The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1897-11-19

49,
CHAPTER XXII-(Continued.)
.j,ond is too strong word" she said;
~ NI,c INV servants; l become attached
+, them even. when they are useful and
foithlu! but I am never fond of them
Put she is not a servant; she is gen
flo born has been highly educated, is
,,ifle, far above other women. Oh, moth
ar he human if you can. You know that
th;s girl has crept into your heart, how
nyrr hardly you may have strivcn to keep
her out. You know that you miss her
sornly, that she has grown dear to you"
Necessary to me, perhaps. Victorian,
bu not dear.
Yes. she has become dear to you,'
ncadcd Lashmar. kneeling by his moth
prs chair throwing his arms round her
rs he had done many time in his boyish
days when he wanted some indulgence at
her hands, but as he had done rarely of
late years. Yes, mother, say dear to
YOU, for my sake"
For your sake, Victorian! What can
yoT mean!
For my sake, mother; yes, for my sake
This friendless waif, this orphan daugh
ter of demagogue and destructive, this
spawn of the radical gutter, is just the
one woman / will have for my wife. 1t
may be that shall not win her. have
done everything to make myself hateful
in her eyes; but if miss her, will have
none other. l will go down to my grave a
woman hater Yes, the hater and reviler
of such women as Lady CarminOw, be-
meath whose alabaster bosom never glow
ed one generous emotion; as Mrs. Nava-
sour, who paints her face a quarter of an
inch thick; as Lady Sophia, the type of
our modern AmaZonS, who unsexes her
self by manly sports and mems society,
and never, from the time she wore pima
fores, has thought as woman; as
smooth-tongued Mrs. Mulciber, time-serv
ing, self-seeking, the traf1icker in society's
small vices and large foibles, garnering
up her riches out of other peoples worth
lessness. One woman and only one have
seen, straight, truthful, original, indie
pendent, scorning fortune when it was at
her feet, daring to live her own life in the
teeth Of adverse circumstances. Such an
one will honor and reverence. She and
no other shall be my queen"
Lady Lashmar looked at her sons i'm
passioned face with absolute horror. ''Is
this madness?" she murmured. "Why,
thought you hated the girl"
80 1 did, mother. Heaven knows
myself to believe that 1 detested her,
would not suffer my eye to linger upon
her face or my memory to recall her gra-
cious presence. And yet in spite of it all
she drew me. 1t has seemed like witch
craft, but now I begin to understand that
it was simple force Of character, the in
tluence of a pure, untarnished soul upon
one that had been blemished and clouded
by contact with the world. l believe that
Providence meant her for me-that my
brother trained her for me-that all things
have tended unawares to one happy end
tng-she is to be mine!
IF you do this thing, Victorian-if you,
my son, with your opportunities, marry
SO far beneath you, l suppose you know
that you will break my heart?"
Il know that / will do nothing of the
kind, mother sweetest. There will be
feeling Of disappointment, no doubt. You
would have preferred to see the Lashmar
Golfers replenished with the wealth Dane
brook made in the iron trade. You had
rather I had married the ironmaster's
daughter, albeit that on her fathers side
she comes from much lower grade than
Boldwoods orphan child. But this regret
once past, you will rejoice in your new
daughter, since she has been as Il daugh-
ter to you already, though you did not
know it,"
There was a pause, a silence which
seemed long. Victorian still on his knees
by his mothers chair.
He had been prepared for violent
outbreak, for ungovernable anger; prepar-
ed to hear himself denounced and cast off
as all unworthy son. But to his surprise,
the dowager sat for some moments with
her hands shading her eyes and her lips
silent. He almost thought she was weep
ing.
Il have missed her sorely," she said at
last, YES, sorely. She comforted me with
that low, sweet voice Of hers; her reading
had been Il kind of music which soothed
my tortured nerves. She has been very
sweet, infinitely patient, as sympathetic
us l would ever allow her to be. But you
are right in your accusation, Victorian.
l was never kind to her. l was always
afraid of being too kind, of letting her see
how necessary she was to me. We are
made of hard stuff, you and l, Victorian.
We come of hard race, a race with
whom pride of birth has been ever kind
of religion. 1t is difficult to stoOp when
such pride as that is bred in our bone, the
heritage Of thousand generations. AND
for my son to marry girl of no parentage
ii domestic in his mothers house"
Her father was an Oxford graduate!'
My dear Victorian, consider the herds
of Oxford graduates, down to the sons of
Oxford hair dressers. People will ask
who your wife is. How can you answer
them?"
II will leave the answer to time and
the lady who bears my name. Her beauty
and her genius should be an all-sufticient
answer.
CHAPTER XIII,
Lord Lashmar determined on going to
brumm directly after breakfast next
iuNrnir4sx L. loft nh OF tho I ion