Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-02-28

Joyce had the beaung Of well-Dred lady. and
the purity Of thought Of child. She was
| noticed as II she had been q new and dlStin-
! guished arrival In Washington.
All! Reybold," said Pontotoc Bibb, ~ under
stand, ole feller, what keeps you so quiet now.
| You've got wife onbeknown to the kemMtee!
and happy man know you air."
It pleased Reybold to hear this, and deep.
ened his interest in the landlady's family. His
attention to her daughter stirred Mrs. Basii's
."My daughter, Colonel Reybold, i" she sald
rs designed for the army; The Judge never
impress es apon
portance Of the military profession. Ny mother,
grandmother, and great-grandmother married
shall descend to civil LIE While can Keep Tie
Fawquear estates"
Madame" said the Congressman, twill you
permit me to make the suggestion that your
daughter is already a woman and needs a
fathers care If she is ever to receive it. I be-
seech you to impress this subject upon the
his heart If he is man Of honor; nay. what is
better than honor, his duty requires him to
come to the side Of these children, though he be
attend to more weraIy eoncerns y
% The Jedge," exclaimed Mrs. Basil, much
mined, Is man OF hereditary ices, Colonel Rey-
Kinvas- back On his ancestral waters. Ii he
should hear that you suggested pa ific lie
and the grovelling associations of the capital
1or him, he might call you OUT STRIP
Mrs. Basil was absent, called across the PotO-
mac, as happened frequently, at the summons
OF the Judge-and on such occasions she gem
advance OF board-Reybold found Joyce Basil
In the little parlOr OF the dwelling. She was
alone and in tears, but the little boy Uriel slept
before the chimney-fire on rug, and his PALE
thin face, catching the glow OF the burning
wood, looked beauEified as Reybold addressed
the ee young woman; s,,, .,,u u..,, .o.,,o.
works too hard. Is there never to be relief for
him? His poor, withered body, slung on those
clutches for hours and hours, racing up the
ing him out His ambition is very interesting
to see, but his breath is growing shorter and his
strength is Trailer every week. Do you know
"Omy Lord!n she said, in the negrofied phrase
wish him dead.''
nothing to assist you both? Let me understand
you. Accept my sympathy and confidence.
Where is Urfeps father. what is this mystery?"
at is for no idle curiosity that ask" he con-
t1nued. 81 will appeal to him for his family,
even at the risk Of his resentment. Where is
"Oh, do not ask" she exclaimed. "You want
me to tell you only the truth. He Is ttere!,
She pointed to one of the old portraits In the
room,a picture fairly painted by some pro-
a little voluptuous but aristocratic, the
shoulders clad in martial cloak, the neck in
ruffles and ruftieS also, and diamond in the
shirt bosom. Reybold studied it with all his
mind.
"Then it is no felton," he said, 'that you
have living father, one answering to your
face? Has some trreparable mistake, some
miserable controversy, alenated him from his
wife? Has he another family?"
She answered with spirit:
mo, sir. He Is my father and my brothers
only. But can tell you no more"
Joyce he said, taking her hand, 'this is not
enough. | will not press you to betray any
self l must know something more: You are
almost woman. You are beautiful"
At d tbs ne t1ghtensd his grasp and It brought
gle to draw away, but 1t pleased him to see that
when the first modest opposition had been tried
she ss sat quite happily though trembling with
"Joyce," he CONT nued, you have double
duty: one to your mother and this poor invalid
whose journey toward that Fathers house not
duty toward your nobler self-the future that is
in you and your woman's heart. l tell you
again that you are beautiful, and the slavery to
an offence against the creator OF such perfec-
ton. Do you know what it Is to lover"
81 know what it is to feel kindness" She an
sWered after time OF silence. 81 ought to
me We never sleep, Brother and /, but we say
your name together, and ask God to bless you.n
Reybold sought In vain to suppress confess
SiUu Ut udu TeSlSUeU. Inc contact OF ner form,
her large dark eyes now fixed upon him in emo.
ton. the birth OF the conscious woman in the
virgin and her affection still in the leasheS of
siavish sacrifice, tempted him onward to the
conquest.
II am about to retire from Congress- he
said. 1T Is no place for me in times Sd inSub-
stant1al. There are darkness and beggary
ahead for all your southern race. There is a
crisis coming which will be followed by dasola-
ton. The generation to which your pare ITS
belong IS doomed! open my arms to you, dear
rrl au2 npr for l,Cr,
by Wife. Accept it, and leave Washington
with me and your brother. l love you wholly"
=, A happy light shone in her face moment.
She was weary to the bone with the lays work,
and had not the streogth, If she had the viii to
preVenS the Congressman drawing her to his
heart. Sobbing there, she spoke with bitter
'.Heaven bless you, dear Mr., Reybold. with
wife good enough to deserve you! Blessings on
your generous heart. But l cannot leave Wash
ington. love another here!"
HL-DuST.
The Lake and Bayou Committee reaped the
reward of good action. Crutch, the page as
they all called Uriel Basil, affected the sensi-
bility of the whole committee to the extent that
profanity almost ceased there, and vulgarity
became crime in the presence of a child.
Gentle words and wishes became the rule;
glimmer OF reverence and a thought of piety
were not unknown in that little chamber.
made my skn tS sad Teens Bee If
ton! feel as il had sot nigger free,n
The youthful abstraction1st LOwndeS Cleburn.
expressed 1t even better. "Crutch, he said sis
like angel reduced to his bones. Them air
wings or pinions, that he might have flew OF
with, being pair OF clutches here keeps him to
tarry awhile in our service. But, gentlemen
he's not got long to stay. His crutches Is grow
Ing too heavy for that eXpandin speret. Some
day we'll look up and miss him through our
tears
They gave him many present: they put q
silver watch In his pocket and dressed him In a
jacket with gilt buttons. He had bouquet of
flowers TO take home every day to that marvel
l0us sister OF whom he spoke so often: and
there were times when the whole committee
seeing him drop of to sleep as he often did
through trail and weary nature, sat silently
watching lest he might be wakened before his
rest was over. But no persuasion could take
him Off the floor OF Congress. In that solemn
old Hall of Representatives, under the semi
circle OF gray columns, he darted with agility
from noon to dusk, keeping speed upon his
clutches with the healthiest of the pages. and
racing into the document-room; and through
the dark and narrow corridors of the old CAPITOL
loft, where the House library was lost In twi-
light. Visitors looked with interest and SYM
pathy at the narrow back and body of this in
valid child, whose eyes were full of BRIGHT.
.beaming spirit. He sometimes nodded on the
steps by the Speakers chair; and these spells of
dreaminess and fatigue increased as his disease
advanced upon his wasting system. Once he
did not awaken at all until adjournment The
great Congress and audience passed out, and
the little fellow still Slept with his head against
the Clerks desk, while all the other pages