Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1896-07-03

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q ~ affairs that l may
we'll begin by spar
ing few lines to those of another man,
a man on whose grave the grass mas
been growing for many long year.
His name was Julian Lorraine. HIS
home, from the day when / first knew
him to the day of his death, was Herstal
Abbey, fine old house in that part Oh
wooded Somersetshire where railways
have not yet come.
Although Mr.. Lorraine was man OF
wealth, and, moreover, by educatlon'
and. l believe, family, fully entitled 10
take a high social position, Herstal
Abbey was not his ancestral home. he
had acquired it by simple right OF pur-
chase. having bought out an old, I'M
provident, but popular county family
bought it out so completely that If he
did not literally step into its shoes, ne
sat in it's very chairs and used its very
tables.
Such a wholesale buying up OF one OF
their own class by an unknown man
always annoys, perhaps frightens'
county people, and Julian Loraine's
neiphbors for some time looked at him
askance. He took none of those steps
nv which a newcomer may occasional
Nv gain access to the magic county cir
Gle. He brought no introductions. he
gave no large subscription to the hunt
indeed. there was not much hunting
in that part. He did not, in covert
way. let his willingness to give grand
entertainments be known. He simply
completed the purchase OF Herstai
Abbey and it's contents; took up his
abode in the old house, and troubled
nothing about his neighbor, which no
doubt annoyed them all the more.
Little Julian Lorraine cared for this.
The truth is he was one OF the most
unsociable men alive, and his cynicism,
IL distributed through the county,
would have made Somersetshire re-
zion in which life would have been un-
bearable He was-I pen the words re-
luctantly-an utter disbeliever in hui
manity. Perhaps the life which he had
hitherto led brought him to this state
of mind.
For in a very short time his neighbors
found out that he was by no Eeans the
Unknown man they thought MIN. Peo-
ple who knew London life had much to
say about this Julian Lorraine. 1t was
soon made clear to the countryside that
the new mans social claims to the right
hand of fellowship were indisputable;
but other things were also made clear
Lorraine had led terrible life-the
very fastest Of the fast. The wonder
was that he was still wealthy. At one
time it was thought he had run through
everything, for he had disappeared, and
no one saw anything Of him for two
years. But 1t turned out he had only
been leading rowing life in far coun-
tries. Reporting, let us hope No;
Julian Lorraine was not nice man.
But, nice or not, no one had any
longer the wish to keep Mr.. Lorraine at
m's-length. Had he cared for it, he
might have enjoyed mixing with the
pick of the county society. But he
treated civility almost as he treated
GOODNESS, with complete indifference;
and it soon became understood that the
owner of Herstal Abbey was man
who no longer cared to mix with his
kind.
1t was, of course, incomprehensible
that any one should buy fine property |
and settle down to the life of recluse;
the more so as the man was still in the
prime of life, handsome and wealthy. |
But Julian Lorraine was an incompre-
ihensible man. I, for one, have never |
been able to determine his true charac- |
ter. Perhaps l have Stunned investi-
eating it. Perhaps, had l tried, l
should have been unable to gather
trustworthy information as to his true
nature, from the fact that tales afloat
concerning his early life would reach
me last of all.
( When he bought Herstal Abbey he
was a widower with one son, boy of
seven. This boy he petted and neg
iected alternately. There were days
when the child was with him from
morn to eve; there were weeks in which
he never saw him from Sunday morn
ing to Saturday night; there were
months during which Mr.. Lorraine went
wandering off, Heaven knows where,
eaving the child to the care of serv-
4nts.
q Whether at home or abroad, he kept
ID the establ- shment in a lavish. waste
1l manner. He threw his money about
81 cynical way as one who cared not
low 1t went. He expected his servants
ould rob him-no doubt they did.
This he considered but human nature,
k41d troubled nothing about It; but woe
y the man or woman who in the slight
( IL degree neglected anything which his
mfort or within demanded! His de-
ndents soon understood their mas