Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1889-11-07

and his soul burned for revenge But they
were dead-all of the malediciive ones and
were, perhaps, getting their dues, while he,
Allan Perciyal, was standing there giving
vent TO the spirit which had dragged them
down. Ali this would never do, his soul
whispered, warnngly No; this giving
way 10 the vanity Of useless wrath would
never bear to be dalliod with. BY power
full effort he chOked down the rising anath.
ema and betook himself to asserting some
papers he had brought with him from Trou.
vile.
Seated at the table, arranging the con,
tents Of a heavy lcather-b bound portfolio, he
bent eagerly TO his task In order to over.
come the tumut within. A sigh Of relief
escaped him. II am glad" he said, with
tremor in his voice, ''that my mother was a
mild, sweet soued woman, and that par.
take of her nature greatly, else how should
/ ever come through II all with unstained
hands
"But, after all,n he continued, while his
face paled with sorrowful emotion, latter
all am not 10 forget that am a Percivall
and that if l should be able to change my
name a thousand times, the blood l0ould
telln
He looked for moment as IL he would be
glad to slip from his identity, even though
he might evolve mere slave.
IF when Leon Perciyal in his wrath dis
inherited my father he had only taken from
him the arrogance, the senseless, passion
ate spirit, and the unforgiving, relentless
soul of the house. what blessing his dIsin-
heritance would have beenl BUTT was only
the property aud the honor of being named
as one of them that he MISSED, that is ALL
s'Ohl l am glad" he exclaimed, tri-
umphantly, ";hat haven't farthing, no,
not a Jd,thiyg of the Percival wealthr'
He looked up as he finished his exultant
sentence and caught sight of his face in the
tell.tale mirror. Then he laughed softly to
himself. "Pshawi" said he, and the evil
feeling had ebbed out its last tidal wave,
and he was left in possession of his sweet
mothers nature to which he so often re-
ferred with fondest pride.
Three days after we leave Allan Percival
az his lodgings in London we find him
standing in the library, the dimly lighted,
ghostly-looking library Of Heatherleigh.
He was alone; the good -natured, portly
squire was poking about the gallery on the
second floor, imagining he could read the
soul by the cOuntenance; and so was very
busy reveling and romancing among the
portraits. He had no idea that the hand
some. well-dressed cockney, as he chose to
mentally dub the fellow downstairs, was a
scion of the ancestral line he was viewing
NO." Squire Bancroft was saying to him
self, ''that's young strip of ha barrister
the solicitors ave sent down 'ere TO hin
spect the books hand take la list Of them,
hi reckon, so hi won't bother lin. Hi will
just henjoy myself hup ERE, hand kill two
birds with one stone by looking the pictures
hover vile 'es taking lis Inventory
So the easy-natured squire turned the
portraits this way and that to get sufficient
light, and adjusted the heavy curtains on
their dusty brass rings to suit himself, and
persuaded his speculative soul that it was
having holiday treat.
Down in the dim semi-twihght of ''the
room of the books stood Allan, saying in
an undertone: ITO the left hand end of the
shelves, and the third row. All now |
have it, and after removing several vol
umes he placed his hand on the panel indi-
Gated in her letter.
"To the right, now," and he gave the
panel a shove IN tine direction named by
Miriam, and it slid back noiselessly but
sending up cloud Of dust nevertheless.
"By Jover' Allan calculated, stepping
back and brushing the dust from his face
and eyes, lit is worth a ransom TO be
smothered in this way
Then he listened to roassure himself that
Bancroft was not coming now at the SUI
preme moment to be inquisitlve and vex
him with words and looks of distrustful
questioning, perhaps
No, the squire was not coming; doubtless
he would not, as Allan had announced his
intention of overhaul the dozens of dusty
volumes, some of them ancient and curious
ly bound and others of later date. What a
place for an old book. worm of a fellowr'
calculated Allan, elbowir g the ancient tome
at his right, as he thrust his hand into the
recess in the wall, after having satisfied
himself that Bancroft was not coming.
The first thing his hand touched he drew
forth. 1t proved to be the long hidden
casket containing Lady Percival's jewels.
Brushing the dust from the elegant cover
he opened il for a moment in oTder that he
might know what he really did have. Dia-
monds; diamonds scintillating even 10 the
dim light told him he had the required
jewels Shutting the casket he discovered
the letters l.. p engraven in the center Of
the cover.
"Aunt Percival," he murmured. "Ohl !
feel so strange in this awful place, where
father fed, and from whose doors my dar-
ling was driven in her Widows weeds God
be mercful, wish was out Of thisl"
Once more he put his hand into the recess
and renewed the search. Three small boxes
and silver drinking cups next rewarded his
endeavOrs. These he deposited in various
pockets without examining them and again
he searched the recess.
1.-THE family plate, by Jovel" And out it
came from the remote corner of the cup
board. Silver, silver, silverl And here was
a riddle he could not solve. How could this
little place hold all thisi He tried the other
side Of the aperture. and to his astonsh
menta panel Go.cd easily back, revealing
a capacious recess and the corner" he
thought he had reached was not a corner"
only sort of division.
tIts deuced lucky ! brought my travel
ing case, or else how should ! smuggle all
this away from Heatherleigh! Egad feel
like a thiefm
Having slowed all the vauables away in
his large valise, he shut up the recess and
replaced the books he had removed.
II believe / will 20 upstairs now and see
what has become of the SQUIRE" unused
Allan, looking about him.
But the Squire was coming down. Allan
heard him on the stairs, and forthwith he
began 10 be deeply interested in a yellow
PACED volume, for whose contents he didn't
care half-penny.
1.-THE books are quite interesting, i
should think" SAID Bancroft, pceping in
and seeing the young barristcr deeply en-
gagged, as he thought, IN reading.
s'Ohi yes" Allan made answer, with
yawn, interesting enough, but I'm deuced
tired of them, and, as have taken the titles
I'M II.ktA-+R2q4l