The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-08-12

crevices into which il had thrust its twisted
roots. She thought her father would be pleased
that the ruddy glow Of the great lamp fell on his
narrow bed; there was q pleasant companion
ship In Ii; and oh, that grave was so lonely the
long winter nights when the north wind roared
in from the Arctic sea- She thought Of him
aeleep In his beautiful room in his city home
not q year ago; and now this-this rude cofia
with o coverlid of earth. A gray fog Of snow
and mist came creeping in from outside, the dis
tant sails had vanished; the view was narrowed
to the gray waves numbering on the rocks at
her feet. Suddenly out of the mist a strange
little figure approached her; q small boy in q
comical plaid suit made from some woman's
gown. On his head was a straw hat with q tin
ship fastened son the front of the ribbon. He
had q thin face. a wide mouth and q pair Of big.
solemn blue eyes
"Oh, you are q boy!' she cried eagerly. 81 am
30 glad You came"
BE yerf' he said indifferently, 81 hain't, I
didn't, l didn't wanter. Gramma says supper's
reddy." With these brief words he disappeared.
Marguerite followed, sadly disappointed; she
had hoped to find q pleasant companionship
with the little stranger. He Kept M his reserve
until some three weeks later, when he same into
the sitting-.oom where she WAS playing the old
hymns her father loved. The child sat down BY
at the blaze. She turned around glad Of COM
pany for the Captain and his wife seldom in
vaded the "best room"
What il your namep she asked, Solomon
they call you Sol.r
Its Solitude, marin, AFTER pas vessel which
was lost an him in itn
.'Oh." she cried pityingly, ''is is 90 hard to be
an orphan, to lose your father" She broke
down then, her eyes full of tears
What are you cryin' furl" asked the child
looking at her curiously.
II was thinking Of my father"
Out there. nigh the Iightf'
"Yes.n
HE want Q good man.
sHOW dara womb Sha eriAd Ui1d1y. than aha
looked at his ifrail little figure and quaint old
face. Who told you sof she went on more
mildly.
Folks say so, an that you're like him, a chip
growed to like you, though 1 didn't wanssr."
OH! we'll. what did they say he didi'
The child sighed, recrossed his skeleton legs,
and looked at her searchinely. He used ter
live long shore over to the Cape. He cheated
Philander Tarbox outer the Argosy, and broke
Mis- Tarboxs heart, an drove Mason Tarbox to
sea. which hain't como back. an is drowned. an
his mothers In the poor-house over to the Cape
now, oein' more'n the neighbors could afford to
take keer Of her"
Used to live herer' she said. 81 did not know
that. He never told me. Oh, you uncanuy
child! GO out! I don't want you here again.
You speak ill of my father. repeat the lies Of en-
vious people to his daughter"
He went as silently as he came and she heard
him cry 10 the kitchen. She was sorry, for III
was but q child, I'D then his grandmother was
scolding him. too. Ann said the next day with
~profuse apologies, "that Sol was jest thet old he
knowed everythin'. an hadn't sense enough but
say evsrythin." But Marguerite was not salts
fed. 1t was enough for her that her father had
been slandered, it was her duty to clear his
nam She wrote to the family lawyer to ask
If among her fathers papers there was one hav-
ing any allusion to q vessel named the Areosy.
owned by Philander Tarbox, of Cape Tarbox.
Me. He answered her that there was none
whatever. and that she had better return to
New York and not live among . set of savages.
His letter was so carefully worded that the girls
heart failed her. see began to feel there
was something In the story. She remem-
bered that she did not even know her fathers
native place. He had told her somewhere on
the Maine coast" that was all. She knew he
hated any aliuslon to the past, and seldom dur
ing their summers on the island ever went to
for harboring one thought against Ter father,
the dead man, whose only wish had been to
make her happy. She recalled her childhood in
San Francisco, the brightness of her later days;
she owed 1t all to him. and yet here shs was try
ing to unearrh q buried past because an elfsa
child had Slandered him. Strangely enough. she
began to dream of the Argosy. seeing it always
sailing swiftly by the island to the blue line of
the cape IN the distance, and her fancy crowded
its decks with strange, dead faces, once in a
while her fathers sad aud reproachful
One morning in January: kept indoors by the
fierce winter storm, the dense driving snow that
drifted high against the house. she began to-
look over her fathers papers. There was an
old brass-tipped box in his bedroom, the KEY of
which was in his pockst-book. 1t was right that
she should read all his papers. Her lawyer,
Mr.. Barnes sent her packages OF them. Idly
she turned the faded letters over. There were
some of her mothsrs-the beautiful young wife
who lived only . year after her baby was born
letters from business men long dead. friendly
notes, oso invitations to eayetiss, alas the very