Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-07-03

the matter.
"Do you want the child to stayg' askd
Horace, turning to the speaker.
II told Beatrice you should decide"
This answer assured Horace that Herbel
knew everything that was to be known.
envy dear Beatrice" he said ''the thing |
quite impracticable,n
Her mouth quivered. 1t was clear she ha !
set her heart on keeping her new pet.
"Why is it unprecedented What difference
can child make In a house like thiss He will
be my sole care"
Uncle Horace looked uneasy. "My dear
you forget it may give rise to scandal"
Scandal! what scandal?'
Horace grew red One can't talk plainly ii
young, innocent girls without feeling how bad
mankind in general is.
"Hum-ha," he said. ssYou must rememI
Der, Beatrice, we are two single men; not eli
derby men. As soon as it is known that w
have kept the child sent here so strangely, wi
give a handle to suspicion and scandal. Dl
you agree with me, Herbert?"
81 am afraid it will be so, Beatrice,n sal
Herbert, regretfully.
Miss Clauson drew herself up proudly. 4
was an action the Talberts always liked I'd
see in the girl, and which had a great effec|
on them.
''Surely," she said, ''you of all people ar,l
above suspicion and scandal!'
They were pleased to think this was thd
truth. They felt that Beatrice was right
What, after all, had scandal to do with them
The domestic virtues and clockwork regulal
ton of Hazlewood House might defy the
breath of the most censorious world As this
great truth came home to him Horace seemed
to purr with pleasure.
But he had no intention of yielding He
was for one thing much annoyed with Her
bert Herbert evidently wanted the boy to
stay. If so he should say so outright, not let
Beatrice fight his battles So the most Bea-
trice could get him to promise was that the
boy might remain for few days longer
In those few days something happened
First of all piece of gossip went round the
neighborhood and eventually reached the
ears of those who were gossiped about-the
Talberts They heard that they were har
boring Lord Hadwynns eldest son, whose|
mysterious disappearance had been reportee !
in the papers, Lord Hadwynn was an ute
reprobate, and it was well known tsat HI
injured wife had struggled the child out o
his way. Lady Hadwynn was an atquaint
ance of the Talberts; so that even Horace
was for a moment staggered when he heard
the theory propounded by his neighbors
Then some kind creature wrote to the berei(&
husband, and his lordship rushed down
Oakbury fierce asa consuming f1ame-a fam
which resolved itself into smoke when h
was shown the boy, and found him noth
ing like his missing son. After this, gossi
should have died natural death, but it di
not. People who are determined to swalloV
monstrous tale will lick it into the shar
they can deal with best. In spite of the Ia
berts' strenuous denials and plain statements
to how the child was thrown upon thei
hands, everybody would have it that if nd
Lord Hadwynn's son he was someone else's
meaning some one, a nobIeman's probably
whose wife had, for private reasons of hd
own, intrusted him to the Talberts.
Even the reputation of being harbor
refuge for duchess or countess in her d
----~ ia a fattaring thing: and the Talber