The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1896-06-23
CHAPTER vT-(Continued.

not refuse her consent to it's attempt,
and reminded her that. rejecting the
plan he had conceived, Rosa's first
born would be left to struggle with a
world which did not always bestow its
best rewards on those who most mer-
tied them.
And Mrs. Willoughby thought Of
Sydney, out of employment and
wretched, and could but acknowledge
the truth that was in the words the
baronet had last spoken. And Sir
Loghlen promised Mrs. Willoughby
that he would not take his son beyond
her reach The baronet would reside
in London, and with him, his niece
and her husband, if it should be COM
pleted as he had no doubt would be
the case, the marriage he SO joyfully
contemplated.
"You would promise that he should
not be taken from meY cried Mrs.
Willoughby, now fast yielding before
this last temptation.
Never should he go beyond your
sight" cried Sir Loghlen, growing
warmer and more urgent in his plead
ings as he felt convinced he would sue
coed. Consent to all I ask. Our fate
Is i'll your hands; for it is not only of
the future of my own son that
think; the happiness of the other is at
stake; for l would not separate the
two brothers."
''Tonv. plor boy, he would also be
we'll cared for" thought Mrs. Will
oughby; and then demanded of the
baronet how lie would contriye to
make acquaintance With the grand
sons.
And Sir Ioghlen replied that Moth
ing could be more easy; he would re-
turn in an hour or two with his niece,
and Mrs. Willoughby would have but
to say that, in former years, she and
the barOnet had been acquainted.
.Let it all be as l would have il"
entreated Sir Loshlen. 'Let Frances
and my son behold each other, and
heaven, who judges all intentions, and
who knows what are mine, will accom-
pIish the rest
And Mrs. Willoughby was greatly
troubled not how to decide.
The baronet was, perhaps, right; and
it might be that love for the other
would arise in the heart of each; and
then, oh! then, Mrs. Willoughby would
believe that Rosa's pardon had de-
scended to him who had so basely
wronged her; and poor, old Mrs. Will
Oughby would then herself be able to
forgive.
And. with a Joy at his heart greater
than it had ever known since those
devs of his youth, when he had re-
ceiyed a confession of her love for him
from the charming lips of Rosa Will
oughby, the baronet took his leave, Tor
an hour or so, of the mother of the first
and the only woman whom, in all his
life, he had ever truly loved.
How often had Sir Loghlen wished
that he had possessed the courage TO
brave his fathers anger and threats OF
dfsinheritance, and that his marriage
with Rosa had been as real as to that
unhappy and cruelly-deceiyed young
girl it had appeared.
The baronet's carriage had rolled but
a few PAGES from Mrs. Willoughby's
door. when it flashed across his mind
that even yet, he knew not what name
had been given to his son, nor what
had been the name of RoSaS Second,
and laWfully-wedded husband.
Sir Ioehlen, in his hurried and eX-
cited interview with Mrs. Willoughby,
had forgotten to ask the name OF that
son. about whom his heart had been SO
deeply interested.
{ firm. the baronet then thought to him.
calf that if was not worth while, since,
In an hour or SO, he would behold the
young man. and from MS own lips
learn his name.
Mrs. Willoughby, left to herself, mad
some difficulty in believing that she
had not been asleep and dreaming, SO
strange did it seem to her that now,
after SO very many years, she had, Tor
the first time in her life encountered
the man on whose head her curse mao
always rested and that she had peen
won SO easily to pardon him.
But it was no dream she soon con-
vinced herself The baronet had Deen
there. accusing himself and 1mplormg
that she would pardon him the wrong
he had inflicted on her child, and ne
had left her feeble and disarmed.
She had been won by the prospect OF
fortune for her two grandsonS, Tor DoIn
were equally dear to her heart, al
though the circumstances OF MS Dlrtn
and of his mothers wrongs had caused
for Sydney a compassion which, IN It's
display, had perhaps appeared pref
erence in her love.
And without doubt Tony would have
I,aon angry with his grandmother II he
tod not believed in her preference for
his brother, for he never put himself
in comparison with Sydney, whom ne
considered altogether superior be-
ing. +1,s,+
although in physical beauty Sydney
nigh surpass his brother, they were
most nerfectly equal in their estimable
qualities Of mind and heart.
And the baronet had promised that
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