Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-05-02
The MartlGt Seal.
BY JEANETTE h. wALwoRTH.
Cf1AE-rEn ~.

"Norcross, see, has got off,"
'Yes, poor devil, he has got Off"
The emphasis was too significant to
pass unnoticed. The speaker who had
| just found Eugene Norcross' name in
the passenger list of an outgoing steam
| er laid the paper across his knee to
stare at the other one. They were both
club men. One of them was called the
| Cynic; his real name was Mckenzie.
what do you mean, McKenzie2"
Nothing. never by any oversight
tax my utterances with meaning"
Eyes, but, by Jove, the remarkable
emphasis you put on the word off is
| equal to an indictment"
The cynic shifted his position care
lessly, bringing into his line of vision
small table at which two men sat, with
bottle of wine between them.
There is an improving spectacle. 1t
is enough to make a good Universalist
of Digger Indian to see such harmony.
Hereafter l will make no doubt that
everybody will eventually be saved and
occupy the same mansion of the blest."
what is your interesting tableau2
I can't turn round and stare without
beastlY rudeness."
1.-TWO men hobnobbing over q bottle
of wine, who according to all precedent
ought to be at each others threats,
bulldog fashion. They are being false
to their traditions,-not conducting the
family feud properly"
This was too much for the polite man.
He rislSed "beastly rudeness," squared
himself IN his deep leather chair suffi.
GENTLY to take in the alcove and it's oc-
cupants, and said, in a disappointed
tone:
ooh! Lorimer and Fairbanks. What's
the matter with them? Why, they're
regular Damon and Pythias, Castor and
Pollux, or any other of the immortal
inseparables you choose. One never
comes to the club but the other is sure
to follow"
The cynic brought his eye-glass DELHI
erately to bear on the men in the
alcove: Fairbanks is superb-looking
fellow! But what about the vendetta?'
IA rubbishy piece of Inherited lum-
Der, which those youngsters seem in
clined to relegate to memory's attic,-a
proof of common sense to which 1 take
off my hat"
But the vendctta?"
''Oh, yes. Well, got the history of
time owned a plantation between the
belligerents. 1t began with the shoot
ing of bull. Fairbanks shot Lorimers
bull, or Lorimer shot Fairbanks bull
Doubtless my grandfather transmitted
the CORY legend correctly to mo, but
my villainous memory has refused to
retain 1t. I confess to a certain confu-
sion as to the original ownership of the
bull L
horns of a very serious dilemma to all
the succeeding Lorimers and Fair
banks"
"Gammonl"
Gospel truth. OF course there was a
row over that bull, but believe his is
the only gore that stains tho scutcheons
of two proud families
"Be serious for once, Mckenzie"
Serious as sexton, pom honorl Ny
veneration for family feuds forbids
ievity. In the succeeding generation,
tradition hath 1t, there were boy and
girl of the two households madly in
love with each other-perhaps the IA
Their and the mother OF this identical
pair. Doubtless by that time the casus
belli-or built, If you will permit vile
pun-began to look a trifie shrlveled;
SO an imaginary grievance of more re-
spectacle origin was manufactured.
Years of bad blood had not improved
the temper of either family. Con-
sequently, row number two: hands
parted. hopes blighted, and all that
sort of thing. have the satisfaction of
feeling that have helped the thing
along somewhat In modern times"
"Satisfactionr'
"Unquestionably. When people have
been quarreling over dead bull half a
century after the buzzards have done
with 1t, 1t Is a source of satisfaction to
feel instrumental in furnishing fresh
material for their ammunition. / want
ed to sell out my place up there. was
wedged in between the two places of
these mortal foes. l rcaped a golden
harvest from their idiocy. They bid
against each other in the most reckless !
fashion. The result have been made
comfortable for life. Fairbanks ruined
himself buying the property, which has
enabled him to impinge closer and
closer upon the neighboring place. The
Lorimers have nearly ruined themselves
in lawsuits about the boundaries, and
the bones of the poor old vendetta are
ratified moro feebly as each year goes
by. But noblesse oblige, you know.
Ta-ta. promised my daughter drive
in the park this afternoon"
"And must be going too
The long readingroom was deserted
by every one but the two men in the al
cove. But for the full hour they had
been sitting there, shielded from close
surveillance by their position in the en-
brasure of tho bay-window. they had
seemingly been oblivious of the coming
and going of the other men. They had
come together with a moro earnest pur-
pose, perhaps, than any of the men who
sauntered in and out, smoking, reading.
gossiping, idling the hours away, wait
ing for dinner time
At the beginning of the interview the
younger man had said:
''I told you, Fairbanks, that 1 would
not trouble you again until had some
thing Of Importance to communicates
received letter this morning which I
think you ought to see."
"From whom?''t