Gerald doing?'
"Are you friend OF bis ?n
"i know him we'll"
"TLen tell me, are any Of bis family
addicted TO drunkenness is it, in
short, hereditary ."
''It IS. To my knowledge not man
OF The family can indulge iu anything
that intoxicatas but he wakes up forty
demons, and never foregoes his orgies
ull DE gets what in American slang
parlance istermei snakes I'D the boots"
"Ah, merf
"Why that sigh, madam? Are you
not well, OF happy o"
"Alas, neither well nor happy, sir.
But don't let's talk about myself; tell
me about Ethel Gmeme. Isn't it odd
that she, your sister, should have borne
The same name as J.? and you, hei
brother. should bear The same name o.,
my fa-her2'
"Aud isn't DO oller stiIl that we
wholly unknown 10 each other at home
should meet thus accidentally, away
out here i'm the American Sierra Ne.
vada, and under these peculiar circum.
stances Q"
"1Iaicoim Graeme, are sou my cousin
sir2"
"I have not a pie5eiau relative in th
wide world That 7 know of, madam, % h
said, stimy. "But tell me- an about 10.
sister, Ethel Gaeme"
grew angry. such cousummat
snoH1ery might pass as common sens
in old England. where the privilege
CLASSES hold human titles % all Of God
green earth, and would fain monopoliz
the canopy of high heaven If they coul
only guspiG butIhad already been to
long residing I'm the wild regions of half
free America 90 tamely brook such az
r0gauce.
clam proud % say that I have no pa
trician nonsense about Uc, Sir MaIcolr
Graeme; and if you feel that you ar
made of better clay than common mo.
tails, you may go 20 your own class an
kindred for the Information you seek.
will Cell you nothing. Your fee, tvs
dollars, sir"
TIE man, my kinsman, as I knew !
was, looked slightly humiliated, bl
did not unbeud from his imaginai
haughtiness.
''Iou may yet be glad, under a
mutations Of human possibility, TO q
able 10 keep % restaurant, or dig ditche
or break cobbies CD the highway for
livelihood, since you have ddfled ava
from the ancestral halluciuatlons th,
make fools Of half my countrymen, %