San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-03-17


ers?' she questioned. 81 seem to re-
member a quantity of towheaded chill
dren across the ravine."
"They were all killed during the war;
replied the judge cheerfully, land a
mighty good thing for this fellow too.
They were a worthless set, and would
have hampered him. He need not be
ashamed of them now, however, for they
all died well, with their faces to the foe,
as brave men should. That is the soil
tary good feature of war; it can burn
away refuse creditably."
81 wonder why he never told us that
he belonged to the neighborhoodY' unused
Mrs. Wilmer. 81 think he should have.
1t doesn't seem altogether fair"
"Nobody ever asked him any ques-
tons that ever heard Of" replied the
Judge. "A man isn't obliged to go
around with personal history pinned
to his back. You wouldn't expect it of
one of us if we returned to place after
twenty years absence and found none
Of our belongings about. The man
didn't change his name, or make big
mystery of himself, and he hasn't
thrust himself upon us. can't see that
he has done anything amiss in keeping
his mouth shut about his own affairs.
If he had become intimate in any of our
houses it would have been different; but
he hasn't been intimate anywhere ex-
cept at the Beverleys', and it seems that
he did tell Mary"
"Cornelia is terribly afraid that Mary
will marry him" observed Mrs. Wilmer.
81 was over at Repton the evening
before she left, and she was in miser-
able stew over it. There had been a
scene of some kind that morning about
him. Cornelia wanted him forbidden
the house on account of his birth and
Mary refused to do it. Cornelia was
leaving for that reason. She said that
Mary had insulted her."
MARY is a wonderful woman not to
insult her every day she lives. Cornelia
Beverley is enough to make saint caper
and blaspheme," the judge said GROSSLY.
"Ned Anthony is good enough fellow,
but he isn't the sort Of man to captivate
a woman like Mary Beverley if she is
left to herself. If that is ever a match
and |, for one, would be sorry to see
it in spite of his money-it will be of
Cornelia's making"
"How so, my dear?"
ANNA, how can you ask so stupid a
question. and you a .woman?" reproved
her husband. why, by attacking him
unjustly for things he can't alter and is
not accountable for, in season and out,
and forcing her to espouse his cause and
make herself his champion. There's a
lot of impulsive, generous South Caro-
lima blood in Mary, and if she thinks a
thing unjustly oppressed she'll rally to
it without single glance at the ulti-
mate cost. If she ends in Anthony's
arms it will be Cornelia's doing"
81 wish the man had been born gen.
tleman," remarked the old lady regret
fully.
Her husband laughed. "a gentleman
makes himself" quoth he sententiously;
"he isn't made by his forbears. Many
an arrant snob and rascal has pedigree
as long as my arm. Race is a mighty
good thing, my dear, in men as well as
in horses; it helps powerfully in the
start, but there are other things that tell
at the finish. Old Anthony had some
traits which, if he transmitted them to
his son, won't disgrace any stock that
they are grated on. He was poor and
ignorant, to be sure, but Ned has mend
ed that. Some of our best and noblest
have risen from the ranks, you know.
Henry was as poor as broom sedge
field, and Clay rode to mill in the Hano-
yer slashes in costume which was, to
say the least, unfinished"
''But they had genius, my dear" re-
torted his wife impatiently. 1--WE for
give anything to that sort. This man
has no genius"
"He's made lot of money" the judge
observed tentatively, land that's the
end that Nineteenth century genius has
in view. Judged by the commercial
standard, which is getting to be the uni
versal one, Ned Anthony is about the
biggest genius Virginia has ever pro
duced. He's got millions in his pocket"
81 don't care if he has the United
States treasury in his pocket" asserted
Mrs. Wilmer positively. 81 don't want
Mary Beverley to marry him."
"Nor do |. But it isn't because his
father was a good overseer instead of a
sorry gentleman. Ny objection is to
the man himself. Anthony's fiber is
coarse-good of its kind, you know, but
not like Mary's. She belongs to high
err developments; and if she makes this
unnatural selection in fit of generous
enthusiasm. she will regret 1.-THE more
because she is too fine in the grain and
too stanch ever to admit, even to her