Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-11-08
Glow FrstPu
OIL l. A r &C r A G. Y:
An American Story.
BY a NEW HAND.
without the help of those who might tinct

ure it with the poison of condescension.
This mental stand made his life in Lon
don very real exile to Blarnaby. He took
his wife around the fascinating town, she
no less, perhaps even better, able than he
to appreciate the lessons the old streets
teach. They re-lived the lives of the thous-
and brave souls who had pilgrimed up to
London shrine in search of fame, perhaps
of fortune, or of competence, or, failing
these, of crust and remembrance when
the release comes.
What but the emotions Of an exile could a
man like Blarnaby feel when, in the dusk,
they would wander through streets all gay
with festivities that once he joined in2
''This is the home of Lord Lovelace, my
dear, whose honored guest l was when 1
came over six years ago. That Is the win
dow of the dining room where met some of
the foremost men of England, and they
made me an equal. And now! Now l am
here-OutSide!"
''Yes-but not alone!''
"Godibless you! my darling. Inever knew
what friendship was until you turned lifes
purgatory into paradise!"
Yes, we know it now. Would to God
we had been wiser years agor'
And in the fearful silence that succeeded
these frequent wellings up of mutual love,
too long suppressed, they keenly realized
afresh the soreness of lifelong blunder
and the bitter penance of their self-punish-
ment.
OF course they had to earn their liveli-
hood. Blarnaby had faced that squarely
from the first. For himself, he had no
great prospect of success if it had been de-
pended upon his own unaided efforts. He
would have been obliged to do one of two
things; either take a common clerkship
somewhere and live the best he could ON
the salary, or apply to some of his moneyeG
90 rlayy nfa fnr fol tn tnrf HI
some business. He could not have brought
himself to do either. Then what had he in
mind2
Matrimony in young folks eyes is all
honey and moonshine, at least for time.
They are quite confident they can live on
both, or either, or we may spell it without
the 81" Maturer people give the bargain
matter-of-fact turn before they seal it.
To the practical genius of Mrs. Shicksper,
now Mrs. Blarnaby, was the notion due
which babe fair to smoothe their path in
the new world. They had talked matters
over fully and wisely. There was no dover
of dollars in Blarnaby's wife's pocketbook,
but a store of strong common sense was in
her clever head, and it proved an all-suffi-
Gent capital for their joint enterprise.
Mrs. Shicksper, as we have seen, was
well experienced in journalism. She had
long been acknowledged as the smartest
There was scarcely a department of news
paper work with which she was not ia
miliar, and everything she wrote had the
mint-mark of her own bright and CHEEKY
individuality. Unknown to her husband,
wishing to give him welcome surprise
when they reached London, she had ar
ranged with several papers of high stand
ing to send them a series of London letters,
relying on her husbands wide knowledge of
men and affairs to give Ler work a quality SUI
perior to tine average fiimSy twaddle which
at that time passed for intelligent English
correspondence.
Imagine Blarnaby's delight when his wife
told him of an assured income, even if not
very imposing. from her PEN Then try to
grander edifice upon the good foundation
she had laid.
His new scheme was unlike the Wyom-
ing scheme in these important points: 1t
was practicable at once, filled a public
want and was sure to succeed.
After repeated sittings in committee of
the whole house, the quorum being two, it
was unanimously decided to establish THE
Press News Exchange"
Objects: To furnish authentic, honest and
well-written correspondence to the leading
Of both countries for the infor-
nation of readers on both sides the Allan
tic, and to place the London Office, with its
facilities for giving information and re-
ceiving communications. at the Sc vice of
Americans on tour. Temporal Office,
Johnson's Court, Fleet street.
The venture required but little outlay.
The scheme was shrewdly planned, the
correspondence was the best that had ever
been received by the papers, the guiding
of Blarnaby showed in ever
line of it, and the thing was a triumphant
success from the start. Tourists, politi-
~, 1yn1+ 80 h., x,,L,
glad to avail themselves of its facilities
and make new acquaintances. Within
three months they had to lease suite of
handsome rooms near Trafalgar square for
the accommodation of their faSt-increaslng
patrons. By-and-by the bureau undertook
literary work, in compliance with the urg-
ings of editors who We're weary of some
ruined the market The Office laid on its
novelists, explorerers, scientists, poets and
parsons just as it had laid
on Its water and its gas.
Ali this achieved in half year!
Now was Blarnaby's old prosperity re-
turning2 No; he was enjoying the smiles
of a new good angel. No such heart happi-
ness had he ever known in the old days as
now. Then it was the miser-chuckle over
money swept into the cash-box-a sordid
joy, a legitimate cause of comfortableness,
pride, thoughtfulness, yes, but never of
happiness. 1t belongs to another plane.
There was, too, the never-absent dread of
sudden loss of sudden gains. The element
of speculation, chance, is fatal to mans
true peace, and where peace is not, happi-
ness can never come. Now, there was no
fear of what to-morrow's
tapes might drag out from the mystery
machine on the Wall street sphinx. The
was now Independent of ordinary
ups and downs; it was able to go of itself;
and better still, it was fulfilling mission
dear to the heart of the true patriot-states-
man of any country, helping to bring the
peoples of the mother and daughter-lands
into closer sympathy with each other by
truth-telling and humbug-exposing news
paper correspondence. This was the crown
ing solace to Blarnaby's heart for the panes
of his exile.
The exchange was a little fortune in
itself, as we see; but it brought other ben
efits in its train. Blarnaby was much
sought after by the great financiers of the
In his present positition he COM
manded so much of the precious knowledge
Of European finance, which is power indeed,
that he was confdeutially Entrusted with
much secret information by the magnates
Of the money markets of London, Paris,
and other capitals. This they
did, knowing the status he had held, and
even still held, among his couutrymen,
whose gold they wished to allure in their
direction through Blarnaby's influence.
This means that he possessed the where
withal to greatly multiply his own pos
sessions, and Blarnaby was never one Of