The Northern Pacific farmer., 1880-02-26
nose again. Il hadju occurred to him
that Lord Beauvray was hoaxing.

A~OAA
"He wants to find out whether our
Mile loves himself or his title" reflect
ed the moneyed man. But Iii mo-
ment this idea was dispelled by Lord
Beauvray5 displaying the contents: of
his envelopes marriage certificate and
number of letters which substan-
tiated the story. Then he entered in
to explanations: 1t seems that mis-
uncle the Hon. Col de Vray, being in
garrison at Malta, mad privately mar
ried an italian actress named Timbureli.
After a years union this tickle person
deserted him, leaving her child to his
care, and soon afterward she died. Un-
der the circumstances the Colonel,
though he provided for the boys main
tenance, deemed it convenient to con-
ceal his marriage, and eventually ne
died suddenly without having acknowl-
edged it. Apparently. however his con-
science had tormented him, SC that
while lacking the moral courage to
speak the truth during his lifetime, he
had left evidence Ivy which it might be
known after his death. Unfortunately
the envelope containing his marriage
certificate had lain mixed up with some
| other documents in box which Lord
Beauvray (who had inherited the de-
eased's papers) had never thought o:
xamining till that morning, when he
had begun to sort his family papers in
view of his marriage. =
Suddenly the bill dischounter crumpled
all the papers in his an d with fever.
lsh grasp, and looked at Lord Beauv-
ray. There was an expression in his
dull eyes as of a light behind an un-
cleansed pane of glass. II say, he whis-
pered, shave you told anybody besides
me of this secret?"
mo; came to you first. as in duty
bound."
"Then what prevents us from destroy
ing the papers? / shan't say anything
about it. That young Timburel is a
skunk and q snob; it will be ridiculous to
see him lord, and he'll ruin himself,
or become mad with conceit-so foolish
is he. / say Beauvray, if throw this
envelope into the fire, who will know
anything about it?"
Il SHALL" answered Lord Beauvray,
quitely, and he held out his hand for
the papers.
The shifty glance Of the money man
quailed in the light of unquenchable
honesty in that of one who happened to
be nobleman in something more than
the name.
There was pretty hubbub in society
W.T. en- it became known that the Earl of
Beauvray-or George de Vray, as he
now simply called himself-was going to
abandon his title and estates to man
who had been a city clerk.
OF course George de Vray's marriage
WAS postponed. The turn in his for
tunes had thrown so much business on
his hands that it was impossible he could
devote a month to honeymooning until
it was all disposed Of; besides which, he
felt bound to make Mr.. Moyle the
offer of releasing his daughter from her
engagement. AT first this proposal was
poohpoohed equally by the bill.dis-
counter and Miss Moyle herself. Mil
lie, who was not quite so sensible as she
was pretty, wept a good deal at not be-
coming a Countess; then she wept at
the nobility of Georges action, which
everybody was praising.
Now there was staying in the house
of the Moyles y poor little cousin of
Miles, named Gertrude Brown. She
was soft-eyed brunette Of 18, very
quiet and lovable, who acted as COM
panion TO Mile, and had to bear much
from the whimsical humors of this
spoiled child. Gertie had always re-
ceived marked kindness from Lord
Beauvray, who treated her as if she
had been his sister, and she looked
upon him with admiration as the most
noble being she had ever seen. His
remuneration OF rank and wealth had
struck her as an act of surprising hero
ism, and she could not so much as al
lude to it without tears gushing from
her eyes. A shrewd, merry little thing,
too, in her way, she was capable of dis
ce1ning the difference that existed be-
tween a genuine man honor like
Lord Beauvray and mere man of
money like her uncle Moyle.
1t was this enthusiasm of poor Gertie
Browns on poor George de Vray's be-
half that began to make the cup of Mr..
Moyle's bitterness overflow. That
worthy gentleman had taken to musing
that there was an end now to his
chances of sitting in parliament, get-
ting baronetcy, and all that.
Poor Gertie held her tongue, although
her heart throbbed wofully. She had
heard that the new Lord Beauvray, the
ex-Mr. Timburel, had been invited to
dinner On q certain evening; and she
began to suspect that her precious uncle
was forming plan for making Of this
former clerk of his a suitor for Miles
hand.
Her intuition was not at fault. Old
Moyle hastened to make peace with his