The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-11

COpyrlBnteu, 1850,
c15ApTER I.-WHAT MRS. WELDON
Ni'-- THOUGHT OF 1T.
,,,,. dear mother" said George Weldon,
..,,hv don't you speak plainly? Her faith
or i half-pay officer; mine is shop
,,oonar Therefore may not look at her.
L t,at what you mean, dear"'
"tIar father is more than that, George;
50 belongs to a distinguished family, he
:. very proud, wears several decorations,
and his daughter is altogether out of your
sphere" o
..rs commerce then so mean thing? l
,,,,,,obt we we're a commercial country;
oo,,bow many of our titled men have
snrung from the people, and of late years
the peerage has been recruited from the
brewers"
"Rut YOU see, George, we are at present
only tea dealers, nor are we likely to be
ANYTHING else You might have gone to
,ol1eoe YOU know, or into the army but
Won nreferred to stay at home because
Won loved your father and mother; and
among fathers and mothers who love
their children l dare say that would be
REGARDED in these days as, even more he
roic than many a snowy act of bravery"
INV dear mother" said George, putting
his arm round the sweet little woman and
kissing her. Il know what you feel about
all that. Believe me have never regret
ted my choice and never shall"
"Then it would be much better, dear
bow. to look for wife among your own
set"
II am not looking for a wife" said
George; I don't want WHEAT any rate,
not Just at spresent; but 1 can't help it if
that girl of Mai, Dennlng's worries me.
am always thinking about her; I be-
lieve I love her madly-yes, really I be-
Iieve I do-and 1 ask myself what sort
of a world fellow is born into that sepa-
rates him from the girl he loves, because
by an accident of birth her father is a
soldier and his a shopkeeper-only a shop
keeper, as you say, with an almost I'M
necessary emphasis dear little motherr'
eve did not make the world nor frame
the rules we have to obey, George" said
his mother" by way of beginning a fresh
exordium, which George interrupted with
question.
well now, supposing I could win the
consent of the girl, and her father too;
would you object to her for a daughter?
You have often said, you know, that both
you and father have always regretted
that you had no daughter"
MY dear George, Miss Denning seems
to me to be a charming and loveable girl.
She must make many sacrifices to help
keep up her fathers position; they are
not rich by any means; indeed, compared
with us they are poor-very; but as I SAID
before 1 would not set my heart upon it,
the major is so proud; and in Cheltenham
trade is almost a crime in the eyes of an
officer in her majesty's service"
But, dearest. you don't answer my
question. If Miss Denning consents some
day to be my wife, and her father does
not object, will the match be agreeable TO
you?"
Certainly, George" said Mrs. Weldon.
Very well, that's a step on the way
shall l tell you of another? l believe the
girl likes me-"
Where have you met her?'
only at the shop. She comes for a
pound of tea every Friday, and once or
twice in a week she calls to give an order;
she does 1t with the air of a duchess and
the sweetness Orwell, of a girl in ones
own set. She's just as gentle and courte-
GUS as any other nice girl who hasn't a
tory"
He was a manipulating fellow of three
and-twenty, this George Weldon, son of
Henry Weldon, the weil-known tea mer-
chant. His mother was d comedy, bright
eyed little woman of fve-and-forty, well
dressed, not without a fair education, and
possessing a certain personal charm. The
head of the household was a mild indus
trous amiable gentleman, who accepted
MS lot with cheerfulness, and managed
MS affairs with skill and success He was
worth not less than fifty thousand pounds
| outside his business, which was on much
arger scale than Cheltenham understood;
sun he was only tea merchant, or as his
wife preferred to put it, only a shop
keeper"
Ella Denning, whom all the talk was
about, might well have inspired the love
Of a much more important person than
George Weldon. She was the only daugh-
ter of Maj. Denning. late of her majesty's
royal artillery. and one of the eminently
proud and ancient Dennings Of the county
OF somerset. She was in the habit, as
We have seen, of patronizing Weldon's
store-the very best in Cheltenham, and
the headquarters OF other businesses be-
longing to Henry Weldon, at Birmingham,
Bristol, Bath, Exeter, and Cardiff.
lie might have sent his son to college,
nut he laid before him the prospect of a
cess large capital TO start with, and the
happiness that he would give his mother
by staying at home and accepting a part
uershiD in the business, eventually sue
eeeding to It with all its accumulations Of
money and afterwards retiring from IL, II
he should be so disposed. George had
elected the humber but perhaps the hap
per career. He had been educated at
local day school, always with the assist
ance Of tutors at home for various accom-
plshments; but he had been content with
moderate knowledge OF books making
lp for what he had not read by what he
had thought and by a practical study OF
botany, and by taking his recreation in
the open air, fishing. shooting, botanizing
Illng gardening, farming; for the Weldon
.Slablishment on the outskirts OF Chel-
,ehnam was one OF the largest and best
~ the locality, although it belonged 20 a
man who was only a shopkeeper No
major Of artillery, no half-pay officer OF
any rank, no country gentleman or stuck
uP visitor rode better cattle than George
emo his father would add, "and no rner-
'nant IN the land sold better tea"
Ut Ella Dennlng had not taken 20 buy
'.t mat refreshing plant al the Weldon
Is tne course Of George Weldons life