The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1879-01-24
/ HREf: + fMEEnm.
A Tale of Everyday Life.
THE SECOND.

IdE oECOND.
Years had glided by. Mr.. Capel was en-
tertaining large party of influential friends
and connections to dinner that night, III or
der to celebrate the advent If the New
Year and the coming of age to his eldest
son, handsome, winning Maurice Capel.
How proudly he alluded to his boy as the
prop of his old age when Maurices health
was drank in the rare wines brought up
from the cellar for that purpose and how
his heart swelled and his eyes glistened,
as he looked around the table from his
stately wife to the pretty daughter who had
just come out from the merry, romping
scheol-boys, who sat on either side of mann
ma for this night only, and then rested
where their glances had just fallen on the
well-shaped head of his heir! Marice vexed
him sometimes-he was needless and ex-
travagant but these were merely the faults
of his age, and could be overlooked if he
would but conquer that foolish passion for
his penniless cousin, Hetta-a fancy that
was all very well while her father held high
office IN India, and could dover her well !;
but must not be encouraged now he was no
more and the girl mere dependent in the
house.
| = But where was Hetta, the pretty child,
who had given her all to outcast Len? She
sat in her aunt's boudoir alone.- Mrs. Capel
had advised her to nurse herself for slight
cold, and Hetta had understood that the
wish Was a command, and she was not to
appear at the banquet. 1t was trial to
her to obey, for she was young and fair, and
had looked forward as hopefully as her more
fortunate cousins to the dance that was to
follow the dinner. But Aunt Capel had so
willed it and little sadly she sat over the
| fire, sometimes listening to the merry voices
below, sometimes dreaming of Maurice, till
! the entrance Of a servant aroused her.
"What's to be done, Miss Hetta here a
young man demands an interview with mas
ter, anil refusing to go away until he has
seen him? Mr. CapeI would be so angry if
he were called from his guests without suffi-
cient cause, that don't know what to do. ;"
| The footman-a mere lad, mortally afraid
of his stern employer-looked so perplexed
that Hetta, who was dearly loved in the
house for her thoughtful kindness, took pity
| ON him.
perhaps this strangers business is i'm
portant. Are you sure he said it could not
be deferred till tomorrow
"Quite, miss ; and he speaks so resolute
there's no gainsaying him. He says he
must and will see Mr.. Capel before he leaves
the house."
| ''Bring him in here. Walter, and will
speak with him. 1t would be folly to dis
turb my uncle unless it really cannot be
avoided. Perhaps l may sutceed where you
have failed, and induce this very obstinate
person to call again.
Walter hesitated.
| "Please, miss, l don't think he's quite
the sort of a man you'd like to have any
thing to do with. He isn't a gentleman
he's dressed in velveteens,"
I" Then it is some poor fellow in distress"
and Hetta sighed, for she knew that Mr.
Capel's charity only took one form. He
would give largely to charitable institutions,
knowing that his name would appear in the
list of donors but those who privately be-
sought his aid rarely obtained it.
| Hetta felt for her purse there were on
| ly few shillings i'll it. While her father
was alive, and she received handsome al
been wont to load her with presents noao,
he rarely remembered her.
| Let the poor man come up, Walter
1 can pity and advise if | can do no more. d"
| The next minute, a tall. slim, but we'll
made young fellow, stood before her-the
half starved Len of eariierdays, transformed
by better health and usage into a man,
shrewd, self possessed, and, despite his hum
BILE dress, capable of great things, and
speaking like one who has read much and
well.
| Slowly his glance Travelled around the
small, but elegantly furnished apartment
and then his brows contracted SO fercely
that Hetta felt half afraid, and laid her
hand on the bell. He had paused beside a
table, ON which lay, amongst other elegant
trifes, costly japanese fan. Almost un-
consciously he picked it up. The price of
this toy would have siived the life of his
mother and, in bitterness of spirit, he
threw it from him with such force that it
fell on the floor and broke.
But when his eyes fell on the young lady,
and he saw that his violence astonished and
terrified her, he grew calm again. He re-
membered that sweet, child-like face; it had
haunted his visions at St. Bonaventures'
when he was delerious with pain, and more
than once since then he had hovered near
the house to catch a glimpse of it,
The color returned to Hetta's cheek when
he apologised for his rudenes, and frankly
asked if she might be entrusted with his
reasons for insisting on an interview with
her uncle.
81 am Leonard Capel ~ he startled her
by asserting. the only son of his brother
Robert"
"But Mr.. Capel has no brother living |! .
said Hetta, as soon as she could command
her voice. ''The one he had-my own deal
lfather-was killed in an outbreak of the ma
tives in remote district of India some three
Years since.
pardon me, young lady /; Mr.. Capel
once had two brothers but l know why
YOU are ignorant of this. The name ol
Robert Capel was never spoken in this
thouse, for his relatives considered that ht
disgraced them when he married the COVER
tness of his sisters and so he died unforgiv
en- in that obsure country town to which, ht
had retreated. His widows after vainly
struggling to support herself and her child
appealed to his family for help. and wa
insulted with a refusal to believe that sh,