The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1884-05-02

anu uuUleS tndt his youth nau Deen
spent in defiance Of. The mad reckless
era OF the Eyres had gone by, and new
honorable one begun, said his neigh
bors, as years passed, and no breath OF
scandal attached itself to Mr.. Eyre,
who exerted an ascendency over all with
whom he came i'll contact, which proved
him to possess that conjuring or mas
terful quality of the human mind that
Goethe in one brief word sums up as
"dds Ddnonische," and that never per-
mits its possessOr to remain in the back
ground of events, but sets him in the
van OF every battle, a born leader whom
man will follow blindly into the very
jaws of death itself. And this force
within him working since his marriage
in the direction OF good, not evil, Mr..
Eyre came to be possessed Of perhaps
the truest riches that earth can afford
the unenforced respect in those among
whom he dwelt; and upon his look and
word men waited of what he did moth
ing was lost, or viewed with the indlf-
ference often accorded to better deeds
than his, and in very truth was to those
around him
The tongue of the trump to them a.
For the fame that in quite early youth
felt and expressed a most profound con-
tempt. Now and again. at long inter-
walls, he would put forth from his re-
treat some rare bit of work that drew
all cultured eyes upon him, but to all
entreaties that he would boldly enter
that arena in which his splendid abili-
ties might pit him successfully against
the foremost men of his time he turned
a deaf ear. Accused of idleness, he
once remarked that his intellect was
for his own enjoyment and those i'm
mediately about him. Fittings beauti-
full, terrible, pathetic, or witty, write
themselves on my mind, "he said; II do
not sit down to write them for others,
My senses are perfect; feel what an
other man only describes, and if moth
ing visible is wrought by my hand, be
sure my impressions endure longer
than those written down ones that are
imagined, not known"
And Madcap, the cause of all-Mad
cap, who had been to the powers Of
good lying dormant within him as the
air and light that had freed them from
their prison, and who knew it not, yet
working faiths sweet miracle, had
made and kept him what she believed
him to be-Madcap was to the world
one of those women who are principal
ly known by the attitude of their hus-
bands toward them, and through Mr..
Eyre was invested with preciousness
that made good wives discover a hun
dred defects in their lords, and bad ones
decide that, had they been lawfully
loved in such fashion, it would have
been an easy matter to be as pure as
she.
Mr.. Eyre's soul was with her. then, if
his body sat at his fathers side. One
by one he had strangled those scorpions
of memory evoked by the CHASTITY face
before him; they were old and fangless,
lacking the venom that, projected into
his present life, must have poisoned it
to the core. Exultantly he said to him
self that no past sin of his could harm
Madcap now; his misdeedS were all
buried fathoms deep, beyond the power
Of God or man to resuscitate. 1t is so
easy to forget the sin that leaves no
trace, the hurt that inflicts no abiding
scar, as it is in their consequences to
those we love that we most fOrcibly be-
hold our misdeeds; and there was no
Eidolon to steal forth from the curtain
ed recesses of Mr.. Eyre's soul, and con-
front him with CHASTITY presentment of
evil as he looked forward, not back,
long years of honor stretching before
him with Madcap as love and conscience
at his side. Even the thought of his
treachery to Frank gave him no twinge;
one or other of the men who loved her
must suffer, and why not Frank? Her
happiness was the first consideration;
everything and everybody must be made
to give way to that.
All his life through he had carried
things before him by sheer power of
willard so it would be to the end, said
this man who, with Joubert thought
that force and right are the governors
of the world; force till right is ready"
What was she doing now, he wonder
ed; reading his love-letter, or writing
him one; or kissing those boys, who,
after all, were his own; or in thought
standing beside him in this chamber, as
in spirit he had left it to seek her?
Self-cOntrOlled rs he was, the blood
rose to his temples, and his heart thrill
ed with nearer and more vivid Sensa-
ton of her presence as his fathers SER
want approached bearing telegram
from her, of course-a little message to
keep him from growing too hungry be-
fore he could receive her letter. lie
tore it open, and without needing to look
from whom it came, read the context:
chester Clarke, mother TO the child born
six years ago. and drowned by her servant,
Janet Stork. in the Shifting Pool, is here /;
she has seen and spoken with your wife.
Meet me at Lord As at one tomorrow,
as without you no repreive can be obtain
ed"
He read il straight through without
a muscle of his face changing, then
walked like drunken man to the next
room, where he sat down, and remained
quite mOtionless for perhaps q minute,
when he looked up, and seeing the man,
who still fingered by the door, certain
of disaster, yet not daring to ask a
single question, he babe him prepare at
once for his departure. as he would be
setting out for England Immediately.
And is it so bad that you can't wait
till the breath's out of masters body,
SIR" said the old servant, in amaze
ment.
To this Mr.. Eyre vouchsafed no reply,
but sat without movement of any kind
at the table for about ten minutes,
when he rose, and entering his fathers
room, stood for moment looking down
on him.
lie was OH the point Of turning to go,
when the old man opened his eyes, rea-
cnp ahIa opd rroclyipv "a fbay hoH haon