Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1883-08-02
WYLDER'S ROCK.

WYLDER'S ROCK.
II had been long and tedious liti-
CATION. The Wylders had literally
fought every inch of tho way, spent ali
they possessed in contesting the suit,
and lost it at last.
Philip Scarlc had spent good deal,
too; but, then, he was money king
rolled in gold, in vulgar parlancc-a and
he had won, which meantmoro money.
ms he very well knew, when he pro-
duced, from amid some musty old pa-
pers, that uncancellcd mortgage of
which he had known for years, but
never thought of pushing till he dis
covered that the barren and hitherto.
considered worthless acres of the
Wylder's Rock property rested on u
stratom OF solid wealth; in short, were
on Il vast coalbcd.
The Wyldcrs had lost-and who
were they? The poorest and prouJest
family in the c0unly-tho proudcst, ut
any rate-and they had possessed only
4 competence when they went into this
legal contest, which had swallowed il
all, and ended in total rout for them.
There had been five in the family
when the struggle bcgan-thG father,
three sons and one daughter.
Two of the sons, brilliant young men
and promising lawyers, had been killed
in railroad accident on their way to
the city on business connected with
the famous suit.
Worry over the suit, and the horror
of losing his beautiful boys in so tor
rible mannc' had brought an attack
of fever on the rather, and he had died
the very day the suit was decided
against him, leaving with his dying
breath the stern charge to his remain
ing childIen--ncyer to give up-never
to yield Wyldor's Rock 10 the Scarles!
Tho Wyldcrs really seemed an un-
lucky family. The remaining son was
sufferer from spinal disease, con-
fined to his couch or wheeled chair
most of his life.
A poor creature he was TO resist any
thing, much less the enforcing of that
decision of the court which had given
his home to another.
81 will resistn declared his Young
sister. 81 will never yicld!"
And she looked as if she would be no
mean antagonist, girl of sixteen though
she was.
Slight, dainty and sweet, q child in
looks as she was in years, there was
yet spirit shining ont of her big
black eyes, determination in the
lovely, curving mouth, that bodel i'll
for the success of Philip Searlc's plans
if she could defeat them.
The money-king sat in his gorgeous
library, in close and confidential con-
verse with his only son, but Just re-
turned from II three years sojurn in
Europe.
He was II young man of fine and
noble presence, handsome and gallant
enough to make tho heart of any man
leap with pride to call him son.
Philip Searlc had just been giving
him, in rough outline, what he called
Il sketch of the Wylder case.
"You see," he said, "it has been Just
like lighting nest of eagles all along.
They have baked and hinderod and
resisted the thing till | am out of all
manner of patience. There is only
those two now, the sick fellow and the
girl, but she's regular little tiger. cat
by all accounts. | have served tho
regular legal notice on them; | have
warned them to 60, and they won't. If
it were men | was dealing with l should
know what to do, but child and u sick
man"
"You wish mo TO go and see themP"
questioned Raymond, lightly. Every
well, ! will 90 at once. | dare say /
can induce them to hear reason"
He spoke with the self-contidence
his INDUCED and llatlered life had
taught him. He was in the habit of
being yielded to; not because he was
dictatorial or seliishly oxacting, but be-
cause he was rich, young, handsome,
sunny-natured and warm-hearted.
Most men liked him, and most women,
too, for that matter.
Wylder's Rock, from which the
property took its name, was rugged,
stony ominence, with evergreen
clothed side. The house, perched
like an eagles eyrie at the very top,
was picturesque, ivy clad stone
structure, built in the palmiest days of
the family, now seemingly at its de-
cadence. 1t had once been splendidly
furnished within, but now contained
only the faded remnants of its former
magniicence.
At hehour when Philip Searle talked
with his son, Reda Wylder stood with
their one servant, an old woman of
seventy, who had always been with
the family, before picture which hung
in the low, wide entrance hall of the
house.
1t was the portrait of an ancestress,
a woman who must have been superbly
beautiful, with her nightlike eyes, her
snowy skin, her diadem of silken braids
Robes of silk and lace fit for an en-
press flowed about the perfect figure,
and in her hair and on her breast were
gems Of price.
"You are her image, child-her very
image@' old Annot was saying. 'If |
you were dressed like that you might
get into the frame there, and no ono
would know the difference" sl.t
Reda laughed merrily. Hl
81 have mind to try it," she said.
The very clothes she wore for this
picture are up there in the cedar chest.
/ will do it."
As she ran away Apnot's old eyes
followed her fondly.
"Light-hoarted and lion-hearted like