Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-12-08
:BY>CHRlSTlHNs REID.


 Vaguely he thought of the great mines of the west, but if the desert hills of Ne vada held any more Comstock lodes he knew that they were not for men of moderate fortune. And then came the recollection of days that he had spent as a boy with an uncle in western Louisiana, of visits to Texas, of the old Spanish town of San Antonio and of stories told there oS Mexican bonanzas-of ranges of mountains rich in silver ore; of flooded mines where the water had grown too strong for the primitive native methods of draining, and men had stood by and watched with tears the great veins, shin ing with native silver, hidden from their sight; of mines only a hundred or two feet deep that had already yielded mil lions and were to be purchased for little or nothing in consequence of the refrac- tory character of the deeper ores. All of these stories, with many of the TO- mantle histories connected with famous Mexican mines, the boy had drunk in and looked wistfully toward the southern border, where lay that wonderful land which had already yielded wealth greater than that of the Indies and which now awaited a new race of fconquistadores men armed with the mechanical in ventions of the Nineteenth century-to wrest it's still hidden treasures from the grasp of nature.
 When the memory of these things came to him, he said, II will go to Mex ico." And this resolution was confirmed by the fact that he had acquired, through sheer love of nature, one branch of scientific knowledge which would prove of value to him there. From his school days he had liked geology, studied it with interest, and become almost un- consciously good mineralogist. He had never been near mine without examin- ing it; and tour through the west had derived its chief interest for him from this source. The idea of utilizing the knowledge so acquired had never occur red to him until the present time, but now he felt sure that he would not need the services of any expert to determine the value of mineral property; he was certain that he would know good mine when he saw it. And unless things have changed very much" he thought, many good mines are to be had for moderate prices in the obscure districts of Mexico. It is there will go." He told no one of his intention. In the 1 first place, he could tell no one of the reason for it-that was a secret he was | determined not to share with any human being-and, secondly, he was well aware how visionary and wild such scheme would appear to either his own or his fathers friends, who knew him only as a young man of fortune, totally without business training and unsuspected of eoin E,,l 1nlr lA T must be done without counsel and with out help. And here the latent strength of his character showed itself. He de- cided and acted promptly. He would go | to Mexico; he would look for investments out of which money might immediately and rapidly be made, and in this specu- | lation-which meant financial life or death to him-he would risk twenty thousand dollars. The amount was fixed by the sum which he found he could at once and without trouble obtain by the sale of certain highly marketable securi- | ties. If the money was lost, he could by his own exertions hope to replace at least as much as that, but if fortune favored him, he might make it the means of re- trieving the great loss already incurred. At all events, he would try what could be done before letting the world know that his father had proved faithless to his trust.
 That it was not deliberate faithless- ness-certainly not an intent to defraud would not mend the matter either in the eyes of the world or in those of the persons immediately concerned. The fortune that had been used for specula- tive purposes and so greatly impaired was that of a young girl, dlstantly con nected with his mother, whose large in heritance had been placed in his fathers hands with absolute confidence by her fathers will. She was now nineteen; in two years an account of this inheritance must be given. On his fathers death Derwent had assumed the guardianship and bound himself to make this account, before he discovered the grim fact that was later to overwhelm him. He re. membered then some words uttered by the dying man when he understood that the end of all things earthly was at hand for him. ''Sibyl!" he had said drawing down his sons face to his own paling ips-"Sibyl!-you will find-it was all { mistake-but you can make it right Remember" a grasp that was O. the dying hand!-"you can make i right"
 Derwent understood then what wa meant, and he understood it with fresl force when he discovered the truth. H, had long known that his father wished
 him to marry the pretty orphan heires
 whom his mother already loved as daughter. It was probably because tn r marriage was so desirable that he, witt 9 the contrarity inherent in human nature
 had never felt himself drawn toward tn
 idea, although he thought it likely tha in the course of time prorinquity ant
 the family wishes, not to speak of Mis-
 Lenox's own charms, would inall,
 bring such an end about. B 1t now, witt
 the revelation of his father, meaning . marry the girl and she need neve
 know that have lost her fortune"-h
 felt his whole nature rise up in passion
 ate protest. He said to himself that i