Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-11-19
A GhaStly PrediCament.
By ". E. NORRIS.


Colonel Byng had been for SO many
years q widower that he was to all in
tents and Purposes bachelor. At any
rate. he both lived and looked like one,
Ewelling in snug chambers near st.
James street, mixing freely i'll congenial
society and presenting an aspect of ju
venility which might have passed for
what it resembled but for the unfortu-
nate aud undeniable fact that he pos
sessed full grown son Of four or five
and twenty. Ned Byng, to be sure, was
not thrust forward too conspicuously in
the circles which the colonel adorned,
It SO happened that they had not the
same tastes or the same friends; it suit
cd them best to live independently Of
one another, and just as certain ladies
will keep their daughters in the school
room until concealment is no longer
possible so this sprightly and evergreen
ex.hussar preferred to ignore, as far as
might be, the existence of an industrious
young barrister who bore his name, and
with whom, for the rest, he was upon
excellent terms.
But it is notoriously difficult to keep
upon good terms with man who asks
you for money, and Colonel Byng was
as much panied as he was surprised
when his son visited him one morning
for the purpose Of making that wholly
inadmissible demand. Such thing had
never occurred before. The colonel has
tened to point out, kindly. but firmly,
that it must never occur again.
I "My dear Ned" said he, "you know
what my circumstances are. am very
far from being rich man, whereas you
have the small fortune left to you by
your mother, which should be amply
sufficient to meet all your requirements
so long as you remain unmarried 1t
has not hitherto been necessary for me
to make you any allowance, and the
very last thing that would tempt me to
do SO, even if could afford it, would
be such statement as you have just
made. Help you to marry your first
love. indeed AS if you weren't going
to have half dozen, or maybe dozen,
loves before you settle down! Besides |
never heard of the girl For anything
that I know to the contrary she may
be as ugly as sin and as poor as La1-
arus and as vulgar as--well, as great
many of them are in these days"
The quiet looking young man with
tho soft brown eyes reddened with sup
pressed indignation at the bare sugges-
ton of~such odious possibilities. To
speak of Miss Blanche Atherton in the
same breath with ugliness or vulgarity
was, it appeared, an insult which moth
ing save complete ignorance could ex-.
cuse. Nor, for the matter of that, was
she poor, her mother being, on the con-
trary, very well off indeed. Only Mrs.
Atherton, as was not unnatural, had
demurred to the scheme of marrying
her daughter to a suitor who had but a
few hundreds o year Of his own and
whose professional prospects were as yet
somewhat vague. Consequently, it had
struck the ingenious youth that his fa-
ther might be willing to give q little
temporary aid. In any case. he hoped
that his father would call on Mrs. Ath-
erton, who lived in Queens Gate, and
who had been prepared to receive Colo
mel Byng's visit
''My dear fellow" the colonel re-
Joined blandly, II should be grieved to
disappoint lady. But at the same time
don't sec what good my undertaking
pilgrimage to Queens Gate would do
to you or me Or Mrs. Atherton either.
/ have already explained that 1 can't
oblige you by impoverishing myself.
Why the deuce should call upon the
woman?"
"Only because she will ask you to
dinner if you do" the young man re-
sponded, with demure gravity, "and be-
cause she has one of the best cooks in
London; also because she could allow
Blanche q Thousand o year, if she chose,
without ever missing the money, and
because she doesn't know quite all the
people whom she would like to know. l
think she might te willing to doa good
deal fer anv one who, like yourself,
could offer her introductions to duchesses
and marchionesses and other grandees "
''That is different matter, F." said the
colonel, his features relaxing. "Why
didn't you put things in that sensible
way at first? A woman who possesses a
really good cotG and who can give away
thousand a year without missing it
has every claim upon my humble serv-
ices OF course, too, she ought, under
the circumstances, TO make suitable pro-
vision fer her daughter. I'll call upon
her this afternoon aud see what can
do for you"
What the colonel meant by this was
that he would be ths last man in the
world to oppose an alliance between his
son and an adequately gilded young
lady. What, en- the other hand, Mrs.
Atherton had meant when she had re-
Trained from promptly sending'Mr. Ed
waSd Byng to the right about was that
a oh-in-law with aristocratic connec-
tions would suit her we'll enough, but
that She was not disposed to pay a heav'
ier price than it was worth for that lux
ury. Consequently there was but a pool
chance that the high contracting parties
woald be able to do business, and ot
this five minutes conversation suficed
GA-@TsoREA.
~ a,nae,s a,s' T -/1-5 h@