Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-05-04


And honestly tried to do my duty In
that respect. owed 1t to my father.
"When l met Dennis Lorimer at the
Pass that summer on my one free holt
day and fell in love with him, felt
like the worst of criminals and a
traitor to you. There was some mys-
FERROUS thing between him and me, be-
tween me and my happiness! that
bowed before with the blindness of
fetichism. l drove my lover away from
me, with more resolution, perhaps, than
would have exercised If he had COM
mitted crime in his own person. i
owed it to my father.
"When he came to me and told me
that he was going into exile for my
sake, that his mothers vindictive de-
termination to separate us had carried
her to the extent of telling him that he
must either VOW never to try to see me, or
leave her presence then and there, never
to return again, helped him to bow to
the fat which bore equally upon US
both. told him we owed it to our
parents. And when you, hearing
through Cato's treachery that he was In
the summer house that day, sent him
your insulting message, almost de-
spised him for the promptness and
meelkness with which he obeyed it. He
went away, and in my heart called
him a coward. I began to cultivate
hatred in my own person. Your leaven
was at work, you see, father. / owed
it to you to learn how to hate.
dennis came back to see me six
months ago, father. He told me then
that he had been looking for Sibley.
4 = a. IL
from his mother. You would not ad-
could find Sibley he would face him,
man to man, and dem nd to know what
/ it was that stood between the houses of
| White Cliffs and Gle .burnie."
The old sybarite leaned forward in
his chair in an eager attitude of atten-
| ton:
"Well? and Sibley-did he find him?''
'It was not q difficult thing to do, IA
ther. Sibley is in New Orleans-has
been in good business there for some
time now. You knew thatP" He dropped
his eyes silently
sit is pitiable, father" she went on,
impctuously, Ito sec a parent drop his
| eyes before a child "a helpless girl at
that! But was it right, father, to leave
me in ignorance all this time that Sib-
ley had written to you, telling you II
you would relinquish your absurd vow,
and take your proper place at home, he
would come back and help you?"
'Siblcy is an unruly, tempestuous fel-
low-troublesome. did not want him. y
mot so easily trodden under foot as
a girl. But he is coming back, father
He and Dennis are good friends. Dennis
faced him like a man, and Sib1ey had tc
confess that he was as ignorant as tbs
rest of us. But out there In the breezy
fresh current of life that those tive
move in this poor, ragged old scare
crow that you and the older Lorimeri
have been shaking at each other al
these years tumbled all to pieces. II
had no substance of It's own. I tounc
that out for myself to-day, father"
l. "How?" the old man asked, doggedly
"By l1neeling at the bedside of sicl
woman and asking her to tell me If, a
her vision grew larger and clearer, the
fret and the worry of this whole miser
able business did not grow in
fnitesimally small. She said it did
And she told me alrthat wanted t.
know. told her, father, that haG
promised Dennis to marry him and e
away with him, to make a home fo
ourselves, if he would find Sibley ant
bring him back here to take this I'm
just burden from my shoulders. I tolt
her l should not feel comfortable at thu
thought that we had kept it all from
her. She had a right to know that w
were going to be married in spite o
her, in spite of you, in spite of the mis-
liable old threadbare vendetta And
nc in here to tell you the same, ia
Their"
What did she say?" He ignored tn
closing sentence.
"She put her arms around my neck
She kissed me, father, and she callet
: me daughter. She told me to tell yo,
that there would soon be no one lef
for you to hate-to let the old, worn-ou
feud be buried in her grave"
mo one left for me to hate! And
have loved her all my life-her, and III
other woman, ever!''
"Father!'
His gray head had fallen forward o.
\ his breast. His lids were closed an,
< impurpled. He stretched out his hand
blindly, gropingly. He was trying t
say something. Ida Lnelt close by tn
side of his chair.
g "My brave, brave childi am glad
:: has ended sol Give Sibley my love-
z and Dennis"
1t was so sudden, SO utterly incompre
hensible, that even when the famil
physician told her that he had know
a for years that her father must eventual
l. ~ go In just that sudden fashion fror
T heart-failure, she found 1t hard to bs
ieve that he was no longer there a
% Glenburnie, wasting his manhood. Is
o noring his responsibilities, demandin
s daily tribute of her. bodily. mentaR
and morally.
THANK God, he died with a bIessin
y on his lips for Lerimer," she wrote t
Sibley, and sealed tho letter with
!, black impress of martlet.
- IT am sorry he did not know abor
- Sibley's child, Dido" she said tina
= night, reaching out her hand for a touc
~ !. of the hard faithful one that had neve
yet failed her. 81 meant to have toll
him, But"
~ "You done it all for the best. 1t ain
all cleared up yet, And he had might