The Portland daily press., 1886-05-22
Boston Traveller.
a STRANGE GUARDIAN
SHIP.
BY MABEL LOUISE FULLER.

Twas IS. was the only girl, and, strang-
est of all, was an authoress. The clrcum-
stances which led to this last-named fact
were not.ordinary ones;
NV mother had died while was but a
baby, and my father had always marked out
for me future of fame, which he imagined
could be best gained by my pen. My elder
brother and his pretty young wife were OF
the same opinion, and as my aunt who took
it seemed that, nolens volens, | should be an
authoress. Fortunately for the general
peace, perhaps, / was not averse to their de-
sire, and, after consideration, determined
to venture upon story, and onlts compile
ton to present it as a surprise to the as
sembled family But here found an unex-
pected difficulty; what could L, Helen Dare,
find to say to a critical and exacting public?
AT last fortune favored me with simple So
luton of the problem. would tell little
story which had always touched me: a
simple tradition of my quiet, country birth
place. My heart was in the work, and 1t was
soon finished. Strange to say it met with
much favor, but as | had written under the
nom de plume of George Percy, it was uni
versally attributed to my elder brother, who
tacitly consented to the deception, and at
this | was rather glad.
One day, however, my father handed me
letter addressed to him and bearing for
eign postmark. | took it with some curiosl-
ty, which deepened to profound astonish-
ment as / read it. 1t ran thus, and was
characteristic of the writer;
BOULEVARD DIES INvALIDEs,
PARIS, Aug IL, 1880.
Dear Sir-You will be glad to know that your
sons reputation as writer has crossed the At
lantic aud that | consider "BrakeSdale" Won
derful book. You probably have heard who
am, being a distant connection of yours on your
mothers side. am an old man, and nave
favor to ask Of you want you TO use your lnnu
ence with the author of my fayorite book to make
him accept the post OF guardian to my son, 1or l
consider the advice and friendship OF the man an
who could write such book as invaluable. DO
not expect to live very long, and want TO leave
my son in good hands when die. His nnanclal
arrangements will be managed for him by an OLD
friend until he is Of age and am Wiling ana M
able to make it worth while for you TO gam ms
acceptance Of the proposal. Let me know your
decision by return of mail
Your obe6ient servant,
JOSEPH l. LANGToN.
If the skies had fallen I could not have
been more thunderStruck. "Grac1ouS! was
the undignifed and feminine exclamation of
the author of ''Brakesdale.
My father looked reproachfully at me and
said: 'My dear, there is no cause for such
surprise. OF course you'll accept this latter
ing proposal; and, in fact, | should think 1t
good idea for us to go to Europe and see
this gentleman. / remember my mothers
speaking of him as queer eccentric old TEL
low, but withal kind-hearted and loyal"
''But you can't mean it, . gasped,
Certainly i do
But he doesn't mean me; he says your
SON expressly. He means john"
81 beg to differ from you. On the CONTRA
ry, he mentioned several times the author OF
Brakesdale,' and he says it is the advice,
the invaluable advice, that he wants, ana as
you wrote the book you are the only one
who can give it. just think, my dear, of the
poor man dying alone with one little boy to
dispose of! You know you always had good
success with children, and if you don't take
him, who will? What may become Of hlm?D
All this had its effect. The picture, to say
the least was rather touching, and did
love children so | compromised, and gave
my father the result Of my cogitations.
s'I'll tell you what we can do" SAID:
1--WE will accept conditionally. If he will
have me without change of sex, III come" ;,
''You can't change your sex OF course,
crushed my small attempts in this way; so
we will consider it settled, and your aunt
and yourself can get ready to start for France
next week" And, unheeding my protesta--
tions against such short notice, he went
away, well pleased with his success.
In due time the trunks were packed, a
good supply Of toys for my young ward not
being forgotten; all was arranged and SET
tied, and then we started. The voyage was
a moderately good one, and we found our
selves in ten days time before the mansion
of Joseph Langton. Here, an unexpected
event occurred. Its owner had died sudden
" from an attack of heart trouble, but, hav-
ing taken my consent for granted, had Tor.
mally appointed in his will the author OF
s'Brakesdale'' as guardian to his heir. After
a little rest at his house, l asked the imper
turbable domestic who attended me where
nv ward was. She said he had been away,
but had returned the preceding evening.
l suppose he made too much noise for the
parent, was my mental comment, and then L
said, taking up as | spoke toy cow as pass
port to my wards favor, please show me
the nursery" In my preoccupatl0n nad
spoken English, and the French servant only
stared. "Montrez moi -a-la-chambre de
lui." added desperately; mixing up in my
dire confusion the words of this beautiful
language in my efforts to be understood. she
silently led the way, and | followed, till she
reached the room in question; there she
knocked and left me. The door was thrown
by the hand my childish ward, beheld a
young man about 10 or 20 years Of age, who
looked inquiringly at me. felt perfectly
helpless. and clutched the unoffendlng cow
so firmly that it turned its head and gave
despairfng moo" Then / said, with an
effort. 81 think | have made mistake IN
the room. Can you tell me where Mr.. Lang
toms son stays?
81 am his son. he answered. looking at
me much as if had been an escaped lunatic;
Yes; my worst anticipations had proved
only too true and the whole situation lay
have imagined such development OF the
easel How could | ever be the guardian OF
such young man as this? 1t was too pre-
posterous. No: Gerald Langton must look
elsewhere for Invaluable advice"
could have laughed and cried when l
thought of this sudden termination Of my
many plans, and then my wards voice broke
in upon my reflection, and at the sound
mentally resolved not to betray myself, and
listened with the calmneSs of despair. He
cauipU SIS this 0nnr0i1n'c giStprp
/ heard that you came yesterday" Yes,
/ answered in my same idiotic manner, and
then he asked me to come in and tell him
about my brother. Oh, that conversation!
After the first few seconds all my timidity,
or rather stupidity, vanished, and | talked,
talked, talked.
What | said | cannot even remember, but
there was a certain humor in the situation,
as when my ward gravely told me that he
especially admired the. opinion OF a crusty
thought it very unwomanly to depart from
the beaten track, as he considered it, in fe-
males attempting to write books. l groaned
inwarly and changed the subject by saying,
with animation, Il had no IDEA, MI Laugn-
ton, that you were so dreadfully old. He
laughed and glanced at the toy still held,
'9Tben that accounts for your astOnlSh-
ment. and perhaps for the COW also. But my
age is more my misfortune than my fault, SO
I hone YOU will not deprive me of the pleas
nr ECO Of 1laying with it or anything else of the
kind YOU may have brought for my amuse-
Yes. if the truth must be told, began even
to eniov the position, although such thoughts
as ss1nWonianly conduct, unseemly decep,
ton. and my fathers outraged dignity,
would haunt me at times My father dld
not appear that day, and every time talked
with my ward / liked him better and Detter.
He was handsome and intelligent II snow
ing at times strong prejudices, as IN MS over
strained opinion of female authoresses.
could tell, ALSO that he did not understand
my brother delay in coming, and felt rather
hurt by it. That night had long argu-
ment with my father, which resulted IN his
promising not to betray me, at least without
giving me warning, although he remarked
several times that he could not see the sense
of putting off what he'd to be done, or indeed
in my minding the position at all. Still girls
were queer about some things, and he would
NOT interfere, since ] seemed so determined
on cOncealment. This was all that want
ed. for knew my aunt would second my ia
theirs views: and when a month of pleasant
comnanionship with my ward had ensued,
began TO fancy that these halcyon DAYS were
to continue indefinitely.
Alas for the fallibility OF human foresight!
just as | had assured myself that my trouble
was ended. at least for some time, received
a letter from my brother which completely
DESTROYED my peace of mind In 1t ne sad he
thought it time to resign the doubtful honor
which he held in being generally known as
the author of t'BrakeSdale, ana IL nau