Daily Republican., 1883-10-13
THE GOLDEN MERCHANT.


BY MRS. CHARLOTTE n. STANLEY MokEss
"Let me never, from this hour, hes
her name again." said John Lindsay
gloOmily, as bis lawyer folded the docl
ment that had just bsen signed and wi
messed, and rose to depart. "That' tn
best and the worst wish / have concern
ing her. I've cut her out of my will, a
she has cut me ont Of her life and
only hope that, while live, shall hea
no more of her"
He was speaking thus bitterly of hi
young sister, his darling, his heart
idol, bis one eve lamb pretty Mabel
whom he had taken, at their parent
death, and cherished, and educated
and toiled for i; and whom, In thes,
later years, when wealth was his, b,
had named his heiress pretty Mabel
OF whom their friends used to say
lauehingly, that" in Johns eyes Nal
could do no wrong"
She had done wrong, however. Sht
had cast duty, natural election, graft
tude, as well as brother, home, and
friends, to the winds, for the SAKE
OF mad infatration for q worthless fel
low whom John had forbidden her even
| to zee.
| There was The pang to the brother
heart. Not her disobedience he could
have found an excuse for that in the
fact Of her strong love but that his
darling should have given her pure
hearts love 30 wildly and unworthy,
and when he, who, through Der whole
life long had merited and possessed her
confidence when he pointed out to her
the ruin and misery to which her
course was tending, should have set
at naUght at once his authority and
love, and recklessly dared the fate from
which he had striven to save her !; it
was for this that he cast her off,
and vowed that he would never forgive
her.
He had but one other natural heir
his dead brothers. orphan son, little
Frank Lindsay, . child Of five years.
The boy had been cared for since his
parents death by some of his mothers
relatives, but when rich John Lindsay
offered to adopt him and make him his
heir, they gave the baby to his care
willingly enough.
The uncle found no comfort in his lit.
tie nephew's company.
John Lindsay was one of those self
contained, celd-seeming men who form
few attachments, and express but little
Outwardly of what they really feel.
His heart had been bound up in Mabel.
The affection other men bestow self.
vsr{ ia nd ,h, ia l,aI
lin bya bitter disappointment in his
early youth, and what capacity of low
ing still remained his sister had called
forth.
For awhile, after her cruel and cul-
pable desertion, IL seemed as If the
instincts of human affet ton in his soul
had actually withered and died.
He set himself steadily to the accu-
mutation of wealth, and with such sue.
cess that gradually people began to
call him the golden merchant, and say
that whatever business he took hold Of
turned to gold.
A kind of bitter joy arose In his breast
ut bis own success.
Not for the sake Of the money-he had
been rich enough for his own desires
long ago--but because the fame of his
wealth promised him kind of revenge |
upon the man he hated, the man who
had stolen his young sister away.
" He only married her for my moneys
sake" he unused, bitterly. James
Ellison was never capable Of real love.
He thought to wed the Golden Mer-
chants heiress. When h- discovered |
hat l had cast her off, how he cursed |
himself, and her, and me. She has
found out, long ere this, unhappy girl, |
the lovers or the brothers. love
was best
He had heard from her since she left |
him only once. About eighteen months
utter her flight, and six months after he
lad made public his adoption of Frank
a letter had come 10 Kim 1t
vas addressed in her own handwriting,
imidly and TREMENDOUSLY, he thought.
Ellison has heard about Frank, and
las compelled him to write and beg
forgiveness, was his instant conclusion
i will not even open it,
He did not. In secret drawer of his
lesk he laid it way, and 50 it remained,
With the seal unbroken, for ten long
'ears.
At the end of that time a strange
hing happened. The Golden Merch-
lnt's carriage, conveying him to his
tfice one day, knocked down poor,
wreck of humanity, who, in
ndeavoring to Gloss the street, had got
n the horses way.
The man was insensible and badly
lurt !; a doctor who had been passing
him dying, and 30 John
lindsay had him lifted into the car
iage. and, with the doctors, assistance
him to the ospit4l him.
elf.
Blood, and the mud of the streets up.
Il the mans pale face had made it un.
ecognizable but as they lifted him
ut Of the carrIage---he had recovered
Onsciousness on the wayne whisper.
d low and dyingly :
"John Lindsay-wLit -
And John Lindsay waited long
neugh to learn that this was his unhap-
y sisters husband or, at least, such
'reck OF him as disease and dissipation
al left--long enough TO learn that Ma
d had been forsaken within the first
ear of her marriage, and that her mis-
rable husband knew not, and until
cath called him, had not cared what
or fate had been long enough to see ]
ames Ellison die. II
Then 1t was that Mabel's letter
rst saw the light, and the seal was
roken.
Hot tears rained down from John !,
lindsay eyes upou the pititul, heart
roken prayer that pleaded to him from
le faded page Alas his sorrow came
II years too late. II
81 was but a GIRL" poor Mabel =
rote, and under the fatal influence
an unworthy love. am not twenty
et. John, and already have l reap-d
10 harvest of my sin against you. III
n alone in the world tonight with my
tile helpless baby, for whose sake alone !,
courage to impIore your par
III. Oh, If you could see me now,
'uld realize how my SIN has fOun4I ma Il