Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-24


| refused TO be longer the victim of heI
| whims and caprices There would doubt
less have been few days Of sore lamen-
| tation and despairing appeals TO be re-
! stored to her fathers arms (where she
: was not at all wanted-that estimable
! eeclesiastie having only recently taken
/ thereto z successor TO her sainted
! mother)-bu in the end she would have
| respected him far more and been happier
! in obeying him. Like many another
! husband poor Forrest was, at times, con-
scious of his duty in the case, but, like
| most others, shrank from the ordeal
| Bruce himself, so savagely critical of the
weakness of other spouses, was notori-
! ously subservient to the wishes of Mrs
! Bruce, but she never had to resort to
tears to accomplish her object, and was
! thoroughly in unison with her husband in
his condemnation of Forrest IS weakness
'Poor, poor fellow!' she was saying to
herself this very day 'With such a
! fool for wife and such a-sE ch a sharper
| for sisteri''
So confident was Bayard of his ground
that he had decided, days since, on his
| plan of attack. He would not ask direct
questions, for her husband had doubtless
pledged her to secrecy. He would deli
Forrest as though he had full knowledge
OF her past, and he felt assured that he
could read in his patients face, even in
the unlikely event of her silence, wheth-
er or no his theories we're correct. Be-
sides, he had yentuTed an inquiry or two
OF an old New York associate and club
fellow, a man who had known the Court
lands well.
eve must not Judge Miss Forrest
harshly, dear lady, . he soothingly re-
marked after moment of deep thought
aud apparent hesitation. ''I confess I
/ felt little aggrieved at first when she
saw lit to summon Doctor Weeks, despite
the fact that / was in the house as your
physician two or three times q day; but
after thinking it all over her motives
were apparent quite natural. You
probably did not know that l was well
acquainted with Mr.. CORTLAND, did
your
No! were you?'' asked Mrs. Forrest,
with dilating eyes. "And Fanny knew
and did not tell me-
Yes. We were members of the same
club, and / used to see great deal of
him before coming West. - It was very
long before, and il was only seeing, but
Bayard did not care to explain this. He
wished to convey the idea that mis- ac-
quaintance with the old gentleman had
been recent and confidential, and he sue
ceeded.
How strange that you should be here
where she is. l m sure Capt Forrest
has no idea of it, doctor. Did-did you
ever speak with her about-the Court
lands?''
'Yes-once. OF course she did not
care to talk of the matter at first. 1t
was only when she found that 1 knew
Mr.. CORTLAND so well that she became at
all communicative. -
''And did she talk of her affair-of
Mr.. Courtland-the younger one, I
mean?'
"My dear Mrs. Forrest! We couid
hardly expect young lady to be COM
municative Oh such a topic as that. Of
course there were some things l could not
help knowing and that is why. say we
ought not to judge her harshly now Her
experience Of last year was not calculated
to make girl look upon the world with
kindlier eyes, and the contrast between
the life she leads now and that she led
under her kinsman 5 roof is enough to
dishearten any woman.
81 IN sure do everything I possibly
can to make her content aud happy, -
impetuously exclaimed Mrs. Forrest.
land ii : all her own fault if she Isn't.
She-she needn't have come as
all. Mr.. CORTLAND told aud
told Capt. Forrest that it
should make no difference, but she is
self willed and obstinate and nothing
would do but she must quit his roof for ever
and come and be a burden on her brother
who has quite enough to stagger under
already. - (''Hum!' thought Bayard
at this juncture ''How little she real
ICES the truth of that assertion! ''Mr.
CORTLAND had been devoted to her from
her childhood, had lavished everything
on her, had educated her, sent her
abroad, provided for her in every way
and--she rewarded him by taking this
silly prejudice against his son whom she
ought to have had sense enough to know
he expected hento marry
Bayard s pulse gave a leap, but his
fine face made no sign. Professional i'm
perturbability alone expressed itself
She paused one instant for breath Then
it occurred to her that perhaps she was
broadly trenching on forbidden ground
and revealing that which her husband
had hidden her keep inviolate. Bayard
read her like an open book and promptly
took the initiative before she could
question.
''And yet, Mrs. Forrest, would you
have had her-a woman of such superior
attachments and character-Would your
husband have had her marry a man to
whom she could not look up?-whose
character and, pardon me, whose habits
were SO, let us say, unsettled?
''Then she ought 10 have left before.
I know she says she never dreamed of its
being her uncle's plan or hope-never
dreamed that the young man was in
earnest. 1t was all nonsense TO say she
couldn't marry a man whom she did not
look up to and respect. He is only year
younger than she is and lots of girls
marry men younger than themselves
especially when such a fortune was in
volved. Why! Mr.. CORTLAND would
have left them everything he had in the
world if she would only have consented. .
''But women form their own ideas,
dear lady, and she may have had in view
a man whom she did look up to, honor
and love. Is not that reasonable
theOry?H And the DOCTORS eyes, full of
sympathy and Difference, watched his i'm
pulsive patient narrowly withal How
well he knew her! She fell instantly into
the trap
- But she hadn t! l could forgive her
SiiV If that were 81 b1Jf ell 4oI