The record-union., 1894-07-28
THE VERGERS DAUGHTERS.


copyright, 1894, by Edgar L. Wakeman. All
rights reserved.l
"However others may feel" began the
clerical traveller ruminatively and with
some hesitation" ST never enter an old
world cathedral without awe in my heart
apart and distinct from that direct and
unconscious reverence which the sacred
character of the structure impels.
''This is because / stand in a spot
which is a tomb of innumerable person.
ages who have assisted in making, or
who have gained places in, the worlds
history; because the upbuilding. preser-
walton, destruction, rehabilitation of fwhat
my hands may touch or my eyes behold.
have often changed dynastieS, impover-
lshed treasures, created pilgrimages and
sacrificed countless lives; and more than
all else because, for century after century
thousands upon thousands of great minds
have with matchless fidelity given OF
their best effort or absolutely their lives
devotion, toward the perfection of this
mighty prayer IN stone.
II mention this personal feeling and
tendency in these matters because they
connected me with pleasant life ro-
nance growing out OF a reverentlaI pIl-
grimage during my earlier years among
the cathedrals OF England; aud l will re-
late the somewhat curious incidents, as
nearly as l can recall them, precisely as
they occurred"
Through the generosity of my patron
and uncle, Kirby DOrklin, VINO had re-
turned from his extensive mining opera
Ill 70 xnrsff
ordination, had taken orders at Oxford,
had Just entered orders and was as happy,
hopeful and proud young clergyman as
could be found in all the United King
dom.
AS for Kirby Dorklin, his happiness
knew no bounds.
At times it took on the form of almost
ecstatic imbecility. He would sit by the
half-hour and regard me with grinning
face, open mouth and a trem bling little
shake of his grizzled old head, which
would always terminate in mis- tightly
closing his eyes and giving vent to some
explosive expression indicative OF his
lack of verbal power to fully convey his
enjoyment.
sBless me! Bless me, Robert Dork-
limp he would say, Its all like the
gold of Ballarat-twenty times and half
karats fine, in every pennyweight o.
thinkin' OF it. So ii is indeed, Robert
Dorklin ~
Then the good, grizzled old fellow
would stump up and down the apart
ment, puff hard at his pipe, mop his red
face, red forehead and the shiny red
crown of his hard, knotty head with his
fiery red handkerchief, and poke his
huge walking-stick gaily and vigorously
at the furniture and chandelier, as though
merrily beating some invisible antag-
OniSI.
l would of course thank him again and
again for the kindness which had led to
this mutual delight This always had
curious results. The old fellow would
stiffen up with:
mot bit OF it! Not bit of it! Nom
sense! Tut, tut, tut! Thank the 'tother
one; notme. Thank the hussey- mussey-
fussey; not me. Thank the fudge bulge
nudge; not me. Than the ninny- -pinny-
winny; not me. Aha, wouldn't 'tother
one like to know how the 'tother one was
fooled, and what the 'tother one has
missed? Perhaps not, though! Bah J"
Then he would whip his arms around
his body gleefully, hug himself as if in
expressibly enjoying "'tother ones"
imaginary discontinue over his long
cunning and present happiness, and tenn
porarily end his strange antics by en-
bracing me and pitifully begging me to
never become entangled with "'tother
one, IN WHICH CASE all WOUlu 10 WE'LL
Strange old soul! AS grateful to him
as l was, as much as / really loved him,
despite his often offensive eccentricities,
there was to me something deeply pa
thetic in these expressions of cbild-like
happiness, thinly disguised victory over
the mysterious "'tother one" and his
plaintive implied pleadings that no love
affair on my part should ever change or
lessen the affection between US.
L,o,- rzrnlo L irh Ilnrtxlif1 60 tho loUand
in our family ran, had suffered in a love
affair, which had made him what he was
and all he was.
A quarter of a century before, some
where in England he had come upon a
mite of maiden, fair as an English rose.
He had loved this girl madly. Some fool
ish misunderstanding arose; a week later
he had found himself on board vessel
bound for Melbourne, shaking his fist III
bitterness back at his native land; and he
had never once returned until rich and
old in appearance If not in years, he had
come to gloat over the little success that
/, his protege, had made, and to lavish
upon me an affection which in youth had
been untimely diverted from its proper
source.
So far as our family could learn, he had
never divulged any of the particulars OF
the infatuation or its unfortunate ending;
nor had he written to friend or relative
for years. In a dim way only we all
knew that he was prospering.
Suddenly brief word came that he had
decided my career should be clerical
one; and, as an astoundingly large re-
mittance had accompanied this announce
Inent. as well as word that If / minded
my ways and did him honor. / should be
his only heir, what had so far happened
was but natural and sequential.
But here he was, a Grabbed. grotesque,
hilarious and ecstatie parsonage; cunning
and frank by turns; parsimonlous and IL
logically generous, as the mood might
take him; ogre-like and child-like in the
same moment; in fact, grand nature
dwindled and gnarled and, in places, dis
torted through his years Of brave miserli-
ness and effort to be rich, simply as an
abstract victory over disappointment:
positively gloating in his pitiful, weak
Wav at the modification his riches must
cause some mythical or real human, and
often gibbering in an almost senile
exaltation that he had finally purchased
outright, like Ballarat mine. the right
perforce to human affection and graft
tude.
Study him as I might, lay snares for
his condolences as continually did, all
that L could know of his inner life, save
from its odd everyday expression, was
that the ''hussey-mussey-fu the
ssfudge- bulge nudge" and the ''ninny-
pinny-winny.v to whose discontinue
rather than Kirby Dorklin's inherent
generosity was ceaselessly commanded
to attribute my fortune, present and per-
spectiye, were simply contemptuous