The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1885-06-13
CHAPTER III.
AN ARGUMENT AND AN ARRIVAL

On the night when the down train carried
the golden-headed child to Blacktown, the
Talberts had dined at home, without com
pany. The two men were still at the table
slipping their claret and smoking cigarettes
They were neither great drinking men mol
great smoking men. II such habits are sins
the Talberts might have gone on as they wert
going for many years and then made atone
ment very easily. 1t is needless to state thai
the two brothers were faultlessly dressed il
the evening garb Of the nineteenth century
1t will also be guessed that the dinner table
was most tastefully laid out. In spite of the
season being midwinter, it was gay with
flowers. Quaint antique silver spoons and
forks did the duty which is sxacted from the
ford kings pattern and the ugly fiddle pat
tern denominations Of our day. The napery
was of the whtest and finest description
the polish on the glass such as to make the
most careful housewife or conscientious ser.
want wonder and envy. There is a tale con.
nected with the glass.
Once upon time lady who was dining at
Lakewood House asked her hosts, with par
donablP curiosity, how they were able to in.
duce their servants to send the decanters and
wine glasses to the table in such glorious
state of refulgency. Horace Talbert smiled
and answered with exquisite simplicity:
1--WE should never think of trusting our
glass to the hands of servants My brother
and | see to it ourselves"
Thereupon the lady, who had manageable
sisters, and was no doubt keenly alive to the
fact that her hosts were eligible bachelors,
said: ut was very sweet Of them to take SC
much trouble;" but her husband who heard
the question and the answer, burst into fiji
Of uncomfortable laughter. His was a low,
coarse commonplace mind, utterly unable to
divest the ideal from the material To such
groveling nature the picture of these two
six-feet, brawny men washing and rubbing
their rare and costly glass seemed intensely
comical
The Talberts showed no signs of annoy.
ance; they even smiled gravely in response te
his vulgar mirth; but Lakewood House knew
that person no more.
But the wretch took his revenge after the
manner of his kind. Unluckily, In spite OF
his faults, his position in the county was moi
to be despised, and more unluckily he pos
sessed certain amount Of humor of the low
class. He was brutal enough to nickname
our friends the Tables" and, appropriate
or not, the name chung to them, and will
cling for ever and ever This is but another
proof of how careful man should be in tht
selection of his friends
Although tonight the glass was as radiant
rs ever, there was at present no one to admire
it save its owners and caretakers. By virtue
of his year of seniority, Horace Talbert sal
at the head of the table. Herbert was at hi
right hand The two brothers were strangely
alike both in figure and face. They wer,
brown-haired men, with long, straight noses
calm, serious eyes, rather arched eyebrows
and average foreheads. Each wore a well
kept beard and mustache, the beard clippet
close, and terminating in q point at the chir
"A fashion which suited their long oval face.
remarkably well, and, perhaps, added a kline
of old-world courtliness to their general ap
pearance Their looks may be summed VI
by saying that the Talberts were men WHIT
one felt ought to possess picture gallery o
distinguished ancestors. The absence of sucl
desirable possession seemed heartles
freak of nature.
The room in which the brothers were sittin,
was furnished with q bold mixture of moderl
and antique. Where comfort and utility wer
the first consideration, the modern prevailed
where ornament or decoration had to be sup
piled, the antique, often the grotesque antique
was called into requisition. On the high
carved mantelpiece stood Oriental hronz