Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-12

coffin, bearing the age and date OF the
poor child IS supposed death. was placed
in the hearse and conveyed TO tho private
chapel attached to the house here, aud
was buried in the family vault, where
only the first Lord Gilmore then lay,
though-now my husband
Here Lady Gilmore suddenly broke
down, and sobs she could not suppress
burst from her trembling lips.
81 entreat you to compose yourself, -
said Father Hayward, earnestly. econ
slider, my daughter. that you alone can
repair the wrong you did, that without
your evidence it never can be undOne. ~
81 will try she wept; "but-but it
is all so bitter-to-think that the one
for whose sake l did it alI-the son L
loved too we'll, too well, should-have
broken my hearth
Confessed and repented sins can be
blotted out, - said the father, gently.
'GYou wish now that right and justice
should be done?''
81 do, do! 1 wish now that this
other son-the son 1 wronged-shoulG
take his righlful name and plecs in the
world That bitter birthright-his
poor crooked form-was no fault of his,
and Nurse Brewster tells me he has
grown up strong and well.
Elbow has he been educated?'' asked
the priest gravely.
"He has been we'll educated at a
Catholic seminary, but his personal de-
feet stood in the way of his entering the
priesthood. He has always passed as
Nurse Brewster's son, and about four
years ago-when he was twenty-one-1
advanced money to establish him on
farm, situated close to Scarley, believe,
and his reputed mother lives with him
there
'sAnd have you eyer seen him since
you parted with him as a babe?'
Eyes. but only rarely; l was afraid to
for the others sake. l saw him last
when he was about fifteen, ten years ago
now.
"And you are sure this woman has not
deceived you? That this young man is
actually your son2'
81 am as sure as that I am myself
alive. Father, it is a strange thing, but
this boy whom his father despised and
hated, has Inherited every feature of his
face. He is hunchback, and but for
that Nurse Brewster has often told me
that his likeness 10 her late lord is some
thing marvellous.
Father Hayward was silent for few
ne sLOUu Will MS SJ6o CdsL
down thinking what it was best to do.
"And this Nurse Brewster would give
direct evidence in the event of trial, 1
Supposed he said at last. ''She would
speak the truth?''
''She dare do nothing else, - answered
Lady Gilmore, sudden flush rising to
her pale face.
awe cannot tell; what other evidence
could we bring forward?''
s'What other evidenoe!'' repeated
Lady Gilmore passionateiy. els y
word not enough? But if other evidence
Is wanted, let them go to the family
vault, and open the little empty coffin
which lies therei'
'fThat, no doubt, is a strong point
but my daughter you have borne enough
to-day-take some rest now, with this
consolation to comfort you, that by this
confession you have eased your soul of a
heavy BURDEN
ga heavy burden too great almost for
me to bear!'' replied Lady Gilmore ex-
citedly. az bore it for MS sake-I
should have died silent-if he had not
acted as he has done. -
s'Then let us be thankful that good
has come out of evil, and may this
stranger son prove the comfort and help
of your declining days.
Other words he spoke to her which
need not be written here; words of peace
and pardon, for the good mans heart
sorrowed for her, knowing well that the
idol of her life was shattered, and all her
earthly pride laid low. The world was
nothing to her now, she told him, and
the one hope left to her was to cleanse
her soul of this grievous SIN.
CHAPTER xvIn.-THE YOUNG FARMER.
Three days later Lady Gilmore having
in the meanwhile made a deposition of
her confession before a magistrate),
Father Hayward started for the village
by the northern seaboard, where the late
Lord Gilmore s legitimate heir had been
hidden away and reared. The father
was not only good and pious man, but
an ardent and devoted upholder of the
tenets of his church, and the knowledge
that this young man had been brought
I'D 8 Roman Catholic, made him
doubly anxious that his rights should be
at once fully established. The great
wealth OF the house of Gilmore was also
present in his mind as he travelled
northwards, and he was eager that its
power and influence should be directed
TO what he naturally deemed the most
righteous channels. He went armed
with O letter to her son from Lady Gill
more, and also one to Nurse Brewster,
aud he reached Scarley on q bright
morning in the spring time, q pale.
wmteflecked blue sky spanning the wide
green rolling sea.
An old world place this, with the
fishermen's cottages perched near the
edge of the beetling orags towering
around the little bay. A quaint place,
smelling of the ses and the sea-fish, with
the great nets spread out to dry on the
green banks, and the girls in their neat
print bedgowns, and short blue skirts
f1ittering about, jesting and sing
ing as they go. Here and there a
better house-the parson IS. the Doctors
but for the most part the village is
made up of the humble dwellings of the
poor. Father Hayward walked on, in
curing his way as he went of bronzed,
stalwart men, the children of the sea,
who bad been reared on its cliffs, and
earned their bread on its waters, and
ofttlmes found their graves in its silent
depths.
i'Cragside farmhouse?'' one of them
answered, in his broad Northern tongue
to the fathers inquiries. "Where the
young hunchyback lives? Yon's the
bousa orar IN fhe falds thera. ,, opd ba |