The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1892-05-27
ASTORY OF BLOOD.
CHAPTER n.-coNTINUED.
Br n. Z. BRADDox.

CHAEIEh Lls-OONllNOEDs
Captain o'Hara and his wife were not UNI
happy, h spite Of their precarlous fortunes,
It was summer, and the scent Of the lime
bIOssom was in the air Of the park and the
houlevaTdS; the lAmpllt streets and cafes
WeCe FULL of brightness and music In the
Aalmy eventides Of July. The young wife
was looking forward trembllngly, yet hope
Gully, to tho cares and Joys Of maternity.
The dark-eyed stepdaughter adored her.
Too young TO remember her own mother,
who had died in Bengal, where the girl was
born, the child ldolised the Captains fair
haired wife, and was fOndly loved by her In
Eaemn. Never was there happier family
group than these three, and when the ex-
HActed baby should come, 1t was to be boy,
ThO Captain declared In the pride OF his
heart; o son and helr-helrt to empty pockets,
wasted opportunities, bankruptcy, and gaol.
he was plning for son to perpetuate thu
noble race Of 0'Hara. The baby was to be
ehHiStened Patrick, after some famous Pat
rick 0'Hara OF days gone by, the age OF war
and chlyalry, and poetry and pride, when
ireland had not yet yielded her sweetness
% the proud invader.
Alas for the unborn child on whom such
hopes had been founded, such dreams had
been dreamt! The fatal day OF birth came,
and the child was girl; and before the
Waillng infant was six days old the young
fair mother, with the ripping golden hair
and innocent blue eyes, was lying in her
@afiln strewn with white lilies and roses,
@nd all the purest flowers Of summer-tlde.
The brave young heart, which had never
fiinched or faltered at poverty or trouble,
was stilled for ever. The wife who had
been content to bear Fate's worst Ills with
EiSo husband Of her choice was gone to the
ahadOwy home where his love could not fol-
low her.
Captain 0'Hara never looked the world
UrhlS difficulties bravely in the face after
that day, He lived to see Kathleen nlovely
girl Of five years old, but he was a broken
imam from the day Of his wifes death. He
HGamed from foreign town to town, living
anywhere for convenience or cheapness.
He spent six months at Brest, year in
Jersey, the two girls with him everywhere,
nuTsed and cared for by Bridget Ryan, the
faithful Irish maid-servant who had taken
Rose from the arms Of her Indian ayah, and
had followed the Captains fortunes ever
lGIuce. lie led wretched out-at-elbows life,
getting little money by hook or by crook,
and leaving little train Of debts behind
him, like the trail Of the serpent, in every
euwn he left.
In Jersey, where cognac was convent emit
tY cheap, the Captain took to drinking q
good deal-not In dreadful drinking bouts,
which would have frightened his poor chill
tlxsn out Of their senses, but In gentle
homeopathic sort Of sottlshness which kept
hts brain in a feeble state all day long, and
gradually Slapped his strength and his
manhood. While the Captain was dawdling
1wAy his day-strolllng down to the tavern
ar the club, lounglng on tho eSplanade, gos-
slipping with the goers and corners, meeting
aiid acquaintance, and sometimes getting an
Gnvitatlon to dinner, with a cigarette always
lhetweep his llps-the two children, of
whom the elder was not eleven and the
younger only four, used to play together all
day upon the golden sands In front of their
shabby lodgings, while tho Irish nurse Cos
slipped with the landady, or sat In the sun
darning and patching the chlldren's we'll
worn frocks or the Captains deCaylng
GhlEts.
The two girls we're happy in those sunny
-Gnmmer days by the sea, In spite Of their
tloW lodgings and scanty fare. Fruit was
cheap, and flowers were abundant every
where, and there was no stint Of bread and
'hutter, and milk and eggs. The children
wanted nothing better. But 1t was dis
imal change for them when their father car
.rled them back to Belgium, and established
rN6eIn In stony street in Bruges, where the
peaked roofs Of the opposite houses seemed
10 ahnt out the sun, and where, instead Of
The sweet odors of sea and seaweed, there
was an everlasting stencil Of dried fish and
GsWage.
=, II was winter by this time, and 1t seemed
10 Be the winter Of their lives. Kathleen
cHied for the sea and the flowers Of sunny
Jersey. She could hardly be made to UNI
derstand that summer was only happy In
tervapin the year. and that flowers do not
4 grow in the stony streets Of city. The days
LSn Bruges were cold and dismal, tho even
lngs long and gloomy. II 1t had not been
for Blddy Ryan the poor children might
have pined to death In their solitude. Cap
tain O'Hara was never at homo in the even
ang, rarely at home in the afternoon, and no
never left his bed till the carlton at the
cathedral had played that lovely melody OF
Beethoven's, Hope told q flatterlng tale
wAlch the bells rang out every day at noon
eide. The Captain found the cafe indis-
Pensable to his comfort, the pettLUerTc dab
otrlthe suisse necessity Of his being, q
game at dOminoes or draughts the only dis
traction for the canker at his heart; thus
the children, whom he loved fondly enough
after his manner, were dependent on Biddy
Ryan for happiness; and the faithful soul
I'D her utmost to cheer and amuse them In
their loneliness. She told them her fairy
stories, the legends Of her native Kerry; she
described the green hills and purple noun
aAlAs, the lakes, the glens and gerges, the
ISLANDS and groves and abbeys, of that ro-
Smantlc country; until Rose, who had seen
Out little of the grandeur and glory Of earth
10nged with passionate longing for thai
land Of lake and mountain, which was II
gOmewlse her own land, inasmuch as hel
,father had been born and bred within few
miles Of Killarney.
Auu yoh uOth ~ tholo oVuio W"Jl hl
dArllnts," said tender-hearted Blddy, "anC
lvs ladies yen be, and never poor dayye'l
know in ould Ireland; for by the Lord
grace the Captains rich cousins may oil dlu
Oh like ratten sheep, and his honor ma,
como in for the estatep There's Quare
things have happened than that in IN,
knowledge, and sure It's great hunters the
gentleman are, and may ride homo will
broken necks any day."
Rose said she hoped her cousins woul,
not die; but she wished they would ask he