New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-07-08

r,.,c;,...lv nv man In whom he had reposcd i'm
plicit faith. There had lain his rock OF ruin: he
was always reposng implicit faith in everybody
His life had been long pathos OF over-credusy'
He could think reason. reflect. analyze. but he was
incapable OF doubling. A fool could have deceived
him, and naturally. on repeated OCCASIONS knaves
had not fo,ina il difficult. At ffty-three his last
hard-earnsd savings had been worlned from him by
the last plausible scamp. And now he had accepted
himself as tho favorite Of misfortune; over the
glow of hs spirit disappointment had cast its dull
ing SPOIL like the deep film Of ash that sheathes
spent ember. He had now one sim-to keep his
wife and child from indulgence while he lived, aud
one despair-that he could not keep them from IN
digence after he was dead. But his really lovely
optimism still remained. He had been essentially
amixble and complainant In all intercourse Win
his kind and this quality had not lost ray OF its
tine former lustre. With ample excuse Tor the
worst cynic feeling, he continued gentle yet nm
conscious philanthropist. There was something pite
eusly sweet in the obstinacy with which no still
saw only the bright side of humanity. His delicate
person had grown more SLIM his rusty clothes hung
about him with modrnful looseness; his oval
face, worn by worriment, had taken keener lines;
but his large blde eyes still kept their liquid sparkle
and kindled In prompt unison with his alert
smile. The iaxen growth that had always fringed
his lips and chin with cloudy lightness, had now
become Of frosty gray. Seen passingly, no ono
Guild have called him, as the current phrase goes.
a gentleman His weared mien forbade the sug-
pestion of LEISURE while his broadcloth spoke of
long wear and speedy purchase. But q close gaze
might have caught the impoverished refnement that
still chung to him with sad persistence. and was evi
dent in such minor effects Of personal detail as
GLIMPSE of clearly linen about throat and wrist
cheap vet careful lustre Of the often faded boot
culture and purity of the hand, or even q choice
nicely of the finger Fail.
He had married after reaching these shores,
and his marriage had proved Another test
of misplaced confidence. HIS wife had been hand
some whom young woman. and she had become
Mrs. Twining at about the age of five-and-twenty.
She was personally quite the opposite of her bride
groom she was an inch taller than he and had an
aouline face. splendid with pair of very black
eyes that she had rolled and flashed ct the other
rex since early girlhood She had rolled and flashed
them At her present husband and 30 conquered
him. She was q good inch taller than he, and
lapse of time had not diminished the difference
sincs their union She had been extremely vulgar
a. Miss Jane wray, when Twining had married
her. and she was extremely vulgar still. She had
first met him in boarding house IN East Broad
way where Twning had secured room on mis-
arrival from England. At this period East Broad
way wore only waning grace OF gentility some
few conservative nabobs still fingered there, OBJ
utinately dofying pleboan inroads It's roomy brick
mansions, with their arched. antique doorways.
devoid OF any vsstibule. their p-im-railed stoops
that guessed not of ornate balusters. and their
many -panvd, thin-sashed windows where plate
glass had never glttered, weis already invaded by
inmates whose Teuton names and convex noses
prophesied the social decline that must soon grasp
To,a Wr,y neff
German nor Hebrew; she was American in the
least pleasant ssnse Of that word both as regards
parentaQe and breeding She an orphan. and
the recipient of surly charity from anprosperous
relatives She wanted very greatly to marry, and
Twining had seemed to her golden chance. There
was much about her from which he shrank; but
she oontrived to rouse his pity, and then to lure
from him promise which he would have despised
himself not 20 keep.
The succeeding years had brought bitter mutual
disap pointmsnts. Mrs. Twining had believed
firmly in her husbands powers to sound the horn OF
luck and slay the giant Of adversely. But he had
done neither and it now looked as II hrs bones wero
one day to bleach along the roadway 10 success.
She became austere grumbler, forever pricking
her sweet-tepsrsd lord with tireess little bodkin
OF rcproach Her vuigaritics had sharpened; her
wit. always cruel and acute had tipped itself with
q harshor venom and fsdgod itself with swifter
feather; her bright. coarse beauty had dimmed and
soured she was at present gaunt elderly female
with square shoulders and hard dark eyes. who
flung saroasms broadcast with b<eful iberality.
and seemed forever standing toward her own
destiny In the attitude OF person who has some
large unsettled claim against nefarious govern
ncnt.
Claire Twining, the one child who had been born
81.
years old She bore striking Likeness to her
father she possessed his blue eyes, trile darker
10 shade mis- broad white forehead, his slopng del
cacy OF vsase. and his erect though slender franc.
From him. too. had como the sunny quality OF her
SMILE tire gold tilts In her chestnut hair. the fine
symmetry Of hands and feet. Rather from asso-
citation than heredity she had caught his kindly
warmth OF manner; bnt In Claire the cordial I'm
pulse was far less spontaneous; she had her blsck
list of dIslikss and she took people trust with
wary prudence. Here spoke her mothers share In
the girls being. as 1t spoke also In certain distinct
chiselling Of every feature, that suggested soft
ensd memsnto of Miss Jane WraY's girlish counte-
nance though Clasres coloring no moro resembled
nor mothers Of past time than wild-rose Is like
peony or pastel like chrome. But thore WAS one
more maternal imprint set deep within this girls
nature not to be thinned or married by any stress
of events and productive Of trait whose develop
ment for good III Is the chief cause that her life
HIS here been cbronicled. The birthright was
perlous one 1t was heritage Of discomfort; its
tendency was perpetual longing for better environ
mont for ampler share the worlds good gifts, for
higher place in it's esteem aud stronger claim to its
heed. But what in her mother had bsen ambition
almost crudely eager as boorish elbow
thrust was in Claire decorous and interesting.
like the push Of fragile yet determined hand
through sullcn crowd. In both cases the dissat-
istaction was something that Is peculiar 10 the
woman of our land ana tims-a desire not to try
aud adorn the sphere In which she is born. but TO
try and roach new sphere held as moro suited for