Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-13

purge myself of the last vestiges of artifc:
lallty and pretense, and then start fair on
your own honest level and be worthy mate
to you thenceforth. Ny father honestly
thinks he is an earl. Well, leave him his
dream; it pleases him and does no one any
harm. 1t was the dream of his ancestors
before him. 1t has made fools of the house
of Sellers for generations, and it has made
something of fool of me, but took no deep
root. 1 am done with it now and for good.
Forty-eight hours ago was privately proud
of being the daughter of a pinchbeck earl,
and thought the proper mate for me must be
man Of like degree; but to-day-oh, how
grateful I am for your love which has healed
my sick brain and restored my sanity-I
could make oath that no earl's son in all the
world"
''Oh-well, but-but-"
why, you look like a person in panic.
What is it? What is the matter?''
'Matter? Oh, nothing-nothing. was
only going to say" but in his furry moth
ing occurred to him to say for moment,
then by lucky inspiration he thought of
something entirely sufficient for the occa-
sion, and brought it out with eloquent force:
"Oh, how beautiful you are! You take my
breath away when you look like that"
1t was well conceived, we'll timed, and
cordially delivered, and it got its reward.
'sLet me see. Where was L? Yes, my
fathers earldom is pure moonshine. Look
at those dreadful things on the wall-you
have, of course, supposed them to be por-
traits of his ancestors, Earls of Rossmore,
Well, they are not. They are chromos of
distinguished Americans-all moderns; but
he has carried them back thousand years
by relabeliDg them Andrew jackson
there is doing what he can to be the late
American earl; and the newest treasure in
the-collection is supposed to be the young
English heir-I mean the idiot with the
Grape: but in truth it's a shoemaker, and
not Lord Berkeley at all"
"Are you sure?"
'sWhy, of course I am. He wouldn't
look like that
"Whv?"
''Because his conduct in his last moments,
when the fire was sweeping around him,
shows that he was man. 1t shows that he
was fine, high-souled young creature"
Tracy was strongly moved by these COM
pliments, and it seemed to him that the
girls lovely lips took on a new Ioveliness
when they were delivering them. He said,
softly:
SIT is pity he could not know what a
gracious impression his behavior was going
to leave with the dearest and sweetest
stranger in the land Of
ooh, almost loved himl Why, 1 think
of him every day. He is always floating
about in my mind"
Tracy felt that this was little more than
was necessary. He was conscious of the
sting of Jealousy. He said:
''It is quite right to think of him-at
least, now and then-that is, at intervals
in perhaps an admiring way-but it seems
to mo hot
"Howard Tracy, are you jealous of that
dead man?"
He was ashamed-and at the same time
not ashamed, He was iealous-and at the
same time he was not Jealous In sense
the dead man was himself; in that case
compliments and affection lavished upon
that corpse went into mis- own till, and were
clear profit. But IN another sense the dead
man was not himself; and in that case all
compliments and affection lavished there
were wasted, and sufficient basis for jeal-
ousy. A tiff was the result of the dispute
between the two. They made it up, and
were more loving than ever. As an affec-
tionate ciincher of the reconciliation, Sally
declared that she had now banished Lord
Berkeley from her mind; and added: "And,
in order to make sure that he shall never
make trouble between us again, will teach
myself to detest that name and ali that
have borne 1t, or ever shall bear it.
This inflicted another pang, and Tracy
was minded to ask her to modify that q
iittle-just on general principles, and as
practice in not OVERRIDING good thing-but
thought perhaps he might better leave.
things as they were and not risk bringing
on another tiff He got away from that
particular, and sought less tender ground
for conversation.
II suppose you disapprove wholly of aris.
tocracies and nobilities, now that you have
renounced your title and your fathers earl
dom?"
Real ones? Oh, dear, no, but I've thrown
aside our sham one for good"
This answer fell just at the right time and
just in the right place TO save the poor, un-
stable young man from changing his politi-
cal complexion once more. He had been on
the point of beginning to totter again, but
this prop shored him up and kept him from
foundering back into democracy and re-
aristocraey. So he went home
glad that he had asked the fortunate ques.
tion. The girl would accept little thing
like genuine earldom; she was merely
prejudiced against the brummagem article.