Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-01-21
CHAPTER VIII.
ELLEN ELLEN"

We were turning away from the pretty
cage in order not to frighten the bird,
pretty or not, when an oldish man, tend
ing his fire at the further side Of the
wagon, gave us Good EVENING"
There is small but ancient fraternity
in the world known as the Order of
Gentlemen. It is a grand old order. A
poet has said that Christ founded it; that
he was '.the first true gentleman that
.ver lived"
cannot but distinguish some person
ages of far off antiquity as worthy mem-
bers of this fellowship. l believe it
coeval with man. But Christ stated the
precept Of the order, when he gave the
whole moral law in two clauses-love
to God and love to the neighbor Who
ever has this precept 50 by heart that it
shines through into his life enters with
out question into the inner circles Of the
order.
John Brent and |, not to be deemed
intruders, were walking away from the
neat wagon at the upper end Of the Nor
mon camp, when an oldish man beside
the wagon gave us s.Good evening"
Good evening, gentlemen" said the
wan, gray haired, shadowy man before us.
And that was all. 1t was enough. We
knew each other; we him and he US. Men
of the same order, and so brothers and
friends
Here was improbability that made in
terest at once. Greater to us than to
him. We were not out of place. He was,
and in the wrong company.
Brent and l looked at each other. We
had half OWNED our new brothers char
acter at the first glance.
l VIII not now anticipate the unfin-
ished, melancholy story we read i'll this
new face An Englishman, an unmis-
taxable gentleman, and in Norman
camp there was tragedy enough.
Enough to whisper US both to depart,
and not grieve ourselves with vain pity;
enough to imperatively command us to
stass zss eAa 1ullefher We a. fs.lle ltnisslAtaa
foes OF wrong, ss1crorers OF feebleness,
had any business here. The same in
stinct that revealed to US one of our or
der where he ought not to be, warned us
that he might have claims on US and we
duties toward him.
We returned his salutation.
We were about to continue the con
versation, when he opened fresh page
of the tragedy. He called, in voice
too sad to be querulc us-a fickering
voice, never to be fed vigorous again by
any lusty hope:
ELLEN! Elem"
"What, father dear?"
"The water boils. Please bring the
tea, my child
Eyes, father dear"
The answers came from within the
wagon.
1t was a sad, sweet voice that answer
ed the old gentleman's call. A lady's
yoice-the voice of high bred woman,
delicate, distinct, self possessed. That
sound itself was tragedy in such spot.
In an instant the lady so sweetly her
aided stepped from beneath the hood OF
the wagon, and sprang to the ground in
more busy and cheerful guise than her
voice had promised.
Again the same subtle magnetism be-
tween her and us. We could not have
been more convinced Of her right to-ab-
solGte respect and consideration if she
had entered to us in the dusky light of a
rich drawing room, or if we had been
presented in due form at picnic Of the
grandest world, with far other scenery
than this of "desart idle," tenanted for
the moment by Mormon caravan. The
lady, like her father, felt that we were
gentlemen, and therefore would compre-
hend her. She saluted us quietly. There
was in her manner tacit and involun-
tary protest against circumstances, just
enough for dignity. A vulgar woman
would have snatched up and put on
clumsily a have-seen- -better-days air.
This lady knew herself, and knew thai
she could not be mistaken for other than
she was. Her base background only
made her nobility more salient.
She did not need any such background,
nor the contrast of the drudges and mer-
etricious frights Of the caravan. She
could have borne full light without any
shade. A woman fit to stand peer among
the peerless.
We could not be astonished at this ap-
partition. We had OWNED her father
rightly, as it afterward proved. Hel
voice has already half disclosed her char
acter.
A mature woman; beyond girlhood,
body and soul. With all her grave de
meanor, she could not keep down the
wiles Of gracefulness that ever bubbled
to the surface. If she could but be hel
happy self, what fair world she would
suddenly create about herl
She was dressed in rough gray cloth
as any lady might be for a journey. She
was evidently one whose resolute neat
ness repels travel stains After the
tawdry, draggled silks Of the young wo-
men we had just seen, her simplicity
was charmingly fresh. Could she and
they be of the same race of beings
They We're apart as far as coarse from
fine, as silvern from brazen. To see he1
here among this horde was horror il
] itself. No horror the less that she could
not blind herself to her position and hen
fate. She could not fail to see what ;
Ddut WIS Dtduly ItIt. lndb sue ldt
done so was evident. She had essayed
by severe plainness Of dress to erase tbs
lady from her appearance. A very idle
attemptl There she was, do what she
would, her beauty triumphing over al
the wrong she did to it for duty's sake
All these observations | made will
one glance. Description seems idle wher
one remembers how eyes can see at {
fash what it took cons to prepare fol
and lifetime to form.
Brent and / exchanged looks. Thii
was the result of our fanciful PRESENT.
ments. Here was visible the woman w,
had been dreading to find. 1t still
seemed an impossible vision. ! almost
believed that the old gentleman's blanket
would rise with him and his daughter
like the carpet Of Fortunatus, and trans
port them suddenly away, leaving us be
side Mormon wagon in Sizzum's camI