The Washington critic., 1888-09-07
BEVERLY TUCKER.
Concludcd from first page.

baWgagc at the stage office waiting for
me. ] told my wife the good news and
! hurried away TO claim IT, II was there
! looking as natural as ever strapped and
! locked and in good repair and 1 felt re-
! vivcd wonderfully j was requested to
! open IL TO SEE II tho contents had been
| disturbed, and ] unlocked the trunks
one by one and opened them mp. They
were all full of rags and rubbish but
| nothing was in them that VIC had put
there. Everything was gone. and IN
cruel mOckcrN the miserable thieves Iud
sent me my trunks weighted with rub
| bish merely to add insult to injury
Did you ever hear of their contents
! again ?" asked the young lady, almost
with tears in her eyes.
| Never. They were gone and they
| remained gone | had some money still
| left, however, and with that we man
q agcd to supply ourselves, but we had to
| he careful, for 10 was all we had, and we
| had TO live ON it, until could find some
! thing TO do to add to it. And thut was
no easy job. We had influential and rich
! friends in Mexico, but were too proud to
| ask assistance from them. and for seven
| long months / was on the hunt for work
| We took little cottage in the suburbs,
! two miles or moro from town, and there
my wife opened a little school and taught
The CHILDREN of our friends The revenue
| was small, but il was GOd-scnd, and
we managed to get along on it; but some
| days Onr bill Of fare was very attcnuu-
| ted One day we had but fifteen cents,
| and with That my wife bought three tur-
! key eggs, and on them, with the addition
| OF little bread and salt and cup OF
| tea, we brcaldastcd. After breakfast
! ] walked out in front of our cottage, and
| If ever despair settled right down on u
man. it settled on me TINT morning
The end had come, and what to do
| next, | did not know AS ! stood there
utterly dcspondcnt, | saw one of my rich
acquaintance, Don Eustis BlIron, ride
| out from his magnificent home on the
! hill above us and come down in my
! direction. He was n picture from u
! book of ancient Spain, as he rode down
on his beautiful horse. glittcring in the
silver and gold trappings the McXicanS
| delight in, and | could not help but con-
| trust our situations. lie greeted me
! cordially as he came up, asked concern
| ing Mrs. fuckers health, and began
chatting pleasantly about my life in Mex
! leo, as though ] was quite rs well liked
as he was / never let on, and he finally
| began to talk about The estates of his
ably the largest owner of live stock in
fathcr-in-luw, the great Escadonc. prob
the world at that time, and said they
were in need of reliable man 20 look
| after one OF their ranches near san Luis
| OlOhl. NlN UfdIb lNIllNu lhlo NV
mouth but | was cool and in u careless
way suggested myself
But you won't do it, will you| he
asked in surprise
am not so very busy l replied
evasivcly."
"Wcll. Don Escadone said only last
night if ne could get such man as you
he would he more than satisfied ~
The talk ended i'm my agreeing Ia
dine that evening with Don Eustis and
his fathcr-n-law, and to settle the mat
ter, and Don Eustis rode away apparent
ly as well pleased as | was"
And wasn't he ?"
No, SIR he wasn't, for / was the
most pleased man in the world. From
poverty to ailucncc-from man with
nothing TO do to the adminstradoIShlp
of the biggest stock farm in the world
inside of half an hour! Pleased? Well
pleased isn't any name for it. | rushed
! bdntoysli0. house, where my wife had be
gun her teaching, told her to dismiss the
al l.hehOlnrs, and then, going into our littlt
= -Enrch c4ambcr, ] told her the good news
and we both lnclt there and thanked
God in fcrvent prayer for His goodness
and mercy. IL was II time, If ever, wher
man could he thankful and say so, ant
/ was that man. Then we went off Il
town, walking and on the strength o
my prospects | borrowed $500, paid Som
outstanding debts and put in the day
visiting and rejoicing In the cGcninJ
] was promptly on hand mt dinner at til,
Escadonc palace, and we had dinner Ii
for kings, with the rarCSt wines and th'
finest cigars, but never word about m'
work, and that was more to me thai
dinner or wine or cigars. We talked ol
every subject except the one | was mos
Interested in, and / did not dare to sug
gcSt il, because | felt that my host wa
the proper person TO begin, and so th
evening wore on until 10 O'Clock, whrl
] prepared to leave.
=" thought then it might como III
but it, did not and the Don escorted m
to the door and badc me- good nigh
without II word of what / wanted t
hear, | went out into the night AM
as | walked down that hill toward m
humble hOmc | fairly wdllOwcd in BIZ
ter disappointmcnt | was $500 wors
oil than 1 was in the morning with tn
smashing Of all my anticipntionS and m
wifc's hopes besides, and | felt ugl
toward the whole word. At home m
wife tried to comfort me, but she Gcl
it nearly as much as did, and we wei
not happy couple that night. Men
morning ! met Don Eustis again nm,
he said Don EscadOnc desired to mcC
/ me at breakfast at eleven o'clock. Tn
| revived my spirits somewhat and
{ went 10 meet the Don, although fcclin
that the dinner experience wdS TO !
repeated. We brcaltiUStcd alone IN
the Don was pleasant, but there w
no business mentioned and my appctit
/ began to weaken. but | looked braN
/ and bwCcd up for whatever migl
! come. Breakfast over and still NJ
thing, and then we adioulntd to the
hUry and | felt that something vi
/ going 10 give way pretty soon If it licI
: on much longer. But it did not, f,
T. when W. bad settled in our chairs, II
q Don at once began to talk about Il
, position and the honor ] would do hi
II / could bring myself to accept it M
= so On and so on, and / soon set i
T. mind st rcSt and my own too by 81
@ tcring into II formal contract with hi
O by which ] WAS to receive S3, coo
n year and an interest, which If hus'nc
q was mt all good would make me Il ri,
= man in very short time. | Nus TO
o administrator Of the san Luis csta
containing hundreds of thousands
= sheep and cattle my son was to Il
company me as Secretary and | was
have residence and appurtcnanccs
for my elevated rank. I'm other wor
was to he Il nabOh and ] felt SOC
enough to have hrgged Don EscndOl
and his entire family"
4" How did il pam Out pr ! inquire
" Beautifully aH long as it lasted, hl
it did not last long enough, The NJ,
year, 1864 MaXimiIiUn ard the Empi
went down. and the Escadoncs we
ImporiAisis. The destruction of u
Empire did not mean their ruin, but
the disturbances which followed we d
not feel safe, and we Withdrew till Il
storm blew over. | left the san In
estate but my salary was continued 7,
a year even after had left Mexico, bl
| did not return undcr the Republ
and finally severed my connection wit
the family, and took up my residen