Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-01-23
*.


Tt was said of the Earl that he had not
Aeen good father: he had cruelty neglect
ID both his sons The younger one, badly
Treated at school, and left to himself in
the HOLIDAYS, began his adventurous ca
reer by running away. He got employ
ment (under an assumed name) as a ships
boy. At the outset, he did well; learning
his work, and being liked by the Captain
and the crew. But the chief mate was a
brutal man, and the young runaway's
quick temper resented the disgraceful in
Fiction of blows. He made up his mind
to try his luck on shore, and attached him.
self to a company of strolling players.
Being handsome lad, with good figure
and fine clear voice, he did very well for
a while on the country stage. Hard times
came; salaries were reduced; the adven-
turer wearied of the society of actors and
actresses. His next change of life pre-
sented him in North Britain rs Journal
fst, employed on a Scotch newspaper. An
unfortunate love affair was the means Of
depriving him of this new OCCUPATION. He
was recognized, soon afterwards, serving
as assistant steward in one of the passen-
ger steamers vOyaging between Liverpool
and New York. Arrived in this last city,
he obtained notOrietv, of no very respecta-
BILE kind, as medium claiming powers
OF supernatural communication with the
world of spirits. When the imposture
money by his unworthy appeal to the
meanly prosaic superstition of modern
times. A long interval had then elapsed,
and nothing had been heard of him, when
starving man was discovered by trav'
eler, lost on Western prairie. The ill
fated Irish lord had associated himself
with an Indian tribe-had committed
some offence against their laws-and had
been deliberately deserted and left to die.
On his recovery he wrote to his elder
brother (who had inherited the title and
estates on the death of the old EarD to say
that he was ashamed of the life that he
had led, and eager to make amendment
by accepting any honest employment that
could be offered to him. The traveller
who had saved his life and whose opinion
was to be trusted, declared that the letter
represented sincerely penitent state of
mind. There were good qualities in the
vagabond, which only wanted a little
merciful encouragement to assert them
selves The reply that he received from
England came from the lawyers employed
by the new Earl. They had arranged
with their agents in New York to paw to
the younger brother legacy of a thous-
and pounds, which represented all that
had been left to him by his fathers will
Ii he wrote again. his letters would not
be answered; his brother had done with
him. Treated in this inhuman manner,
the wild lord became once more worthy of
man at races and trOtting-matches. For
tune favored him at the outset, and he
considerably Increased his legacy With
the customary lnfatuatlon of men who
gain money by risking the loss of it, he
presumed on his good luck. One pecuni-
airy disaster followed another, and left
him literally penniless. He was found
again, in England, exhibiting an open
boat, in which he and his companion had
made one of those foolhardy voyages
across the Atlantic, which have now hap
PLY ceased to interest the public. To
friend who demonstrated with him. he
answered that he had reckoned on being
lost at sea, and on so committing a suicide
worthy of the desperate life that he had
led. The last accounts of him, after this,
were too vague and too contradictory to
be depended upon. At one time it was re-
ported that he had returned to the United
States. Not long afterwards, unaccount-
able paragraphs appeared in newspapers;
declaring, at one and the same time, that
he was living among bad company in
Paris, and that he was hiding disreputa-
bly, in an ill-famed quarter of the city of
Dublin, called THE Liberties In any
case, there was good reason to fear that
Irish-American desperadOes had entangled
the wild lord in the network of political
conspiracy.
The maid noticed change in the mis-
tress which surprised her, when she had
reached the end of the newspaper story.
OF Miss Henley's customary good spirits
not trace remained Few people Rhoda.
remember what they read as well as you
do" She said it kindly and sadly-and
she said no more.
There was reason for this
Now at one time, and now at another
Iris had heard of Lord Harry's faults and
faiIiDgS in fragments of family history
The complete record of his degraded life,
presented in an uninterrupted succession
of events, had now forced itself on her at
tention for the first time 1t naturally
shocked her. She felt, as she had never
felt before, how entirely right her father
had been in insisting on her resistance to
an attachment which was unworthy of
her. So far, but no Earth r, her conscience
yielded to its own conviction of what was
just. But the one unaSSailable vital force
in this world is the force of love. 1t may
submit to the hard necessities of life; it
may acknowledge the imperative claims
of duty; it may be silent under reproach
and submissive to privation-but, suffer
what it may, it is the master-paSsion still;
subject to no artificial influences, owning
no supremacy but the law of it's own be-
ing. Iris was above the reach of self-re-
proach, when her memory recalled the
daring action which had saved Lord Harry
at the milestone. Her better sense ac-
knowledged Hugh MouutjovS superiority
over the other man-but her heart her
perverse heart, remained true to its first
patient excuse. and went out alone. to
recover her compoSure in the farmhouse
garden.
The hours of the evening passed slowly.
There was a pack of cards in the house:
the women tried to amuSe themselves. and
failed. Anxiety about Arthur preyed on
the spirits of Miss Henley and Mrs. Lew
son. Even the maid, who had only seen
him during HIS last visit to London, said
Cd
His sweet temper, his handsome face, his
lively talk had made Arthur a favorite
everywhere. Mrs. LewSon had left her
comfortable English home to be his house.
keeper. when he tried his rash experiment
of farming in ireland. And, more won.
derful still, even wearisome Sir Giles be
came an agreeable person in his nephew's
company.
Iris set the example of retiring at an
early hour to her room.
There was something terrible in the pas
toral silence of the place 1t associated it
self mysteriously with her fears for Ar
thur; it suggested armed treachery on tip.
toe, taking its murderous stand in hiding:
the whistling passage of bullets through
the air; the piercing cry of man mortally
wounded; and that man. perhaps? Iris
shrank from her own horrid thought. A
momentary faintnesS overcame her; she
opened the window. As she put her head
out to breathe the cool night air. man
on horseback rode up to the house. Was
it Arthur? No; the light-colored groom's
livery that he wore was just visible
Before he could diSmount to knock al
the door, tall man walked up to him out
of the darkness.
SIS that Miles." the tall man asked.
The groom knew the voice. Iris was
even better ACQUAINTED with it. She, too
hCOOS uIAcu I4uIu marry.
Y.
There was the Irish lord-at the very