The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-09-10
THE HUT ON THE MOOR.
Bi u LYNN LINTON.

made blunder, tnppcd over her own
boundaries, broken her own laws. The
heir IF the great Armstrong family Of
Holmc wool might have been n change.
ling for all the likeness to his progenitors
traceablc III mind and features; and had
he heen born q couple Of centuries ago
his want of direct resemblance would
have certainly cost more than one life on
the plea Of witchcraft and diabolical
transportation.
Hugh Armstrong, his father and the
head of the family, was tall, naughty,
herd, Cooking fox-hunter,
with the franc of IN athlete, and the
heal nj prize-fghtor: and Julia, his
mother, as tall. rs D. arty, as ford rs
her husband, was like whito- armed
and dcep-brcastcd Juno in hat aud habit,
with the flush of the northern hreesa on
her conicly checks and tic gray Of the
northern skies in her calm 6xed eyes.
They We're the hu,dsomcst couple in
un cour sy, and the most popular. He
was MAJ ter of t.Ie hunt, she was mistress
"i Sncl 'ty am, the foremost patroncss of
All the local charities: hc set the ball
G"lh & among men, AMI she kept il i'll
me 'ssght lime among tue women; he WIS
.s,Giegl Of nm English country gcntlp.
MAN. and she was the ideal of that En-
;:tIsh country gentleman wife. They
we're people who cnjuyrd themselves,
and did their duties without stint or full.
IRE; and vino had neither ii doubt nor
care. neither n fear nor pain, outside
tlmt one irretrievable mistake at their
son. And that was n mistake which no
arguments could justify, soften or OK
PLAIN.
Imagine, as the son and heir of such
people rs these, pale, thin, enthuiasiic
dreamer who abhored fox-hunting and
would not kill even phcasant-a stu
dcut, not an athlete-with black hair,
dark dreamy, melancholy eyes, skin,
not wholesome red and white after the
English pattern, hut olive-tinted in the
sh1dow and crcam-c olored in high lights:
Il creature looking asmuch Ikea Spanish
poet as II was possible for Northman
TO be-louking, too, like one who had
come from some far-away place into "A
fureigI land and q strange cline whence
he knew neither himself nor his sur
ronn,lngS. Was ii u wonder then that
he was cross To his parents, or that he
had been SORROW from the first Moth
ing about him harmuniZed with their
manner If being, and the bricks out of
which ne built his temple when set
against theirs were all CrCrSs-cOr ncr,I
and askew. The strong open-air life
and generous physical enioyments which
were so necessary to them, were both
barbarous and degrading TO him: and
the studies which made his HAPPINESS
Ia.
had adopted all the new views. while
they were not only cOnte mt with the old
hut but sure that every thing of modern
invention was diabolicAl wl,nn not insane.
He was an advance. liberal and an en-
thnsiaslc evolutio'list-they were Tories
of the deepest dye and believed i'll the
separate creat on Of moths and butter
flies, and the absolute difference Oi man
from all the lower animals.
II" Was Il cross, and they did not deny
That Loot 10 themselves or to others.
New JrthelcsS he was their son. And bad
iis hc was he was not bad all through.
outside hls principals save the
mark they Thought with contemptuous
compassionate WAS n nice creature
enough for one of his lost kind. They
despised his kind from the bottom of
their hearts, but they could not hate him,
nor yet Danish him from their presence
as Clarence Armstrong, Hugh's younger
brother, wished and advised.
The next of kin and heir to the estate,
failing Julian. was Clarence, who cher
ished the most profound dislike for this
unworthy twig of the brave old tree.
Yet even with him it was not personal 80
4 e L.. l.
as an Individual than because of that
family pride which he, Clarence, wor-
shipped, and he, Julian, dIsregardcd.
lie good management Of the estate and
The good name of the Armstrong; were
the central point of existence to Clarence;
aud knowing as lie did that both would
be lost III Julian's hands, his one desire
Was 10 dispoSsess the recreant heir that
:i,Ings should he administered with all
regard to the fetish Of old tradition. He
would keep up the honor of the house
which his cousin would destroy: he would
root out all those pernicious doctrines
which simply inilamed the masses, and
which, if not checked, would send Eng
land to the deuce-nnd Julian would
plant, foster anu nOurish them; he would
teach the base scum the difference be-
tween them and the gentry-and julian
would mix up everything into one abom-
Unable hodge-podPe, where Jack would
he us good rs his master and Joan would
rank with her lady. Thus il came to be
"a matter of almost life and death to him
that his nephew should he prevented
from ever entering on this rightful inner
itancc.
Clarence did not quite see how this
was to be done; hut time, good cause
and strong will work marvels; and he
trusted to these three as 10 the fntes who
would put all straight, and somehow
snap of the thread that was now such an
inharInonious strand running through
the clear Armstrong web. But the
father and mother, while always deeply
dcploring the strange twist that had been
given to their boy, ever refused to send
him abroad under surveillance and i'll
disgrace, as Clarence so constantly sug-
gested. II was their own, their son,
their heir, their representative sorry
one truly, but still their own. Aud
though they did not love him as they
would have done had he been more CON
genial To their tastes, they did not quite
want 10 lose him; and though young
Hugh, Clar"nce's eldest son, bore the
family name and was an Armstrong
every inch Of him, still he was only II
nephcw-and Julian was the child of
their love. Wherefore they kept him ut
home, and contcnted themselves with
rating him soundly when things went
worse than usual with him, and he was
more than ordinarily absurd: but such
IN lac was, they put up with him us well
AZ they could--for NIL that he was their
cross.
So the time passed. Julian went to
school; took fairly good degree, but in
no wise one Of such brilliancy as atonesl
for his failure i'm acknowledgements and
family duty. Had he earned OIL all the
honors they would have forgiven some
Of his follies; but the truth was, the
young fellow was more Of II dreamer
than wOrker-an enthusiast for ideas
rather than seeker after facts-and he
cared more 10 spout ut the debating
club, and lay down the law on all de-
batahlc social points, than sit in his own
room, and master the difficulties of the
Greek aorist and the differential calculus.
Now all this was bad enough. An Arm
strong, who held unsound views OH the
game laws, the land laws and the rights
Of man, and who had not made q sky
rocket of himself mt college, was IN ill.,
Election almost past endurance; but worse
remains behind, and that worse WAS al.
most impossible to bear.
The gamekeeper's pretty daughter!
Ali what misery for the family ut Holme