Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1897-04-01

own pleasure. so as she Wouldn
give 1t up gave her up. 1t was her
fault entirely that | married as | did,
And now see what has come of that
From what | have heard of Mrs.
Ned Thorburn | dor't believe she is
either faddy or selfish" Mrs. Cumber-
land said, gravely. And as for what
has come of your sad, mistaken mar
riage, oh! Sholto, be a man, and don't
try TO put the blame of 1t on any other
shoulders than your own
There was never a Graham who
wasn't sound in wind, limb and mind, -
he replied, hotly. Don't try to pre-
tend that you or any other sane person
can blame me for this thing, who was
born to be my curse, being what it is
Hush you are speaking of your own
flesh and blood, she interrupted "He
will be blind, he will be deformed in
body, but, please God his mind will be
clear; he will learn to love you if you
do your simple duty kindly, and when
he loves you YOU viii learn to love
him"
"Neyer!" he said with shudder,
ut would have been bad enough 10 be
afflicted with a baby if it had been all
right But with this one! What is to
become of me? The thought of him will
always handicap my endeavors to get
on. What will be the good of my trying
TO make a name for such wretched
creature as that to inEerh it? And what
woman on earth wcrth anything will
give herself and her dollars into my
keeping if he is 70 have a share of the
latter? No, the fact is, If some ass OF
phila4thropist doesn't take him OFF
my hands my life is ruined one, and
it's all owing to Patrice Laugherne's
seltishness."
Mrs. Cumberland looked at him
steadily. Was he speaking in silly jest
or in sadly wicked earnest? It was bit
ter for the woman who had nourished
a passionate weakness for him so long
to think the latter.
You always do yourself injustice by
the unreasonably rash way you speak
of your own feelings and motives" she
said, with the desire to give him an
other chance strongly upon her.
My wretched circumstances must be
my excuse for expressing aloud the
genuine feelings and motives which are
swaying me. ] feel as if | could never
hold up my head or look man or wo-
man in the face again. If Providence
removes this obniXious burden from
my shoulders | will make a fresh start
with a name and give a woman | love
cause to be proud OF me-"
IF the woman you love has a wo-
mans heart in her body and loves you
the child won't be her barrier between
you. Besides, ! viii take the poor little
burden off your shoulders. | have q
fixed income now settled on me by my
husbands old friend, Sir Andrew"
THE devil you have! What made him
set YOU free and make you indepen-
tent? ?"
The news of your marriage, As
soon as he heard OF ii and knew that
you could never be silly enough to
dream of marrying me again, he set
tied a thousand a year on me. ! can
bring up your poor little Sholto and
provide for him, and you can be free
to make your bargain with the woman
you love"
mo. | cant; that's just it, he said,
eagerly and irritably "for you are the
woman want to make a name for, but
that cursed child steps in"
She held her hand out to him. 'Shol-
to-" she said, and he could not help
thinking that never in his life before
had he seen her look so noble. Il told
you just now that your child would be
no barrier between you and the woman
you loved, provided she had woman $
heart. and loved you. Poor little fel-
low! He only steps in to draw me closer
to you
That's all very good and nice from
the mere womanly point Of view, but
YOU can't expect man to look at things
in that light"
His fingers slightly relaxed their
grasp of her hand, and feeling this she
quietly drew 1t away. There you are,
YOU see" he grumbled; "at the first
hint of possible opposition to your lad
about this child you grow cool and let
me feel that am not all in all with
you. The child has stepped in and be-
come bone of contention between us
already"
"The contention is not Of my max
ing"
That's what women invariably say
when their paslively amiable and tout
wardly) admirable and praiseworthy
selfishness Is not absolutely bowed
down TO. That's what Patrice Sald
when represented to her how unreas-
enable and utterly unjust to me the
point at issue between us was.
He got up and walked about the
room with long strides, looking quite
animated and aglow with his satisfae-
ton at his own eloquence and excellent
mowers Of argument. She watched him
for a minute with much such a look as
had been in Patrice's eyes when he told
her that when they married Capt. k@Iy
could go to an asylum for decayed
s,artIarnnn pa he (GtCItO1 had no fancy