Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-02-27
light BY AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION. Iss2

| - /E& .'if
81 hope y0u don't bear me any grudgc for
Duying the old place"
A rumor had gone abroad in the
neighborhood to the effect that the new
owner of two-thirds of the old Beverley
estate was a very wealthy man. 1t orig
mated with the lawyer. who. to be eau
tious and we'll within the limits of prob
ability, estimated his clients worth at
fifty thousand dollars. 1t did not stop
at that, of course, for every one told it
and added on ten thousand more at least
for the credit of the story. They never
grasped the actual sum. because as yet
the arithmetic of the south stops a good
way short of millions. but they speedily
made out enough to know that they had
among them a rara avis in the shape of
man with a great deal of money.
At first they talked about it among
themselves, and rolled the thousands
over in their minds and mouths to get
accustomed to the taste of the gold.
Then they began to call and to invite
him to their houses, for the aroma of
wealth is pleasant to the nostrils of
| Puritans and Cavaliers alike, and they
took to calling his plantation Lower
! Repton,' to distinguish it from Repton
proper, which was still attached to the
Beverley name, and the overseer's house
they called 1.-The cottage"
| Anthony was not without a sense of
humor, ana he enjoyed some quiet
chuckles over the turns of fortune. He
valued his money and he valued himself
both more highly than either deserved
but he valued other things also. He
liked to fee himself welcome and well
received among the gentry that had al
ways seemed to him the flower of the
earth, because of its exclusiveness, its
traditions AID the position of his own
class IN regard to it. He made no effu-
sive response to their kindly advances,
but he was gratifed by them; neither
did he haunt their houses. because of a
subtle consciousness of difference. which
oppressed him most in intercourse with
ladies, a shyness that had never afflicted
him in the society of women of a lower
grade. Still, the knowledge that he
could ming with cultured and courte-
Gus women IN terms of outward equaI-
, ity at least was fiattering to his self love.
With men this feeling rarely troubled
him, for in his nomadic life he had been
thrown into intimate association with
all grades, from gentlemen to ''greas-
ers." and possessed to the full his share
of American adaptability. He was
clever and Dbservant, and shades of
coarseness IN men are rarely conspicu-
| W IN, h.r Il
one another.
His sturdy self respect prevented any
approach to snobbishness; and if in his
soul he considered sense. or s.smartness."
as he called it, and ability in money get
ting fair equivalent for birth. and the
bouquet of wealth as fine as that of old
time gentility, he refrained from overt
expression OF his views, and did not
swagger to any offensive extent.
His appearance was also in his favor,
for he was a handsome man, in the flesh
and blood style or she athlete who
bounds into the ring ->lth a triple somer-
sault and rides four horses abreast, and
from the high esteem in which man
ners" are he'd among the common peo-
pie of the south, Ned Anthony's could
pass muster tolerably we'll. They lacked
grace and suavity, certainly, but the
want was not more conspicuous in him
than it is IL many men far better ac-
credited.
On his return from his initial call on
the new arrival, old Judge Wilmer sum
med him up % his wife with pith and
perspicuity:
Hes some thing of gentleman, my
dear, but not quite so. In the new
school. suppose, he would stand rather
above the middle of the class, but in the
! old he would grade lower. There's good
metal in him. but a wonderful deal of
alloy mixed N. Among men he is a
shrewd, intelligent and rather agreea-
BILE fellow. quick and clever in CONVERSE
ton on all practical subjects (Which are
the only sort likely to be preached with
HIM. and not aggressively braggy. con
sidering that he can fill up the bushel
measure and shake it, while none of his
neighbors can conveniently even up the
quart. but | think that when You ladies
come to try MIN ON you'll find him &
misfit in goo1 many places.
Mrs. Wilmer, picturesque old lady
with soft faded hands on which Were
quaint old red gold rings that had beer
in her family many generations, looked
up from her knitting with a smile OF
large indulgence on her sweet old face.
He is a western man, you know" she
said; ''and that is the reason perhap:
that he appear somewhat different from
us old fashioned folks who have lived il
one spot all ou lives and carried on the
old traditions. The new era is inaugu
} rated now, my dear, and they say the
changes are fun damental. We old fogy
ISL naOnla uho are tOn settled for rlrn