The National tribune., 1890-12-04

| 10 He4p themselves, prefer 70 90 so rCtner
than give away money and, perhaps, lose
the friendship Of them / help. The giyer
can love; the benefited will resent grasi-
tudei but to show somebody how to get
ahead himself is TO delight Us both. | desire
TO see this sOrrowlul man housed like one OF
| his own species.
HepOinted to Creeper Turtle, who listened
TO the words, but only understood the am
baSsador's kind and just expression.
You think OF building him a new house,
| Sir Jamcs2'
mot exactly that. want you to seek
out this stonema5On whom my Miss Dove is
enamOred OF, and make him this propositions
Ii he will trust these girls for his part of the
work, l viii trust them for the lumber and
| carpenters bill They shall have q good
| long credit, but IL will not be n gift. To
haul the materials from FGsderjCktowu aud
| get the lime for their mortar shall be the
| obligation OF the two girls, and / suspect
that some OF the surrounding farmers will DO
| that much for them and for humanity, ia
order to redeem their community from the
| testimony and blight Of such damp rock
den as Turtle has inhabitcd.D
At these words Creeper Turtle arose
| ialtered and threw himself at Sir JGmes's
feet.
Is it q real house for me you mean {?
Shall not be cold any more? The damp
is in my spine, sir; that's what ais my
mind. III could be warm one Winter before
die know l could repay you ALL"
Repay, Cseeper! How"
The old mans wits and eyes rolled cam
! brOusly as ii to put his ideas in association.
The effort had been too much, and he could
only cry the unfinished and abartiye words:
Sir Janes-Sir C0nnOr-I could pay-if
was warm-I could remcmJsr!"
This was all they could get from him, but
he evidently meant something by his en-
phasis upon the word remember"
I THINK HIS MEMORY Is PERMANENTLY
GONE"
observed the Barcnet aS they walked over 10
the library, after presenting Turtle with
bundle Of sticks 10 bum for / have tried
him again and again upon matters Of his
youth, and al every effort his nind becomes
more and more vacant. II We were in Lon
don ] would have his spine disease looked
into, for sometimes the curvature Of that
great nervous stem in mantle stalk Of our
flower of the b7ain-distCrts the organs OF
tine brain itself and COnfuses the faculties,
OF which the memory is drain or rill fed
from living springs OF whose underground
lie we know nothing but that they appear
at the surface"
Why do you want such man to remem-
ber anything Sir James?"
Well, Mr.. O'COnnOr, / Thought I dis
ceTned on that faded paper under the glass
sODe names once almost patent in my family.
L repeated them to him, and at first there
wa5 light, like torpid recognition in bis
eye, which faded out at last like the ink
fl.rk II g. Il
parchment to London and have it examined
under glass Of great power"
fear you are again under the illusion Of
condolences, for have sounded Miss Perry,
and she recalls descent OF the humblest
names and conditions, ard has no romantic
expectations"
"NeyerthelesS, Mr.. OConn0r, think you
will End that all her generations have borne
British names, and not German names, which
are the rule through this region. Beatty,
Perry, are Scotch and English -
" But Creeper aud Turtle and COoToO, Sir
james? What are they?D
The two men laughed together, but Athol's
laugh was dry aud his look detected.
Il suppose / am the victim OF 4 str0ug
hope, 0.CsuHor. Last night again in gentle
dTe9u-, famed hy these pure suuUit airs, 7
heard tie ehilds voice telling me 70 follow
-ard then awoke."
The two men sat in the library and had
several long hours of wO-k, AMI O'Conuor
was strained and tagged when he arose to
carry out the double promise 10 Sir James
and Perry
AT THE HOUSE IN THE WOODS.
1t was near 4 o'clock as he cleared the
last vista on the shelf or bench at tine South
Mountains western base, where soft and
TepOs5iui view Of the LOudoun or Blue Ridge
Mountains was seen stretching iar into VIr-
ginia enTavclled with the South Mountains
diminishing perspective there, and in the
middle ground was the Chasm Of the meet
iug rivers POtOmacaH Shenandoah, marked
chiefly by the smoke cloud of the public
armories hidden in that Vulcan's cleft.
Taking in this view with no consciousness
that the moment and the scene we're impress
sive, Brian turned into the rough woods and
broken stone paths marked on every side
by the collapse Of the geological plateau, in
solitary rocks, pedestals of sandstone and
smooth slabs siited to the floors Of ancient
c~tUaries, and there "a in a kiln baked by the
fires OF hoary time and fusion.
Everything looked so young TO be so old
black ckberries, whOrtlebeTIieS, wild laurel,
poison vine, grapevines like cables of ships
which might he riding iuyisibly in the fluid
Of the air, Virginia creeper and crimson
parasite scented and dsoFdeTed the calm
bowl of evening light, wherein the tilted
vale was broken seam.
A bell toiled at RGhrersville, or somewhere
along the mountain, to announce some death
or funeral, but peaceful must have been the
sepulture under that mellow note.
O'Connor reached the House in the Wood
and found himself awaited
My dear master" said the kind voice, as
shone the merry, brimming eyes of Perry
Beatty, am ell ready for my lesson. Here
is my exercise, and think it is perfeck."
Here is the letter, sweetheart, to my sis
ter Avoca, if yen shall ever need it. Come,
now, with your vowelsl Ihf"
"Eh; dh."
"Aw?n
90; oo"
Their hands were already together, swing
ing out, and at tho return movement their
lips, enunciating these sounds of the pho
netic alphabet, met in q kiss, which is the
alphabet Of the universe.
Z, a, Gk kiss"
"1tC, o, 90 kiss"
There fell from somewhere blow like
thunderbolt, attended by a form which
seemed to come with q rush like that Of the
pheasants which had whizzed past them
this day.
When Perry looked around there was still
hut two persons present, herself and Archy
Beatty.
Uis masou's short steel hammer was in