Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-11-06

'It is her name, Armed It was the
child's grandmother name"
"a strange coincidence he said. 'Fr
go on"
She viii say: cousin Clara, I am Iris
Deseret" Then you will be kind to her, as
you would to me, If l were TO come home
again I cannot read any more, my dear,
even to you"
did this American give you any other
proof Of what he assertsF'
"He gave me a portrait Of Claude, taken
years ago, when he was a boy OF sixteen,
and showed me the certificate Of marriage,
and childs certificate of baptism, and letters
from his wife. Isuppose nothing more can
be wanted"
81 dare say it is all right, Clara. But why
was not the child brought over beforeF'
because this is the really romantic
part OF the story-when her father died,
leaving the child, she was adopted by
these charitable Americans, and no one
ever thought Of examining the papers,
which wore lying in a desk. until the other
day"
''You have not seen the young lady"
mo; he is to bring her tomorrow"
'And what sort of a man is this Arleri-
cant Is he a gentlemani"
''Well, l do not quite know. Perhaps
Americans are different from Englishmen.
II he was an Englishman, I should say
without any hesitation that he is not o gen.
tleman, as we count good breeding and good
n He is a big man, handsome, and
burly, and he seems good tempered. When
| told him what was the full amount Of Iris's
inheritance -"
"Iris's inheritancer' Arnold repeated. II
beg your pardon, Clara; pray go on; but it
seems like O dream"
"He only laughed, and said he was glad
she would have SO much. The utmost they
hoped, they said, was that it night be a
farm, or q house or two, or a few hundreds
in the stocks. He is to bring her tomorrow,
and of course | shall make her stay with
me. As for himself, he says that he is anx-
ious to get back home to his wife and his
practice"
"He wants nothing for himself, then9
That seems a good sign"
81 asked him that question, and he said
that he could not possibly take money for
what he and his family had done for Iris;
that is to say. her education and mainten-
ance. This was very generous of him.
Perhaps he is really a gentleman by birth,
but has provincial manners. He said, how
ever, that he had no objection to receiving
the small amount of money spent on the
voyag and on Iris's outfit, because they
~rere not rich people, and it was a serious
thing to fit out a young lady suitably. So
of course I gave him what he suggested-a
check for two hundred pounds. No one, he
added with true feeling, would grudge a
single dollar that had been spent upon the
education of the dear girl; and this went to
my heart"
'She is we'll educated, thenT
"She sings well, D." he says, and has had
a good plain education. He said l might
rest assured that she was ladylike, because
she had been brought up among his own
friends"
THAT is q very safe guarantee" said
Arnold, laughing, 81 wonder If she is
prettyF'
81 asked him that question, too, and he
replied very oddly that she had a most splen-
did figure, which fetched everybody. Is not
that rather a vulgar expression?'
"lt is in England. Perhaps in America
it belongs to the first circles, and is a sur
vival of the Pilgrim Fathers. So you gave
him a check for two hundred poundsp
Eyes; surely 1 was not wrong, Arnold.
Consider the circumstances, the outfit and
the voyage. and the mans reluctance and
delicacy Of feeling"
81 dare say you were quite right, but
we'll, l think l should nave seen the young
lady first. Remember, you have given the
money to a stranger on his bare word.n
"Oh, Arnold, this man is perfectly honest.
1would answer for his truth and honesty.
He has frank, honest eyes. Besides, he
brought me all those letters. Well, dear,
you are not going to desert me because you
ore engaged, are you, Arnold2 l wan you
to be present when she m tomorrow
morniuE."
Certainly l will be present, with the
greatest-no, not the greatest pleasure. But
l will be PRESENT. will come to luncheon,
Clara"
When she was gone he thought again of
the strange coincidence, both of the man
and of the inheritance. Yet what had his
Iris in common with a girl who had been
brought up in America9 Besides, she had
lost her inheritance, and this other Iris had
crossed the ocean to receive hers. Yet q
very strange coincidence. 1t was so strange
that he told 1t to Iris and to Lala Roy.
Iris laughed, and said she did not know
she had a single namesake. Lala did not
laugh; but he sat thinking in silence. There
WAS no chess for him that night; instead OF
playing his usual game Mr.. Emblem, in his
chair, laughed and chuckled in rather q
CHASTITY way.
CI pmRD "