The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-11-03
q u0tleT'S Secret.

"There is no help for it, mother; the entire estate must be sold; and it grieves me to think how powerless I am to succor, in the hour of our ex- tremity, the kind benefactress of our friend when all others turned their backs upon us."
 "Still, she will not be destitute the sum left her in her own right, you know, was very considerable"
 "But that, too, has been squandered, her wretched sons extravaganza, it seems -
 "Hold !"-and Mrs. Spencer cast a look half reproachful, half resentful, on the youth who, moment before, had addressed her as "mother." "I cannot bear to hear you speak like that of the poor boy who is now in his gravel"
 "It is hard thing, know, to pass censure on the dead, but not easier to look forgivingly on vices and follies indulged in-st the expense of moth er's beggary."
 An angry flush passed over the wo- mans face; and yet, to one contrasting it's sharp and crafty lines with the young mans frank and open counte- nance, it must have seemed not little strange that her hand, and not his, should be extended to draw the man. tie of charity over the dead proaigate's misdoings.
 But to one that knew Judith Spen- cer's history, it would not have ap- peared strange at all. When her de- based husband, on whose account her relatives had cast her off, evaded 8 felon's doom by self destruction, leav- ing her and her born babe no other heritage than "wounded name" when the outcast mother and child might have died unfriended in the streets, and society would have seen in it only the righteous visitation upon them of the dead husband and fathers iniquities, gentle Gertrude Norman's heart was touched with pity.
 She, too, was & widow and though wealth and an honored name was hers, and though an almost princely fortune awaited the little stranger for whose coming one fond expectant had not been suffered to tarry, there was, be- tween her and her humble sister in sorrow, a common tie that seemed to bind them together.
 And when, after not many days, the little stranger came, and for long time Gertrude's life was despaired of, it was the poor widow that supplied a mothers place to the helpless in- fant.
 Towards the child she had thus fos- tered it was but natural she should feel something of 8 mothers attach ment, and when at length the boy grew up, and began to develop serious faults, over which his mother grieved sorely, it was Judith that stood forth in his defense, ever ready to palliate and excuse whatsoever he did amiss.
 Not one of his dead fathers virtues. or of his gentle mothers traits, seemed to be produced in Cecil Norman's character. His days and nights were spent in all manner of vicious pleas ure. His extravaganza knew no bounds, and when at iength, having barely attained to mans estate, bis shattered health gave way ana ne Tell 8 victim to his excesses, he left his mother impoverished, and his own estate encountered far beyond its value.
 Widely different was the poor wid- ow's son. With heavy odds to strug- gle against in the shape of poverty, and 8 disgraced name-generously aided for 6 time, 1t Is true, by the kind lady whose good offices we have seen he had not forgotten, but mainly by his own efforts-step by step Ar thur Spencer won his way, and he was now ready to enter profession to whose brightest honors he might aspire without vanity.
 Still, the dishonored name he bore weighed heavily upon him; and when the father of the girl he loved forbade her to receive his addresses, while he sanctioned those of . rich usurer's con, he could not help thinking that it might not be solely owing to disparity sf wealth. It was this anne usurer,