Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1894-08-04

G.7Si W tle UaTOieG. WIG startled
DICK by, beginning abruptly and in a
strange low key:
dick, Will it bore you to listen to an
old mans condolences, or only serve.
perhaps, to pass the time? Well. then.
nave that upon my mind tonight,
winch IL seems 10 me should not re-
man unsaid II single hour longer, for
aiJer more than a dozen years. the spir-
IL ior The first time moves me now TO
drop the mask awhile. tear aside the
ven OF cold reserve wherewith | have
mus long decorously covered up M
wounds and contide to you the miser-
aDle secret which, throughout long
years. has robbed my days of happiness,
my night peace, tranquility. and that
Jepose which is, after all, the only So
lace declining years may know"
DICK was more amazed by this adj
dress than he cared TO betray. Sir Jas
per had always appeared to him callous
ana lmpenetrable az the sphinx. less
prone 10 indulge in sentiment, perhaps,
nan any other human being Of his ac-
qualhtaIce. To hear him. therefore,
give expression 10 q depth Of unavail-
ing regret, sayoring strangely Of re-
morse, struck the young man as pitia-
PIE and homogeneous. betraying. as it
dld. much OF the "unrecogniZed anguish
the lonely barOnet must have endured
unsupported throughout long years.
IL is needless to add that Dick hast
ened TO assure his patron Of the ready
sympathy any personal trouble could
not tail 10 awaken in his own heart,
and begged Sir Jasper to confide freely
to ms ear every detail Of the sorrow 10
winch he had 50 pathetically alluded.
"lt ! can aid or serve on. sir" he con-
cluded earnestly: II trust protestations
oil eagernesS IN your cause are unneces-
Saiy on the part of one so sincerely at
ttched and deeply indebted To you as I
must ever remain"
AYE, there's tie rub. lad; there's the
rub murmured the baronet vaguely.
youth is seldom altogether disinter-
ested. even though less m~erccnarv. per-
haps, than age. But | have given YOU
every reason, Dick, toto cherish al
most limitless eXpectatiOns-as the
phrase gOes-upOn the death OF one who
has ever sought To benefit you in life.
What if the revelations and the service
/ am about TO ask of you should appear
calculated toto inJure your prospects
and damp your hOpeSy What if
SAY 10 more, sir. | beg Dick inter-
rupted warmly. Have |. indeed. CIV
en- You cause to think me the meanest
OF men. the most ungrateful and unde-
serving of my seXI Can you-n
"Ah, | wrOnged you. boy-I wronged
you" returned the b%aronet. hastily;
land | ask your pardon in that, even
~momentarily, / was unjust 10 YOU in
thought. Enough Of preamble, howev-
er. Listen To the story of nv youth.
the sorrows of my manhood, the-the
crime and duplicity OF my old age.'
His voice, with the last words, sank
10 a mere whisper. then there WAS a
long. long pause. Dick Well-nigh stilled
his breathing. straining his ears till the
tension Of his nerves became almost
painful in his anxiety to catch the
faintest murmur that might escape the
others lips.
dick. you may or may not have
heard that | lived a gay life when a
young man; your father and | were at
college together, and he has. perhaps,
told you Is much of my collegiate ca
reer as 1t Was advisable you should
hear. No matter. Eventually / went
abroad TO improve my mind by foreign
travel, to rub off something of insular
prejudice. 10 SEE life-enlarge my ideas,
in short, with any and every object in
view, saving the M that | ultiLs Itely
attained. | fell in love, Dick. and. as a
natural sequence, | took TO myself a
Wife. She was Saxon by birth, French
: by parentage. and Marguerite was her
name. Her mother was-dOn't start,
Dick-a third-rate actress, and it was
behind the foOt-lights that | first saw
my Marguerite. She was beautiful as
an angel-as an angel, good and pure.
/ saw no sign O symptoms OF lurking
evil, no disposition towards wrongdo-
ing, no trace OF hereditary faint yet her
mother was Il common actress, Dick.
Bear this salient point in mind. Well,
ny bride was lent 10 me but one brief
yeAr, then, as her babe saw light, size
died.''
There was a brief pause. The baro-
net was not unnaturally overcome by
the narrowing "reminiscences thus sud-
denly disinterred. and Dick too deeply
tOuched-too painfully interested to
venture just then upon any trite con-
solatoTy remark.
Words OF his however well-inten-
tiOrad or well-chosen, could but seem
commonplace and meaningless, ii ap-
peared TO him. by contrast with the in
de~scribable pathOs of the old mans
brief laconic sentences, and low sepul-
chral teues.
After awhile he continued abruptly.
Il idolized the child-the blossom
which burst into life as the parent rose
faded and fell i christened her'-here
the baronet i~nvoluntarily paused and
cleared his throat in a strange V
fashion, continuing only by a palpable,
effort-'Greta'-he did not notice how
Dick started-'which was a name of
endearment | had been wont to apply
t. her mother. Well. in due course /
sent the girl abroad TO school; ulti-
mately to finish, as they call il. in ole
/ OF the best seminaries in Hanover,
whence, in no less than six months. she
she. the only child OF a proud English
baronet. MIX you. in whose blue veins
ran the Norman blood which her ances-
tors had preserved throughout long cen
turtles undiluted. undefiled by "A single
drop Of plebian alloy-she eloped with
her music-master. some domino-thnmp-
ing, caterwaullng, moon-Struck Pole,
who. no doubt. perceived the immense
advantage u contracting an indissolu-
bic tie with q scion of the British aris-,
tocracy. Later investigation proved
! that before this miscresnt rose TO the
dignity of an instructor of youth he
had been an intinerant musician, wan
! dering from one small town to another,
performing at concerts held in barns,
as is the fashion i'll those parts. Well,
he had married my Greta-my only
! child, Marguerite's legacy-the sole
thing for which | cared on earth! And
then they forthwith 'implored forgive
ness as the st~ory-books say; entreated
pardon, and the p%aternal benediction;
knelt at my feet, and all the rest of it
the foreigner, no doubt, concluding a
life of luxurious idleness was ensured
10 him in p%erpetuity from that day.
But IL splirned them both, Dick!
Bade him &c TO work for her; babe her
starye, if needs were. with the husband
of her choice. for she had nothing TO
expect from the father she had deserted
and betrayed. Can you marvel, boyY-
was l over stern. think you, with-with
Marguerite's child!'
There was no Responsible old man, |
perhaps. expected none, for with eyes
riveted upon the fast-expiring embers
in the CRATE, he seemed suddenly obliv-
ious OF time, circumstance, or place,
absorbed in sad "reminiscences, en-
,ranced Ito the exclusion OF all else by
those melancholy spectres-the phan-
toms of bygone sorrows which the
breath of his own lips had, as ii were,
imbued anew with quick and vivid
life.
"And-and the sequel, sir?" Ques-
toned Dick in q low voice after that
long pause.
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