The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-04-03
CHAPTER XVIII

memory CROPPED In vain.
CHAPTER XVIII.
II all the hobbies Sir Eustace had ridden
in his time had been turned by fairy agency
into horses of flesh and blood, it would have
taken half the stables of the county to &C.
| commodate them. Whilst the fit lasted he
! rode his hobby nard, but until now his
| whims had been Of singularly short dura-
| ton. But since the arrival Of Mons Dom
he seemed to have found a wonderfully
steadfast mind. In the matter of grape
culture, his will flowed right on from his
Propontic to the Hellespont, and knew no
ebb.
Mons. Dom was spurred BY the enthusi-
asm Of his employer. Sir Eustace found
new fires in the contemplation of the ardor
| OF Mons. Dom, and the rivalry between
| Worcestershire and Essex lent its own
| separate impetus so that at Upnor Hall the
| good people may be said TO have lived in an
atmosphere Of grape.
Andre Dom more than justified his en-
| ployer's hopes Of him. He had the finest
stocks In the world to work upon, and he
! produced something very like the finest DOS
| sible result from them. All this, of course.
was not done In day, or even In a year,
| but we are now at a point in the story
| where events slumber, and where for a oon-
| siderable space Of time there are no facts
worth chrouicling. 1t is strange, it is even
appalling to notice on what slight and dis
tant accidents the fate of any one of us de-
| ponds. On the mere face of things there
were few circumstances in the world less
| likely to shake the soul OF a murderer from
dream OF security than Sir Eustace's
harmless hobby Of grape-growing, and it
was yet that which led to the most terrible
shock the guilty soul Of John Hetheridge
had known.
Sir Eustace had accepted his sisters chal-
lenge du grand Serieltr, and the lady found
little difficulty in inspiring her husband
with an equal determination. Mr.. Wey-
bride was, in matters OF legitimate business
far more occupied than Sir Eustace. He
directed affairs OF some magnitude in Lon
don, and was man of boards and councils
but whatever time he could afford from his
numerous employments he gave to viticult-
| ure. Mr.. eybridge was an Englishmau g,
| and would not quail before a wilderness OF
| French experts In the art
The rules Of the county shows forbade
| competition from without the county bord-
ers, but exhibits not INTENDED TO win prizes
we're welcome alike from Upnor and from
Wellsted. In the 6rst duel at either place
matters were supposed to be pretty fairly
equal, Mr.. Weybridge beat all Essex, and
Sir EustAoe carried every thing before him
in Worcestershire. There was hardly a min
Ia
neighbors adjudged each Of the rivals TO
have gained the ne plus ultra.
At the next contest Sir Eustace won
clearly and definitely. Even his sister con-
fessed IL.
There neves were such grapes seen :" she
said, mournfully TO her husband. ''Eus-
tace has beaten us. John; we had better re-
tire"
NO" Weybrldge declared, sturdily. II
fight for the honor of old Essex. That
Frenchman knows his business he added
somewhat grudgingly, "but I'll be even
| with him yet"
The Weybridge household was smitten
| with astonishment TO learn that Mons Dom
had not even thought them worthy Of his
best. DE had beaten them, 30 to speak,
with his second-string horse, and had sent
the stable fayorite to the Crystal Palace.
Mrs. Weybridge read with dismay that Sir
| Eustace had gained first and second prizes
in the great national show. At this, indeed
she was feign to retire from further DOM
bat, but her enthusiasm Of an earlier day
had fired her husband, and he was not easily
TO be extingulshed. This Is the way with
| the ladies. With their quick-burning intel
ligence they fire the slower male to purpose
| and long after their own flame has expired
| the GOALS they have kfndled burn on. View
bridge nailed his colors to the mast. He
would fight on for the honor OF old Essex
He made costly alterations in his wineries
He employed all the latest improvements II
respect to heating apparatus. He bought
every book about vine culture that be
could hear Of, and he spent his spare evea.
! ings in their study. He held hour long CON.
situations with his head gardener, who wal
Scotchman and pragmatical and believed
that he knew more in mis- own person about
almost anything than 1t was in the power OIL
| the province Of the world to teach him, He
rasiQfad oil .
slow, deliberate, Scottish argument, out or
| the sly adopted such of them as commended
| themselves TO his reason. There is kind o.
| Sootchman who disputes by organic ar
rangement, and whose argumentative sid,
holds no commerce with conviction. Ht
leaps at once to demonstrate anything tht
| contrary of which has already been demon
strated. Ii nothing were left to contradict
this particular breed of Scot would perish
but his contradictions are instructive auc
not reasoned, SO that even when black ha:
triumphantly been established as white il
argument, the Scotian irritator can still
deal with it as being black for all practica
purposes. And thus McBain, having proved
TO the hIlt that novel practice suggested
by his employer was and must be deleteri
GUS, yet found his conscience allow him tc
test 1t, and finding it to be exactly what ht
had argued 1t was not, permitted himself Il
retain his old opinions.
The battle ragged daily and weekly. aud il
is probable that from the days of Noal
downward the grape has not been so mucl
in dispute In spite of everything Si
Eustace won In the next competition, anC
continued to win until on the expiration o
half dozen years he was stated with tri
umph, and sought a new field for enterpr is
in the growth Of orchids Mrs. Weybridge
finding her husbands soul set on victory
and finding victory further away from hin
year by year. had been disposed to brib
Dom from his allegiance. II any but bel
brother had been her husbands rival, sh
would actually have esssyed this task, bu
the certainty of Sir Eustace's bitter dis
pleasure taught her to play fair. But wher
on one of her annual visits she found 81
Eustace cooling she besought him TO trans
fer Dom's services to Wellsted The barone
had triumphed often enough to be tired o
triumph, and that the challenger Of half
dozen years should now sue for the weapon
by means Of which she had been heater
made Victory so complete that there wa
nothing more to be asked for.
II fancy" lie said, smiling like a con
queror who is willing to he gracious. "tha