Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-13

mark. The girl has had suitors, and one
of them was favored by her above the
others. He made his declaration one
day while sitting by her side on the
piazza of a summer hotel in
the broad light of day. In the
fashion of some timid men, he did not fix
the girl will his eyes as he put the ten
der words TO her, but as she made no re-
ply TO him he stole a look at her face.
She q a handkerchief pressed close to
her eyes. AS no one was by to see, he
reached towards her and gently drew her
hands away. The red wineglass burned
like fire. He was amazed, and the girl
looked at him with @ despairing gaze.
He asked what it meant, and she told
him. But she herself did not know the
whole truth. Her father, who was a fast
and reckless man, had fallen dead before
her mother g eyes while holding a wine
glass aloft at a dinner party. The lover
was a true one. He viii be married to
the girl IN a very few weeks from the
present tim g..
a.
One of the saddest and most unfortu-
naIe cases of hereditary vice that 1 have
eve known is that of a child of fourteen,
the adopted daughter of two worthy old
people of considerable wealth, who, be-
ing without heirs, took the girl baby of a
seamstress and brought it up as their
own. 1t was the intention of the gentle
man to leave the bulk of his fortune TO
the girl il she turned out as her sweet in
FAINT loneliness promised. But when she
was not more than seven years Did, she
began to evince traits of character that
alarmed her foster parents. Her temper
was intense, and often she seemed more
like a little animal h a human. But
she was always beautiful, and it was
hoped that she would Outgrow her fierce
nature. Instead, as years passed, the
child became more and more ~unmanage-
able, and at eleven she was sent back
from a boarding school with the
word hat she was a iend.
In her associations she had caught up and
remem bered all that was vile, and at
last, when her language and manners
became uncomfortable, the foster parents
summoned the mother and told her that
she would have to take the child back.
All the visions of seeing her daughter
rich and courted came up before the poor
mothers eyes, and she went upon her
knees and prayed that the girl be given
one more chance. just at that moment
a shrek was heard in the hallway of the
HOuScy LlO uOOI u LuS IOOh WBGf6 lu6
discussion was in progress was burst vio-
lently open and a maid in a frenzy OF
fear hnrried in.
"Save me, - she cried, "Miss Edith
will kill me.'
A girl with long black hair and hand
some but wicked eyes, sprang into the
room at that instance. In her hand was
a cleaning carving knife. When she
saw the room occupied she stopped in her
course and looked from one to the other.
''I'H murder that woman she SAID
in a sullen voice, gazing balefullY at the
covering maid. Ssh pulled my hair
when she was combing it. Here, some
one put this knife back where it belongs.
I'll let her off this time.'
The extraordinary creature threw the
knife on the carpet and strobe out of the
room. The mother got up from her
knees, and said she would see that the
child was taken away. Then she ac-
k~nowIedged that her husband, the father
Of the girl, had been a brute of the worst
stamp, had attempted TO murder her on
more than n occasion, and endedA
his days in states prison, whitBe
ne had been sent for burglary. |
She had hoped the child would naS in
herit his disposition, but she evidently
had, and so she would take her away and
do her best to redeem her. Sociesy thus
loses an heiress, a beauty and possibly a
murderess.