Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1881-09-23
lToN, VIRGINIA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER %, 1881.
me happy she won It hear of it. ,,

lOuuu Capacity Ol SulQe, COunS6llOT. dHQ
friend, ''she is not the first girl who has
had to struggle between love and duty, or,
at least, what she conceives to be her
duty"
"She is SO thoroughly conscientious, /" re-
piled Jim, ''that l fear even to press her
to take the step which would make me a
happy man for life. When 1 ask her in
my despair whether she will ever choose
between her step-mother's wishes and my
love she implores me not to tempt her:
ana So" added Jim, there L am, misera-
BILE as need be-
All this interested me exceedingly. She
was evidently girl of sterling worth and
, with high sense of the duty she believed
she owed to her parent IS wishes. l thought
over Master Jim s love affair as i lay in
bed that night and came to the conclusion
that the case was difficult one. You can
own behest and purpose by simply speaking.
Hence, came to the conclusion that Miss
Spalding's love for my old friend ought to
be tested and tried in some other way AS
my experience Of human nature goes, there
seems nothing like putting love, of all hui
man emotions, to some right test. But
! how the test could be applied to the case
in which I had thus been led to feel spec
ial interest knew not.
I confessed as I rolled over to sleep that
I did not see my way clear to help them;
Little did l think that the morrow was to
bring the means and the man. The man
was Josiah Blagden, Esquire, iron-found-
er, of the firm OF Blagden, Bilge Il Co., of
Birmingham, and elsewhere; the means
was-my humble self.
The day after my arrival at Rockbamp-
ton Jim proposed that should ride with
him on his morning round and, added he :
"We'll call at Mount Grove on our way
home" Mount Grove was the residence
of Mr.. Spalding, and O'Clock found us at
the gate Of nice villa residence overlook
ing the river and standing within it's own
nicely kept grounds
We were usuered into the drawing
room, where we found assembled certain
persons whom Jim had not expected to
see. Mr. Spalding received me courteous
ly, as also did Mrs. .Spalding. Miss Nelly
greeted me most cordially, adding that she
was much pleased to make the acquain-
lance of DR.. Brooke's old friend of whom
he SO often spoke In addition to the
family circle of three, it was clear there
were strangers present. These latter were
Mr.. Josiah Blagden and his sister. Mr..
Blagden did not impress me favorably.
He was stout, florid -complexioned man,
remarkable for the extreme breadth of his
white waiscoat and for the profusion of
jewelry displayed there on.
ga safe man, my dear sir; very safe man, :"
said Mr. Spalding to me at lunch. "Why,
1 suppose his turnover is about half a mil
a yearZthe iron Grade, you know" added
the gentleman by way of explaining that
Mr.. Blagden was one of the metal-kings
Of England.
'Self-made man, too,' said Mr.. Spald-
ing; began life as foundry-boy."
From what 1 saw of Mr.. Blagden with
in the next few weeks, his origin could
have been pretty accurately guessed from
i the manner in which he impaired the
foundry boys" manners into the sphere
in which his industry and success had led
him. He was essentially a vulgar man,
who bullied his sister, a meek, silent lit
tie woman, with q good heart and kind
~ nature, as discovered later on.
AS we drove home from lunch that day
Jim was strangely depressed. L guessed
his thoughts pretty accurately, for he burst
out into TRADE against Mrs. Spalding on
our arrival at home.
II shouldn't wonder, Regy," said he
''if that fellow Blagden has been invited
down here as a sutton for Nelly. Hes a
friend of Mrs. Spalding s, [ know. because
she herself comes from the Black Coun-
try"
Jim's state of mind from the moment
he preached this theory. may be better
imagined than described. For the next
three weeks am bound to say that his
temper was well-nigh uncomfortable. One
evening at dinner at Mount Grove 1 felt
half afraid he was going to infict personal
chastisement upon Mr.. Blagden, a feat Il
should have much rejoiced to have seen
skillfully performed, after the iron-mast-
ers coarse invectives against the medical
profession, which had been called forth
during some argument concerning doctors
fees. Nelly's attitude towards Jim ap
peared to have undergone no perceptibe
change She was loving and gentle as be-
fore, but fancied that Mrs. Spalding con-
trived dexterously to keep Mr.. Blagden
and Nelly as frequently together as posi-
BILE, and thus Jim's tete-a-tetes were re-
duced to miserable minimum. Worst of
all, as Jim remarked to me one day. Nelly
had confessed that her stepmother had ON
more than one occasion limited that Mr..
jsBlagden's visit and stay were not solely
prompted by friendship to her parents
Mrs. Spalding was, in other words, a clev
er woman, playing nice little game of
diplomacy, and while keeping on the most
| friendly terms with Jim. was, to my mind,
| furthering her own aims and ideas of
matrimonial alliance for Nelly with the
elderly iron-founder. I know that most
| of my readers will say that Miss SpaIding
should have settled the matter for herself,
and have given Mr.. Blagden to understand
that his attentions were unWelcome and
hopeless. But, as remarked before, we
are not all cast in one mold; and the most
loving natures may sometimes be coerced
by what seems to be their duty, into self
sacrifice of the most unreasonable kind,
and which can only entail misery in the
end.
So things went on at Rockhampton,