Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-07-09


'.'r '''i trades people. Then, with a charac-
teri 81 dread of a too sweeping assertion, She
Nnul aid: Except sometimes dcars-eX-
ccpt sometimes "You know, Girls She
S11d one day. in her gay style, "it j, Il pro-
verb ;hat There is nothing like leather; don't
think there is' Which She delivered with one
of her Frcnchifod faces of dislike, which al
ways set the girls laughing The plain Dones
dreaded the witty, dashing, fashionable Mrs
Barbara Temple; and Mrs. Barbara Temple
regarded the plain Doncs with rcpre,sed, but
not invisible, scorn.
There were John Done the first and John
Done the second. As is very often the case
with sons of self-made men, John Done
junior, while lacking his fathers native sense
and business energy, had inherited n double
portion of his LONELINESS, made quite ntoler
able 10y a brassv assurance and n disregard of
other peoples feelings, which indeed amount
ed to an anxiety to nnict pain wherever he
could At school he had been hated for n
tyrant and a bully, and it was also known
among the boys that he would tell lie and
| that not n sChoolroom whenever it suited
| his game. percival Brent went to school
| with him, being Just three years his junior.
| Percivul was bright, merry little boy, very
| well put together, and everybodv's favoritc,
only that Done. who always disliked boy in
proportion to his school popularity or his edu-
| cational promise, never lost nm opportunity
| of tyrannizing over him. One day. when
they were all in the playground, Done, in
making high jump, fell very awkwar'llv,
and, amidst the roar of laughter which fol-
| lowed, little Brent ran forward and made
n pretense of smoothing the ground after
the overthrow of the w"ightv Done. Exns-
p'rated by his fall, Done dashed forward and
] Ia, 81
sent him spinning round, until he fell heavily
| to the ground. Rrent >prang up, all knit into
| CompactneSs with rage. and tried to give
| Done n blow on the face, which he scornfully
wardcd off. and told the little lad not to he 50
| impudcnt again But Brent hri-'lng and
stamping with passion, declared he would
| have a fight for it: which Done at first re-
| fused for all the boys cried ont at the idea.
! But as the little fellow would not he appeasod,
| Done, having satisfied his honor by one re-
| fusal. and always liking to intiict pain, ac-
ceptcd the challenge, and the two stripped to
| their shirts and went at it. For several
rounds little Brent was knocked all over tine
| place: and they all felt for the game little
| lad, but were sorry to see him punished,
and especially in a hopeless fight For my
| lady readers will observe that one of the
| browning achievements in the noble art
is to imprint your fist on your opponents
| face. Now if your arms are only two
| feet long, while those of Your opponent are
three feet it will follow that while he may he
mcrrily hammoring Your countenance into
ruin your return blows may fall only on the
unoffending air This was just what hap
p"ncd now: and poor little Brent was hay
ing very dispriting time of II. Some of
the boys however, noticed that he went
down wonderfully easy; and others, who
knew that the rector's groom was one of the
best pair of fists in the county. began to
| think that perhaps the little fellow had
picked up some of the tactics from Bobby
MILLER and was trying n waiting game
Done thought so, too: and being Il large mcaly
boy, with rather uncertain wind, he re
solved to bring the thing to an end, and gave
| Brent one savage blow. " hich produced very
| disagree able results on the poor little mans
nose. Brent was not knocked ont of it, how
ever as Done hoped; but the very opposite
He was strung together with fury; but even
in his rage he did not forget the instruc-
tions of his master, Bobby "Millcrn He
rushed at Done; and, while the other in his
magniticence was guarding himself carelessy,
! little Brent got in and began to return on
| Dones face all the blows he had received
principal and interest How those little fists
over the ground wildly trying to get his
adversary outside range again, while still
little Brent diubbed away with astounding
rapidity and vigor. The fact was the little
fox quite fresh while Done was thor
| oughly blown. Bobby MILLER" knew his
business and would have been proud of his
young master had he been there to see At
last Done, nearly blind with blows and rage
made one grand effort to destroy his enemy
with an appearance of ease. II was fatal to
him. Brent was really warm to his work
and not likely to miss an opening In rapid
succession he managed to plant three blows
just under Done's left eye, the last delivered
with such force that it sent the umpy fellow
to grass, where he lay vanqushed, Brent
standing over him with fists still clinched,
and burning, it seemed for little more
That was sixteen years ago. John Done
junior, was now rather bulky Young man,
with white fiat face, very small sunken
eyes, smile which expressed narrow mind
satisfied with itself, and unprepossessing
manners. His habits, too, had not been the
best, and it was known in Kettlewel that he
was, in his sly way, a man of dissolute habits
He had now been absent off and on for
nearly four years; but when he returned
home he happened to hear of Sophia Temple
and her little affair with Percval Brent BY
curious chance he had met Brent in
Australia himself and, although outwardly
civil to him. he remembered with a gi-udge
the thraShing of years gone by; for his nature
was of that sluggish sort, where revenge
burns long and sullenly, like fuel in a slow
combustion stove. When he came home and
heard about Sophia, the thought struck him
what nice girl she was, and what fine
thing it would be to marry the woman for
whom his former foe was working now in
another hemisphere He pondered His
eyes lit with their half-animal CLEAN. lie
said: Il can manage it.
CHAPTER VIII