Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-05-31

the money, and I'm getting on where
/ shall want lots of it, l reckon II.
stick to YOU"
Within one week from the departure
of my wife you were born, Cory, your
mother dying in the same hour.
The love that Emile should have
was given to your poor mother, chill i.
was nearly distracted at her loss. In
my frenzy it seemed to me the first full
f1lment of Emilie's prediction.
Soon my affections and hopes We're
transferred to Louises child. Then
the crushing thought came that this
child was a slave, born of slave
mother, and that to manumit her would
be to publish the fact to the world.
1 could not bear the alternative. To
save it, resolved on course which
good Judgment should have warned
me against. l would break up my
home here, lease the plantation, go
four hundred miles up the river. and,
in a locality where no stories would
be likely to come from La Fourche,
would bring up this child of my affec-
ton. No one there should know of
the faint in her origin; no one should
ever guess that she was born in bond
age.
This plan put in execution immedi-
ately. 1t promised to succeed. I'm
fortunately, l had not taken into ac-
count the precocity and wickedness of
that boy. He instantly OWNED the
truth, and began to hold the hnowl-
edge of it over me like a rod. For five
years he kept me in constant terror,
not SO much by his evil courses as by
the constant threat of betraying my
secret. The amount OF money that
have paid him for his silence would
represent fortune. At last, in his
twenty-first year, he agreed to leave
home and never return, and to keep
his knowledge to himself. l was to
pay him large quarterly allowance,
which has, in fact, been almost dou-
bled. L have relied on his love of
money to keep him from betraying
me; and my purse alone has closed his
mouth. Where the great sums that
have given him have gone, the gam
blers of the river can tell.
1 look back to the time between 1916,
when I got rid of this unnatural son,
and 1858, when the tragedy occurred
which will be briefly noticed, as the
happiest of my life. The disagreeable
part was all behind me; conscience, rs
well as the fear of exposure, SO tortur-
ing in these later years, did not trouble
me; you were growing up, Cory, to be
just what l wished you; charming ac-
quaintances, valued friends were all
about me; my success in growing cot
ton was adding enormously to my
wealth. All this was rudely troubled
by the appearance of Napoleon Castex.
l had heard little of this man since
my successful rivalry for the hand of
Emile ma lie him my enemy. After
my purchase of Louise I learned Incl
dentally that he had once visited New
Orleans, and it was told me that he
made particular inquiries about me.
There were none but unpleasant recol
1ectiOnS connected with him. and |
hoped that l should never meet him
again.
Suddenly, twelve years after my re-
moval from La Fourche, he presented
himself to me. l had no previous
knowledge that he was in the neigh
borhood, and the sight of him discon-
certed me. 1t was at a gentleman's
dinner party at my own house, and he
came with one of the guests, whom he
was visiting. 1 know that the man
was revengeful and good hater, and I
began to tremble for the consequences
of such a visit. I conjcctured that if
he had not learned the true cause of
Emilie's alienation from me, he would
be likely to guess it if he happened to
see you, Cory; for you were then about
the age of your mother when he last
saw her, and very closely resembled
her. And what he should discover /
knew that his hatred of me would
prompt him to spread broadcast in the
neighborhood.
Before I could form any plan to
check such a catastrophe, dinner was
announced. We were just seated, when
you, Cory, came to the door and
looked in, prompted, 1 suppose, by
childish curiosity. Castex saw you,
recognized your face, and asked me in
French if that was my daughter. 1 re-
piled that she was; and then
The man is dead; I must soon follow
him. would like to speak to him now
without bitterness or passion; yet l
should not speak the whole truth if 1
did not say that his face was shining
with savage joy as he gave me the
brutal rejoinder in French that as
published far and near. He said:
''Ah, monsieur Five or six years
hence, when the charming daughter of
Louise Bonfant shall come to the same
auction block in New Orleans where
you purchased the mother, then think
the spirit of your wronged wife will
feel avenged
l saw that he had deliberately
planned to force a quarrel on me. 1
knew that there could be no safety for
my secret while he lived. A duel fol-
lowed, and 1 killed him. The wound
that l received at the same time from
his hand laid me up for weeks, and
nearly brought me to the grave.
My misery dates from that hour. It
is not comfortable reflection to carry
around with you night and day that
youo have slain a fellow creature,
though a bad one, and the thought has
troubled me; but much more torment
ing than this was the fear that Castex
had in some way left his discovery to
be revealed after his death. / grew
suspicious of everybody; I abandoned
old friends; while they never suspect
ed the reason. / was continually fear
full that the truth would be known and