The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1883-10-07
DELLA GRIMWET.


physical epilepsy. Twice she tried to speak,
and only emitted a gurgling sound as If
~strangling. he sprang toward her, but a
sudden repulsion gave her self-control. She
put out her hands as il to ward him of.
"Oh, my boy, my boyr' she cried, breaking
, out into historical sobs. "My boy, my boyTn
She wTung her hands and twisted them to-
, gether in fierce contortions which frightened
i Farnsworth; but she still would not allow
him to approach her. She struggled for
composure, writhing in paroxysms dreadful
to see.
and piercing; mo, no Not himl Oh, GodI
You cannot have my boyr'
Farnsworth retreated sharply.
He had not considered this. Indeed, so
different was everything he found from
everything he had expected that whatever
he had preconsidered was swept out of exist
ence as irrelevant. he was confronted with
a catastrophe in which it was necessary to
judge unerringly and to act instantly, yet
which paTnlyzed all his powers by its strange
ness and its horror. He CROPPED his way
back to his chair and sat down, leaving the
silence again unbroken save by her convul-
sive breathing and his deep-drawn signs.
All at once a new sound broke in upon
them, and the mother started to her feet.
HE is comingm she gasped hoarsely. 81
sent him away, but he has come back. He
could not keep away, my beautiful boy"
Her face was illumined with a love which
well nigh TRANSPORTED it. The door was
opened violently, and the boy came rudely
ina gaunt, rough whelp Of ten ummers
defiant, bold, and curious.
81 knew there was something up" the
young rascal observed, with much self-com-
placency, 81 knew when you sent me of to
stay all night that somebody's funeral was
comm of and 1 was bound I'd be- here to
see it.n
Neither the mother nor the father returned
any answer. Ordinary feelings were so alb
solutely swept away that the woman did not
even remember that she should have at
tempted to quiet and to excuse the intruder.
Even the maternal pride which would usu-
ally have been troubled by the impression the
chld's rudeness must make upon her guest
was overwhelmed by the greater emotion
which possessed her whole being.
Farnsworth had never been more keenly
alive in every fibre of his being than at this
moment. All his family pride, his refined
tastes, his delicate nature, revolted from a
kinship with the ugly, uncouth child who
stood grinning maliciously upon his guilty
parents His impulse, almost too strong to be
resisted, was to turn back and hide him
self again in the world from which he had
come-to leave this woman and her loutish
NAAN III ~ duAGb anu ODoIuTlLN "ntTt ne
had found them. But he was nobler than
his impulses, and had paid already too
dearly for rashness; the claim of a son upon
the father who has brought him into the
world grasped his sense of justice like a hand
of steel.
He rose to his feet, firm and determined.
G away nowI' he said TO the boy quietly,
but in a voice which even the urchin felt
admitted of no disobedience. 81 wish to
talk with your mother. 1 will see you to-
morrow"
eyes, Farnsworth.n the mother said
pleadingly. go to bed now. 1 will come
to you before long. That's a good boy"
The boy slowly and unwillingly withdrew,
his reluctance showing how rare obedience
was to him, and the parents were once more
alone.
"You have given him my name,n were
Farnsworth's first words, as the door closed
behind his son.
sit was father who did that. BE
said be should remember to curse you every
time the name was spoken.n
"And your the other asked, almost with a
shudder.
Il did not care. Cursing could not change
things. Only 1 would not let him do it be-
fore the boy; l didn't want him to know
what sort of a father he had" ,
In the midst of his establishment some
hidden fibre of resentment and wounde
vanity tingled at her words; but he would
not heed it.
81 am not so wholly bad, Delia,n he said
in a moment. 81 came back to marry you.
1t will not change or mend the past; but it
is the best l can do now"
1T is of no use to talk of that" she re-
turned YEARLY; ''you and I are done with
each other. Even l can see that
She was spent with the violence of her
emotions, and only longe+l to have Farms
worth leave her. She was keenly sensitive
now of the nicely of his attire, the contrast
between him and her meagre surroundings.
The shamefacedness of the poor over
whelmed her. She rose with uneven
steps and trembling hands, and began
to put things to rights a little. She
snuffed the illconditioned candle, and
trimmed the fire, whose drift-wood sent
out tongues of flame. She set hack into their
usual gaunt and vulgar order the chairs,
which had been disturbed.
Farnsworth watched her with an aching
heart.
"Delia," he said nt length, come and sit
down. We must decide what it is best to
do.n
She obeyed him, although with evident re-
luctance. All the brief dignity which her
elevation of mood had impaired bad vanished
now, leaving her more haggard and worn
than ever. A faded, prematurely old woman,
she sat twisting her red, stained hands in a
vain attempt TO hide their ugliness in the
folds OF her poor dress. Even self pity in
F~arnsworth's breast began to vanish in the
depth of compassion which the sexton ex.
cited.
Della" he said, 81 must think for
us both, and for the boy. He must be
considered. For his sake we must be mar
ried."
1t was at once with a sense of relief and Of
humiliation that he saw how she sbrank from
this proposition To have fallen from god
hood in the meanest woman's eyes is the keen.
est thrust at mans pride. 1t gave Farms
worth a now conception that the gulf be.
tween them must look as impossible from he1
side as from his. He had thus far been toe
much absorbed in the sacrifices he was himself
making to consider that all its desirnbilities
would not appeal to her as to him-that its
very fullness aud richness which so held anc
delighted him would confuse and repel her.
at is of no usel' he exclaimed, starting up
81 must have time to think. | will com,
hack in the morning. Think yourself, Delit
not of me, or even OF yourself, so much as
of the boy. 1t is of him that we must have
the first care. Nothing can much chang
our lives; but tho world is before him. Good
night"
However different may have been the re
Elections Of Farnsworth and of Della Grimwet
through that long, sad night, their con
illusions must have been in some respect.
identical, for when the former came to tn,
house in the morning with the astonishec
clergyman the woman ncquiesced without
any discussion in the performance of tn,
marriage ceremony. 1t was IN occasion
which the Rev. Mr.. Eaton long remembered
and Of which no told to the end of his life
filling ont IL must be confassed nc TINA WAN,