Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-07-12

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@sMllACE.

'RY LIFT. ksMALLAcEy
, nano had been bestowed on all ol
the Trents' eldest sons from time imme.
morial) was the prospective inherItol
81 hundreds of acres of rich river low.
c,oun5s and hill and meadow fields. The
var changed the fortunes of tho Trents, az
II did many other Virginia families. and
yhen lack came Of age he was heir TO no:
thing except the house at Trents Hill and
Tho few acres Immediately surrounding II.
lie had received his education through the
kindness of maternal uncle. and it was
unon his return from Europe that his
troubles began. The misfortunes, wnich
had been thickening about the family SINCE
Federal bullet ended his fathers IRE ~
tbe Wilderness had eliminated. and even
the house at Trent's Hill was about 10 pc
taken from his mother and himself.
With tho energy that. as everybody
who knew the family said. was SO
Characteristic Of the Trents, he went
"a work. Some fortune guided his
footsteps TO the metropolitan world that
crowds the bag of New Yor k. and here he
shaved rs only reporters slave, for some
unrecorded weekly stipend. Energy. when
coupled with brains, Is sure card TO sue
cess, and Trents progress was both sure sure
and steady. Five years of toll removed
him from the rcportorial rooms to the
special writer's study and at last be came
back 10 Chesterfcld-not rich but out OF
debt. Here he was at home again. free to
live the life of plain country gentleman
at ease and at peace.
Perhaps some men would have gone on
working, and would have made themselves
rich. but Trent was wiser. he wanted
neither wealth nor fame, he wanted only
happiness, and thought he knew where to
find it.
And 80, in the spring Of the year of our
lord 1881, he sat at his own coy tea-table,
with his mother opposite TO him, and gave
thanks TO the Deity in his simple fashion.
CHAPTER III.
The porch on that side of the old house
which looked upon the river had come to
be regarded as the peculiar property OF
Jack SINCE his return to Chesterfield. IL
was q delightful lounging place-wide,
roomy. and shaded from the sun by masses
of Virginia creeper-and the young man,
with pardouable selfshness. had appro-
priated il to his own use. 1t was his habit
10 spend there a considerable portion of
the morning hours, reading or writing or
building some new air-castle, and. as a
matter of course. smoking the brown and
somewhat battered meerschamm which
had been his constant companion Tor the
past eight OF nine years.
The morning after bis long communion
with the past he had departed from his
usual routine and was renewing his &C.
quaintance with the old piano which stood
10 the library near a window opening into
his favorite porch. A listener might not
have been enchanted with his playing-it
was far from being Grtistc-but then, as
the young gentleman was playing simply
for his own pleasure, that would not have
mattered much to him. He did not bother
his fingers with technique; he knew that he
had q soft, firm touch, which was all sufii-
cient for his purposes. and he drlfted
almost insensibly through the. gamut OF
German song lore-now bit OF Won Weber,
now one Of Abt's lieier, now q phrase or
two of Beethoven. He was simply playing
that he might hear himself play, which IS
tolerably pleasant pastime, even for O
modest man.
He was reused presently from his play
ING by the voice of his mother. who spoke
to him through the open window. The
middle-aged woman who stood there in the
porch was prototype of her son; the same
air of thoughtfulness and repose that was
characteristic of Trent was cast upon the
face of his mother-it was strange they got
on so well together since they were so
much alike.
She was looking, with much motherlv
admiration, at her son. and was telling him
q long story that he only half heard. He
was dimly conscious that some new neigh
Dor had come TO dwell near them, that said
neiehbor was young and pretty. and that
said neighbor was q girl, but as he hardly
more than half awakened from Beethoven,
the details of the story made but little i'm
preston on his mind. But one thing did
he catch positively and that was that the
new neighbor was domiciled with the Han
cocks, who lived near by, and that she
would be over TO lunch. =" Is 1T because
am in the way, mother that you tell me
this 2" said Trent. smiling. III so, I'll get
out"
"Oh, no." said Mrs. Trent quite the
contrary. l want you to meet Madge !;
she's such nice girl. and I'm sure you'll
ike her ever so much. To tell you the
truth, Jack, l asked her to come over,
chiefly on your account
"Then I'm in for it," said Jack, laugh
ing outright at his mothers confession,
land III proceed to play the agreeable
Sir Charles to Miss Whats-her name"
~ hope Bob Hancock won't come with
her." said Mrs. Trent, with reflective
sigh.
~ never did like that fellow"
But Bob Hancock did come with her,
for when, half hour later. Jack came out
of the hall door, he saw the hurley figure
of his pet aversion beside his mother. and
young woman, who was, he supposed,
the newcomer"
This is my son. Madge-Miss Willis,
Jack" said Mrs. Trent, simply, as Jack
came towards them.
-. Il evtn Ia1 hnr An,
to him, and Jack, looking at her. felt that
his face was reddening with a blush that,
however much he might have wished it,
he could not conceal, Cor no saw before
him the face of his dreams. He was con-
scious of bending over her hand, with old
fashioned courtesy, and of murmuring
some commonplace, but he fancied that
he was as awkward as a school-boy. He
thought that she looked at him timidly
and confdingly, not without confusion,
as If she, too. was conscious OF the other
meeting-but this was probably only fancy.
How the next half hour passed. Trent
could not have told any one, but if the i'm
pressions of Miss Madge Willis could have
been recorded. they would probably have
said that Mr.. Jack Trent was an unusually
charming companion. That he was an IN
usually charming companion was perfectly
true--in fact, he was q delightful talker,
and had certain fascinating grace Of
manner that, in his reportorial days, had
made him o wonderfully successful "in-
tervIewer and Miss Willis thought that
thirty minutes had never gone by so quick
ly for her.
Mr. Bob Hancock. on the other hand,
thought that the thirty minutes were very
long, and so little did he conceal his i'm
patience that Mrs. Trent made sundry
mental remarks that were scarcely CON-
plimentary to him. That Mr.. Hancock
was much put out was plain to see-sO
greatly put out, indeed, that he did not
fully recover his customary good humor
when the conversation which had put him
out was over. 1t would have taken half
dozen ill-tempered men. however, to have
overcome the geniality of a group in which
Jack Trent was the master spirit. and MIR.
Hancock was evidently mistaken when he
observed to Miss Willis later in the after
noon that they" had had q very dull
time--at least Miss Willis thought so.
That was, indeed, a pleasant day for at
least three of the party. Jack was in high
spirits and assumed gayety that aston
ished his mother, who had never before
seen him in a mood like this. Miss Willis.
too, was positively and thoroughly charm
ing, Mrs. Trent thought, and these two
young people seemed to be enjoying them
eaiyae varx uuch Altooathar IL xroe a vad