St. Landry democrat., 1886-07-03

deared the boy to him. For anothe
thing, the boy himself was delightful
little fellow, full of fearless and affec
tlonate ways, and in spite of disap
polntmcnt and heart-break Tregarthel
was still young. and the current in hi
veins ran warm.
1t turned out that Pills education
had been totally neglected. He was
not merely unable to read and write
but he had not even been informed OF
the existence Of those accomplishments
| But there was not trace of vulGarity
or faulty breeding about him, and only
an odd habit of Selling on a word OF
| HmdOoStanee when he CHANGED to for.
get its English equivalent betrayed the
| curious isolation in which he had been
bred. Iregarthen taught him his let,
| tiers, and the Old housekeeper supcrin-
tended his pothooks and hangers with
| great diligence. When the rescuer and
the rescued came to be on familiar
terms Phil was easily persuaded to set
forth his own simple annals. For the
most part they related to his Ayah, a
syce, called Jeb, and pony called Ben.
He had picked up one or two things
as children willard he knew that
mamma was a widow, and that the
commissioner wanted to marry her,
and that she did not like the COM
missioner. But all their talks together
revealed no trustworthy clue. and time
went by, and nobody asked for Phil or
Mrs. Maurice at the London agents
offices. Mr.. Penruth's advertisements
remained unanswered. and Phil was
unidentified.
The people of Gorbay and its neigh
borhood We're not to be Modified in
respect to Tregarthen, either by the
courage he had displayed or the kind
ness of heart which prompted him to
give his ocean wait a permanent refuge.
A man S wife is his own flesh and blood,
and charity begins at home. There
were ladies and gentlemen who knew
by second sight, perhaps-every step
OF the road Tregarthen and his wife had
Travelled before his wickedness drove
her from him, and these gifted people
were able to recite. and did recite to in
terested audiences, long conversations
between the ill-assorted pair. On the
whole, Tregarthen's desire to be lonely
began to win such practical acceptance
that the island was almost another
Juan Fernandez to him, and Phil be-
came his boy Friday.
The boy in little while began to
know that there were hours when his
protector was not to be disturbed, and
he gathered from the few with whom
he came in contact vague notions of
mystery and of evil in connection with
these periods of seclusion. Tregarthen
had gone back to his mad studies, and,
in course OF time, he became more
deeply absorbed than ever. He took
to the practical pursuit of chemistry, |
and had laboratory set up in sound |
chamber in the deserted side of the old |
house. Thence glowed strange lights |
at unholy hours, and the islanders
made up their minds that the last of |
the Tregarthens had sold himself to the |
powers of evil.
Few children have had so curious
breeding as fell to the lot of Tregar-
5hen's portege, yet the lad throve, and
grew lusty in mind and body. He
swami and boated and fshed and birds
lested, and spent whole nights tossing
nut at sea with the island fisherman, to
he great terror of the house-keeper.
Who grew to love him and tremble for
lin as If he had been a child of her
'wn. He hated books. and would have
lone of them if he could help it, but he
owed yarn with all his SOUL and
pent rapt hours in listening to the
stories of any old mariner,
rown with the sea-salt and speckled
rom head to foot with ish-scales,
HON he could persuade to talk to
i'm. He learned all the legends of the
cast and all the ballads known to the
land. These last he sang in ludicrous
of the local tone and STYLE:
ut, though he began to see less of
regarthen than of anybody else in the
lace, ne seemed to catch his phrases
nd his cultured accent, as if he felt
nd perhaps he did-that there was
oser kinship between the master of 6
lie island and himself than the rougher
'rt OF folk could claim with him. The /
gends' and the ballads gave healthy {
lmulus to his imagination, and there a
as no danger of a lads mind being
arved while he was allowed such free I
with nature as Phil ed h
yed. f
There are chronicles Of prodigious s
ents in the worlds history where v
eat spaces of time go by the ticking
watch. Unto Eber. the son of t.
lab, We're born two sons, and the
me of one was Peleg, because in
) days the earth was divided. In Fl
at curt and astounding phrase the e
Try of Peleg opens and ceases. The
odern historian handles people and d
ents with greater fulness and a more n
rticular precision, but even he may
forgiven if in moment or SO he f.
cams of the lapse of uneHentfll e,