Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-10-26
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$500 AN1'
Holmhurst, for it was she, II thought yoI
were ~dead-long ago dead!r
And hen she turned, and, before all Oh
people there, chung about Augustus necl
and kissed her and blessed her, because
she had saved her only child, and half re
moves the dead weight OF her desolatOn
Whereat the crowd cheered, and wept
and yelled, and sTore with excitement
and blessedtbeir stars that they were there
TO see.
And then, In n haze Of noise and excite
ment, they were led through the cheering
mob to where g carriage and pair were
standing, and were helped into it, Mrs.
Thomas being placed on the front seat and
Lady Holmhurst and Augusta on the
back, the former with the gasping Dick
upon her knee. And now little Dick is
out Of the story.
Then another event occurred, which we
must go back a little way to explain.
When Eustaee Meeson had come Il
town, after being formally disinherited, he
had managed to get n billet as Latin,
French, and Old English reader in a pub
fishing house Of repute. AS it happened,
on this very afternoon he was strolling
down the Strand, having finished a rather
stiff days work, and with q mind filed
with those idle and somewhat confused
odds and ends OF speculation with which
most brain workers will be acquainted.
He looked older and paler than when we
last met him. for sorrow aud misfortune
had laid their heavy hands upon him.
When Augusta had departed, he had dis
covered that he was head over heels in
love with her in that unfortunate way
for ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it
is unfortunate-in which many men Of
susceptibility do occasionally fall in love
in their youth-a way that brands the
heart for life in a fashion that can no more
be effaced than the stamp of a hot iron
can be effaced from the physical body.
Such an affection-which is not altogether
of the earth-will, when it overcomes a
man, prove either the greatest blessing of
his life or one Of the heaviest, most en-
during curses that a malignant fate can
heap upon his head. For il he achieves
his desire, even though he serve his seven
years, surely for him life will be robbed
of half its evils. But il he lose her, either
through misfortune or because he gave all
this to one who did not understand the
gift, or n who looked at love and on her
self a q currency wherewith to buy her
place and the luxury of days, then he viii
be of all men among the most miserable.
For nothing can give him back that which
has gone from him
Eustace had never seen Augusta but
twice in his life; but then passion does not
necessarily depend upon constant previous
intercourse with it's object. Love at first
sight is common enough, and in this fn-
stance Eustace was not altogether depen-
dent upon the spoken words Of his adored,
or on his recollection OF her very palpable
beauty, for he had her books. To those
who know something Of their writer-suf-
icient, let IS say, to enable him TO put an
approximate value On his OF her senti-
ments, so as to form a more or less accur-
ate guess as to when he is speaking from
his own mind, when he is speaking from
the mind Of the puppet in hand, and when
he is merely putting a Casa persons
books are full of information, and bring
that person into a closer and more init
mate contact with the reader than any
amount of personal intercourse. For
whatever is best and whatever is worst
In an individual will be reflected in his
pages, seeing that, unless he is the poorest
vi iAd(h 8dbAOkop LAC "a vi hCNCooANJ y
down therein the images that pass across
the mirrors Of his heart.
Thus it seemed TO Eustace, who knew
"Jemima's Vow," and also her previous
abortive work almost by heart, that he
was very intimately acquainted with Au-
gusta, and as he was walking home that
May evening he was rejecting sadly
enough OF all that he had lost through
that cruel shipwreck. He had lost Au-
gusta, and, what was more, he had lost
his uncle and his uncle's vast fortune.
For he, too, had seen the report of the "u-
plication re Meeson in the Times, and
though he knew that he was disinherited,
it was a little crushing. He had lost the
fortune for Augustus sake, and now he
had lost Augusta also; and he reflected,
not without dismay, on the long, dreary
existence that stretched away before him,
filed up as it were with prospective piles
of Latin proofs. With q sigh he halted at
the Wellington street crossing,in the
Strand, which, owing to the constant
stream Of traffic at this point, is one OF the
worst in London. There was a block at
the moment, as there generally is, and he
stood for some minutes watching the
frantic dashes of an old woman, who al
ways tried TO cross at the wrong time, not
without some amusement. Presently,
however, a boy with a bundle of unfolded
Globes under his arm came rushing along,
making the place hideous with his howls.
Wonderful escape Of a lady and han
hinfant?' he roared. Account of the sur
vivors of the Kangar0o-wonderful escape
desert i~sland-arrival of the Magnolia
with the criminals"
Eustace jumped, and instantly bought q
copy Of the paper. stepping into the door
way Of o shop where they sold Masonic
jewels Of every size and hue in order to
read it. The very first thing that his eye
fell on was an editorial paragraph.
I'm another column" ran the paragraph,
'will be found a short account, tele-
graphed to US from Southampton just as
we are going to press, Of the most remark
able tale OF the sea that we are acquainted
with. The escape of Miss Augusta Smith
ers and Of the little Lord Holmhurst-as
we suppose that we must now Gall him
from the ill-fated Kangaroo, and their
subsequent rescue. IN Kerguelen Land, by
the American whaler, viii certainly take
rank as the most romantic incident OF ats
kind in the recent annals OF shipwreck.
Miss Smithers, who will be better known
TO the public as the authoress Of the charm
ing book, 'Jemima's Vow,' which took