The Springdale news., 1889-01-04


 the Iroa Duke. The old baroncs had been 10th 10 part with his only child. :. but after all.. thought he. ".he laurels are rou by some and why should not my boz Walter be one of the yietors..n So he let ham go and now. on this June evening. just. too, as he hears the bells of the little church on his own estate ringing joyous peal in honor of the great victory, all his fond hopes and aerial castles arc dashcd rudely to the ground. When the solemn old butler came in to attend his master, he found him in his chair gazing listlessly on the paper which he held mechanically in his hand They bore him to his bed-chambcr, where he lay all night in the same motionless state. Tho next day, on reviving little, Sir Philip sent his steward to Belgium, to find his sons body and have it brought home to Per civalthorpe, but when the dead boy arrived Sir Philip was corpse, too, and he and his son were buried together in the family vault under the little church.
 Old Sir Philip died ignorant of the fact that his son had married and left an infant heir. But the family lawyers knew all about it and placed the b.by-boy. who had neither mother (the mother died in giving birth to her boy as Captain Percival's mother had done before her) nor father,
  mestic. The boy thriyed and in the course of time arrived at mans estate, when he grew reckless and plunged into all the gaietles of London life. becoming soon an habtue of every gaming house, theatcr and public ballroom in the West end
 Sir James Douglas Percival was not a bad man. On the other hand he had traits of goodness which made him all almost univer- sal favorite. He was generous, open heart ed, manly and courageous nine times out of ten, his chief fault lying i'll the fact that he lacked the moral courage which requires a man so often to say no. Always impulsive, he dld every thing on the spur of the mo- ment without taking time to consider the possible results, and this rashness often led him into serious difficulties. We have said that nine tunes out of ten he was generous and open-hearted but the tenth time he was selfish in the extreme and would allow nothing to oppose him i'll attempting to ac- complish his selfish and oft-times cruel de- signs. We have stated, too, that Percival was frequenter of the theaters, but if we had said of one theater in particular we should have been nearer the mark. At this theater there was, at the tune Sir James was plunging into the follies of London life, q charming actress, whose
 
 done more than one man before him. But Perciyal was more persevering than the rest and in time managed to obtain an in- troduction. In a very short time after that they became man and wife and for few short months ali went we'll
 Percival was wise enough Cor thought himself wise enough) in the ways ot the world to marry his wife under his second name. and he was known to her merely as James Douglas. She gained the idea that he had made his money at the gaming table and he allowed her still to think so. He had some vague idea that he would be able to rid himself of his actress wife before he need take up his residence at Pereiyal- thorpe, for he made up his mind that. although his wife was pretty, lively and clever at her profession, she was far from being real lady and her neglected education and training rendered. her unfit to be the constant companion of a man in his position, or to uphold the ancient dignity of the Percival family as mistress of Per civalthorpe. He consulted clever scoun- dre, whom he had more than once helped out of sundry scrapes, as to the best course to pursue to rid himself of his wife without recourse to violence. This cunning, gentle manly villain, Randolph by name, saw at 
 gested the following plan: Percival was to go abroad without his wife and was then to have inserted in the newspapers the report of his own death, and at the same time was to make sham will leaving his wife a good annuity. This done the lady would be free to marry again. Randolph agreeing to make an attempt to marry her himself, for which, if he proved successful, he was to receive ten thousand pounds. Then, after time, when things smoothed down, Percival could go to reside at Percvalthorpe, when, if his wife discovered his identity with James Douglas and refused to keep quiet, he could silence her by threatening to charge her with big amy. After time it would be easy to ar range for a legal divorce. To this proposal Percival acceded and very shortly after be- took himself to Italy.
 With the aid of MT. Randolph, Percival soon had his plans in working order, and few weeks after his departure from En- gland, Randolph called upon Mrs. Douglas i've will call her by that name) with an Italian newspaper containing an account. in- serted with the help of gold by Percival himself of q carriage accident which had resulted in the death of an English gentle man whose name was ascertained to be Douglas Randolph announced himself to MrS. DougiaS as the cOhnuentlal lawyer as well as old friend of her husband (you must remember that although man and wife Douglas, or Percival, and his wife were al- most strangers), and, after many expressions of sympathy, proceeded to explain her posi- tion. My dear madam,'' said he, ''my old friend and patron on the very day he left London, made will at my office, by which you receive the interest annually on the full amount standing in his name in the public funds, which l shall take pleasure in paying over to you as It comes due"
 The actress, who was considerably grieved at the news which Randolph brought her, of course suspected nothing and left the entire business in his hands There for a time the