Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-10-29

cream has been like those roses that
scatter their petals when we try to
pluck them
"Ah. some day you'll pluck rose
that will accommodate you by staying
on her STEM
Let us hope so,' smiled Gerald, with
a shrug. But you," he pursued,
shave you never thought OF marriage?'
sit seems to me that I'm always
| thinking of it and never performing it, !"
said Clyde, with little sigh and q
downward look at the nosegay that
| nearly always cleaned on the lapel Of
his coat. Then he glanced upward and
lifted both hands with mock despair.
''Ah, that matrimony" he murmured.
I'm ambitious. / want to get out Of
life all it will give me, but feel con-
WINGED the older grow that marriage
is the one state of being for which
should never find time. 1t would in
volve, so to speak, n cruel confusion in
the rest of my affairs, and would rum
my present splendid reputation for keep
ing them all duly labeled and pigeon
holed. No; it is true tina. / can crowd
many occupations into single day, but
marriage is precisely one egg too
many Tor my basket.
This ightsome speech Jared rpon
| Gerald. He gave an impatient frown,
which Clyde's quick eye saw, and ex-
planned: You think me flippant," he
| pursued, sat a time when you expected
me to show the greatest gravity {.
And you are wholly right"
81 expected you-at least I hoped to
| find you-aidful,' Gerald said, with a
sad kind of courtesy.
Command my aid, dear fellow"
''How shall act regarding this pa
per? You know how my brother treat
ed it-what a puritanic repulsion it
reused in hin?"
yes"
more than this, you know how he
has literally lost young and charming
| wife because of it. At least, her picture
seems to assure me that she was charm
ing" added Gerald, ''and certainly Syl-
vans desperate sense of loss would con-
firm this view"
Clyde shook his head as if in strong
doubt ''She may have been charming
enough. But to leave him like that.
1t strikes me as huge piece of non
sense. Still" he went on, there is no
accounting for certain sort of femi-
nine wildf.ess. 1t crops out IL our sis
ter sex with all the botanical caprice of
fungi. Now, in the matter of coun-
sci, accept from me this bit of dictum:
BY all means exploit your fathers idea,
and as thoroughly as you are able
"You mean, follow his instructions to
the letter?'
Yes"
"Your words are immensely well
GOMEZ exclaimed Gerald. Il feared
your encouragement. And upon my
word l should not have had the heart,
after receiving it, to fly in the face of our
nineteenth century skepticisms. Any
practical putting to proof of what the
manuscript enjoins, will require an out
lay of certain funds, and these, thanks
to DR.. Thorndyke's goodness, need not
trouble me. But it may also require
the help of a skillful, perhaps very &C
complished chemist. May seek your
influence in securing has services?"
''Emphatically ! should advise no
such course" declared Clyde.
s'What? You believe that I could
work alone?"
Ear better if you did. Get assist
ance, of course, but let it only be that
of servant to master"
''Ah, but if fail?''
s'Then you will fail without also in
curing ridicule. And that, to 4 man of
your youth and your aspirations, might
cause serious damage in the future.
Either this formula is a great coup in
the world of science, or it is the merest
nullity. If it be the first, you will win
all credit, Heaven knows, for having
rested your faith upon it; if the last,
you will escape the sneers of those who
rate all daring endeavor as Quixotism
till forced to do it homage as success"
Gerald took these words to heart. He
promptly prepared a laboratory, and
without hint to Sylvan concerning his
intentions, passed hours there each day.
His assistant was of DIR. Clyde's own Sc
lection, a young man, but fairly well ed
ucated, whose technical knowledge just
suited the services for which he was
needed and in whom no suspicion of the
task which his employer had set him
self ever might be feared to rise.
An absorbing task Gerald soon found
it, and one that often had upon him the
effect of a gloomful, overhanging sky
in which burns n single star. Hope
was that star, and soon its Frightening
orb seemed to throb with the pulsations
of its Watchers delighted heart. Learn
ing from DIR. Thorndyke that the latter
had been FRUSTRATED in Chicago by a
rheumatic seizure more painful than
serious, he felt a thrill of actual terror
at the chance of being forced to quit
New York. Then, with an immense
relief, he read further on in the letter
of his benefactor certain other comfort
ing words. do not dream of hurrying
on here wrote Thorndybe. Il should
simply be nuisance to you as yet. Re-
main in New York and enjoy yourself.
When | am better / will send for you
and we can talk over your future with
leisurely phrases. / am distressed to
hear of Sylvan's continued illness-or
rather what you call, even more SOM
berly. his relapse" This relapse af-
forded Gerald his sole excuse for not
joining DR.. Thorndyke in Chicago. AS
it was, he felt conscience-twinges at his
his own satisfaction Surely this whole
business of 1.-The elixir was making him
grossly selfish. He found it hard work
to sympathize properly with his stricken
brother-either in speech or in spirit, and
Sylvan's plants, to-day more and to-
morrow less dolorous, began oddly to
affect his strained and anxious nerves.
What, after all, to him was this Lucia,
this recurring and unceasing Lucia,
who had chosen to shro,d herself in