Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-04-18

| "=S a" ir5hrt Favors or rnar sort are NV
appreciated or r.mrmler,d during that ten
der period This was not from la,k Of f,,,I-
lng or affection 1t came of that reserve aud
repression of all external signs Of emotion
bred IN the hone way back through know
not how many generations Of Puritan and
Roundhead ancestry. until not only had out
! ward sign Of emotion been considered ~
bordering ON an improperly. but the very
ABILITY to manifest II had been DESTROYED 1t
WAS a turning Of the softer side of human
nature inward and the harder outward. ami
the trIItagr was harNhneSS and auSteTitN. not
Intentional. but the natural growth of un-
natural lives
left TIA" house, wondering if It WAS in the
natural order If events that prunfs Of atfe,>
uon. parental and otherwise, must come at
the last moment. like the best dish at dinner
being placed before one for a second and
then Snatchui away
In u few hours WAS in New York Taking
a room AT a hotel | shut myself therein and
opened the packet received from Blanche 1t
contained bills 10 the amount Of 500 and the
following note:
Il desire You to accept this money from mo
a loan, with interest at per cent, for
three years. This is business, YOU know. I'm
glad for your sake You did not go on the Ann
Mary Ann. You will 20 now To California rs
a gentleman should Mind YOU take cabin
passage. Don't 60 in the steerage TO save
dollars. II doesn't save them at all. There
was a Providence in that pig and Pell too
pigs both to take You out of the ship Shut
up on board of her for five or six months,
eating their coarse food and leading their
coarse life. would have put you back as many
years. When You got 10 California You
would probably have done as veSiNthS of
them Will do-strike for the hardest and
CuarS1sSt way Of making a fortune 10y digging
and gruhhing-the very way not to MAKE 1t.
If there Is gold there, mind you. its not for
tho>.. who dig for it, unless they dig with
their brains, and you can't dig with your
brains and work like a nod carrier and five
on hod carriers fare. So, my dear boy, live
like gentleman and you will have a gentle
mans luck BLANCHE
so this was the promise | had made-to
Accept pecuniary favor Of a woman. The
unwTittcn code of the time held this rs
hardly the correct thing. unless you married
the woman. when everything she had he-
came YOURS. and the favor, If such, ceased
almost tn be one.
Blanche had a few Years previous been
left a few thousand dollars by an eccentric
uncle who. possibly recognizing something
Of her independent spirit, said. when closely
questioned 10y some over anxious relatives
as to his reason for 50 doing, that he be
heved blanche was a girl who could Use her
own money for herself, and he wanted TO
give her chance He didn't think he
added. if was the fair thing that a girls
capital should be salted down until some
Il
it. and generally lsSe it He didn't care
what she did with her money, 50 that she
used it for her oon pleasure i'll any and
every possible way except that of handing
it over IL a husband Il give it to you"
be remarked. mot 10 the man who, not
content with robbing YOU OF your name
wants your money along with X Lend
it. spend it, scatter it, do anything with it,
except bring it, like a good little girl, to
the chuCkle head who wants to marry you
for it"
Uncle John Seton was a nOndeScript in
opinion and seemed to take pleasure in hold
ing none that were popular. He had been a
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. said also a SLAYER. and
others a pirate-carried bullet in one leg.
the mark of which he was fond of showing
without much regard to time, place or fitness.
diplomatic in not Offering il rs a gift, AMI in
putting the transaction on business footing.
To refuse it under the present circumstances
would result, felt, in putting a great barrier
between myself and Blanche 1t seemed as if
she said TO me: Il am in this giving you the
opportunity YOU need. You are no man if
YOU quarrel with the instrument put in your
hands because it does not come exactly in the
,,aDpar. y,,I would hayp il -
! could ss,e in imagination, as clearly a.
though she stood before me. the way in which
Blanche would have taken back from me her
gift ! saw her calmly listening Ia my state
ment and as calmly receiving from me the
notes and then continuing conversation On
general topics As if the whole affair had not
a feathers weight III her mind But under
all that seeming Indifference | knew there
would lie Indignation, disappointment and
worse-the deliberate laying aside of feel
ing for me. something which ! hoped to he
more than intertSt-mOTe than mere regard
have said farther back that Blanche Sef
ton loved me. But l felt that her love, If
once gained. could not be laid on the shelf, to
lie taken ON and of at pleasure, with the Ger
tainty of always finding it there. No. 1t
was a love only 10 be held by constant
effort
] bought. the next day. my cabin ticket for
San Francisco VIA the lsthmus
CHAPTER VI