Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1888-01-26

the Witches Sabbath"
This devout assidnity was onl,
reckOned as one point more agains
him; for Angus Macbane belonged
by birth to the very straightest o
Scotch Presbyterians, and evinced nc
desire to quit them, OF dispute the
harshest and most repulsive of the
doctrines handed down from his an.
cestors. Yet to my knowledge he
never went near any Presbyterian
chapel, but preferred, as his worthy
uncle said, "to bow to the hosts Of
RaEnmen.'
! This uncle. IS I gradually OWNED,
was the one being whom my friend
regarded with something like hatred.
Mr.. Duncan Macdonald was the
brother of Macbane's mother. He
was a big red, sandy man, rich, un-
married, and not unkindly in nature,
and an ordinary person with a little
tact could have managed him, if not
with complete satisfaction, at any rate
to no small profit. 1t is true, the
manufacturer was one of the self.made
men who think that no man has any
business to be otherwise than self.
made; but by fattering his pride he
could easily have been induced to sup
port his nephew in ease, and even
luxury and extravaganza, if enough
show were made for the money. But
he was Philistine of the Philistines,
two-thirds Of his life dominated by
gain, and the rest by a rigid sense of
duty. Material success and respecta-
bility were his two golden calves; and
to both of these his nephew's every
thought and act did dishonor. Angus
Macbane could not have been made a
successful man by any process less
summary and complete than the crea-
tlon of world fog his needs alone:
and not even this would have given
him responsibility. He could not live
without aid from his uncle, but he
accepted from him mere pittance,
which, grudgingly taken, soon came
to be as grudgingly given. Yet when
he forced himself to compete for
scholarships ard prizes which would
have made him partly independent,
he missed them in way which would
have been willful in any other man.
His essays were byword among ex-
aminers for their cynical originality,
perverse ability and instructive avoid
arce of the obvious avenues to sue
cess. Thus he was constrained to
depend on that scanty income of which
every coin seemed flung in his face.
With his developed misanthropy and
contempt for ordinary men, he would
at all times have been intolerant of
the mere existence of such a man as
his uncle; and that he himself should
be hopelessly indebted to such a crea-
ture for every morsel he ate, for every
book he read, was sheer monstrosity
to his mind-or so l should conjecture
from what I knew of the two. Angus
seldom willingly mentioned his uncle;
and when he did So, it was with
deadly intensity of contempt in his
tone-not his words-such as never
heard before or since.
An end comes to all things; and my
time at Cambridge, which had passed
as swiftly for me as for most men, and
left me with the usual abundant third
years crop Of unfulflled purposes,
came to its end in due course. An
gus Macbane had "gone down" before
l did, with high second class degree
in mathematics, chiefly gained. as
happened to hear from an examiner,
by very few problems which hardly
any one else solved. A serious quar-
rel with his uncle followed on this
ill-success, but from motives Of family
duty and respectability Mr.. Macdon-
aid continued to pay his nephew
enough to maintain life. No relation
Of his, he felt, must come to the work
house
For year or two lost sight Of
Macbane; and when l saw him again
he was living in lodgings in an OBJ
scure street of a London suburb. l
had learned his address from another
old college friend, Frank Standish by
name, who had kept up relations with
Angus. Frank was a complete con-
trast to Macbane; he was a tall, hear
ty handsome, athletic fellow, success
ful in everything he undertook, and
was now making his way as an engi-
neer, aud likely to do well. 1t was
this opposition in their natures that
had bsg0tten their friendship. have
seen them sitting together at Can
bridge, Standish chatting on by the