Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-01-02
CHAPTER x.

1 uAluAAeu Wltu Iesar. many women are D
 nature gifted with an extraordinary powe
 of intuition, which fully makes up for thei
 deficiency in reasoning force. They do no
 conclude from the premises of their observa
 tion, they know that this man is to be feare,
 and that trusted. In fact, they share witt
 the rest of breathing creation that self pro
 tective instinct of instantaneous and almos
 automatic judgment given to guard it iron
 the dangers with which 1t is continual,
 threatened at the hands of mans overmaster
 ing strength and ordered intelligence. Id
 was one of them. She knew nothing to Mr
 Quests disadvantage. indeed, she alway
 heard him spoken of with great respect, and
 curiousiy enough, she liked his wife yer,
 much. But she could not bear the man
 feeling in her heart that he was not only t.
 be avoided on account of his own hidder 1 qualities, but that he was, moreover, al | active personal enemy.
 They went into the old dining room, wher, 1 the luncheon was set, and while Ida allowed | Ar. Quest to cut her some cold boiled beef l an operation in which he did not seem to b< very much at home, she came to 8 rapid con clusion in her own mind She had seer
 clearly enough from her fathers face that
 his interview with the lawyer had been Of 6 most serious character, but she knew that the chances were that she would never be able to get its upshot out of him, for the old gentle
 man had a curious habit of keeping such un. pleasant matters to himself until he was ab. solutely forced by circumstances to reveal them, She also knew that her fathers affairs were in most critical condition, for that she had extracted from him on the pre- vious night, and If any remedy was to be at tempted 1t must be attempted at once, and on some heroic scale. Therefore, she made up her mind to ask her bete noir, Mir. Quest, what the truth might be-
 'Mr. Quest" she said, with some trepida- tion, as he at last triumphantly handed her the beef, "1 hope that you will forgive me for asking you plain question, and that if you can you will favor me with plain answer. know my fathers affairs are very much involved, and that he is now anxious to borrow soms more money, but [ do not know quite how matters stand, and want to learn the exact truth"
 s1 am very glad to hear you speak like that, Miss de la Molle," answered the lawyer, 'because was trying to make up my mind to broach the subject, which is 3 painful one to me. Frankly, then, forgive me for saying It, your father is absolutely ruined The in. terest on the mortgages is @ year ill arrear, his largest farm is just thrown upon his hands, and, to complete the tale, the mortsa- gees are going to call in their money or fore close"
 At this statement, which was almost brutal in its brief comprehenstveness, Ida turned pale as death, as well she might, and dropped her fork with clatter upon her plate.
 1 did not realize that things were quite so bad" she murIaured. "Then suppose that the place will be taken from us. and we shall shall have to go away"
 "4es, certainly, unless money can be found to take up the mortgages, of which I see no chance. The place will be sold for what 1t will fetch, and that nowadays will be no great sum-" -
 ''When will that bef' she asked
 'ln about six or nine months timen
 lda's lips trembled, and the sight of the food upon her plate became nauseous to her. A vision arose before her minds eye of her self and her old father departing hand in hand from the castle gates, behind and about which gleamed the hard wild lights of a March sunset, to seek place to hide them selves, and the horror of 1t almost oyercame her.
 "1s there no way of escapef' she asked, hoarsely. ITO lose this place would kill my father. He loves it better than anything in the world his whole life is wrapped up in itr t '.
 s1 can quite understand that, Miss de Ia Molle. It is a most charming old place, es- pecially to anybody interested in the past. But unfortunately, mortgages are no re- specters of feelings. To them land is so much property, and nothing mora"
 "1 know all that" she said, impatientiy. You do not answer my questionr' and she leaned toward him and rested her hand upon the table "ls there DO way out of ita'
 MT. Quest drank 9 little claret before he answered "Yes," he said, II think there Is, If only you will take it."
 "W hat wayf' she asked, eagerly.
 Well, though, as I said just now, the mortgages of an estate as body are merely from business point of view only, you must remember that they are composed of indi. v1duals, and that individuals can be infiu. enced if they can be got at. For instance, Cossey & Son are an abstraction, and harshly disposed in their abstract capacity, but Mr. Edward Cossey is an individual, and should say, so far as this particular matter Is con. cerned, a benevolently disposed individual. Now, Mir. Edward Cossey is not himself at the present moment actually one of the firm of Cossey & Son, but he is the heir of the head of the house, and, of course, has author ity, aud. what Is better still, the command of mohey"
 "I understand" !" said Ida. .:You mean that tuJ tatner snSuId tIy co win oyer MT. Ed ward Cossey. Unfortunately, to be frank, he dislikes him, and my father is not a man to keep bis dlslikes to himself"
 People generally do dislike those to whom they are crushingly indebted; your father dislikes MT. Cossey because his name is Cos sey, and for no other reason. But that is not quite what l meant. do not think the squire is the right person to unosrtake a ne- gotiation of that sort. He is a little too out spoken and incautious. No, Miss de la Molle, if it is to be done at all you must do 1t. You must put the whole case before him at once. 1 this very afternoon. There is no time tor 1 delay. You need not enter into details; he | knows all about them; only ask him to avert this catastrophe. He can do so if be likes; how he does 1t is bis own affair"
 "But, Mir, Quest" said Ida, show can ask l such a favor of any mana l shall be putting | myself in dreadfully false position"
 II do not pretend, Miss de Ia Molle, that 1t l is pleasant task for any young lady to un- dertake. Iquite understand you shrinking l from it. But sometimes one has to do mn. pleasant things, and make compromises with | ones self respect, It is question whether | or no your family shall be utterly ruined and | destroyed There Is, as honestly believe, no