Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1894-06-28
CHAPTER III

Behind a belt Of leahess trees n
wintry sun was sinking one afternoon
I'm February when tine newly installed
master Of Gorst Abbey left mis- stately
home, to which he sdll felt strange
and unaccustomed, and sauutered
slowly through the grounds 10 the Iii
recti0n Of the Dover house.
Until three months before Geo: 90
severn had been second In command
Of Bengal cavalry regiment, and had
In consequence spent the best part Of
his life in India As a subaltcrn he
had married on his pay. and. though
his wife had not lived 10 sue the an.
nivcrsary Of their wedding day she
left him an infant son for whom 1t was
necessary to erOnomize ana amasS as
many rupees as practicable His degO-
ton to his child had been touching 10
witness He taught him to walk and
saIk. and by and by To ride on "a min
iaure pony; ana, when he needed to
learn more than these simple acquire
ments. it was the devoted father who
taught him still
Always ia his sight the baby had al
most impcrcepubly merged into a tan
pale boy some nine years old before
Colonel Severn began 10 realize that
they, hitherto inseparable, must part
not for a few months, as had been the
ease before, when it was necessary
that the child should escape from the
burning heat Of the plains and his
father had not been able TO get leave,
but 1t might be years
The bow, terrible as 1t was at first
grow harder for the lonely man to
bear rs little by little they dHfted
further and further apart in spite of
the constant correspondence they kept
up After a few years at a~prepara-
tory school The lad bad gone to Har-
row, and had made many friends
there. while amongst new interests he
had half forgotten the love which had
colorrd an his life before
The father felt with twinse Of pain
that ne might meet his son in the
street aud not recognize him, though
his whole soul yearucd for him and
he was never absent from his thoughts.
He had given him the love of life
time the deep strong love of a man
which In most eases Is divided, hut
N .his case had been shared by none
other. for his wife he had married
from pity, because they told him she
loved him. and would waste away If
he offered mo- return SO he cared for
the lJtle fragile thoughtleSs child as
tculcrly as a woman could have done
during he few short months She was
with him. and even felt a faint sense
81 loneliness whom she was gone But
that passed away; the one abiding pas
sion oI his manhood was % lavish all
his love upon his son.
Then q cousin died "a man whom he
had never met-iudeei nad scarcely
heard " IN the years he had spent
away from home but who had never
thcless left him the property Of Gorst
Abbey
Il was a splendid estate, but the last
owner had led a wild extravaganza life,
ana II present 1t was heavily mort
gagged George Seyeru's first thought
was - clear OF an Ihe debts So that
the property might recover itself AMI
be at fits highest value when Ii should
descend Is his heir To this end he
had devoted an ufs savings, for this
reason he hal resolved to let the
Dover House, and since his accession
han been living as quietly as possible
III his new home
HIS SON had left Harrow 4 year he
fern. aud was now abroad with
tutor; eventually he was to become
harrster for Colonel Severn was too
wise Is allow him 10 lead an aimless
ufa Father ana son haa met once
since their first parting now twelve
Years back. but to George Severn the
meeting caused at first an even deeper
feeling 81 sadness than the separation
haj done They were utter strangers
ta each other the very effar. to be ne
44~a aae with t5e other oscasioniu-
-ragar restraint The young fellow