The Portland daily press., 1898-03-15
TContinued.l

doubted the story OF that Mexican mar
riage-and I confess have been among
them-have been receiving me ON suf-
ferance.
"They have been receiving You on the
strength of his unsullied record, his
peerless courage. He did have his fears,
and I did share them with him, that
his bald assertion of fatherhood would
not carry him through, but it has, it
did. There is not today memory re-
vered as his is in this county or woman
in it who could command the following
you could
''As the reputed daughter of the late
Colonel Bascom, yes, plus few shrugs.
AS the legitimate daughter of his over
seer, no-no, and you know it,
Northoote stared over her head with
out making any reply. He could think
Of none that would carry any comfort
with it. Jessica flung question at him
with passionate gesture.
'When my grandmother found the
thing inevitable, the mischief done,
why did she not let her plebeian son-in-
law take his infatuated bride away
with him and let them rear their lowly
progeny in open ostracism? Why all
this mystery extending through the
years? Why all this accumulation of
disgrace about the defenseless head of
one poor grip
"Your grandmother never believed
the statements made by Whitney and
her daughter touching their secret mar
riage. They could produce no witnesses,
and the wandering evangelist who had
performed the ceremony had disap-
peared from the country. Her one de-
sire was to hide her shame from those
of her own class. She sent for me, the
lifelong friend of her son. I took her
daughter away with me. Her mother
never looked upon her face again. 1t
was left to her to inform Bascom Of his
sisters condition. She sternly forbade
his revenging the disgrace on Whitney,
as that would advertise matters to the
whole world. You can see how the pride
of the old aristocrat directed every step.
Whitney left the country before Bas-
com got back from Mexico. Until he
turned up as the owner of Belhaven we
had every reason to suppose him dead. ;"
He paused for comment. She had
none to make. He resumed rapidly:
"Of the actual facts Of his marriage
to Ellen Bascom was informed only
last week by the old man who wanted
at this late day to relieve his conscience
of burdensome secret. When he heard
that Whitney was living in the county,
he made a pilgrimage to him in order to
let him know that his wife was living.
The Rev. Mr.. Hayden's conscience is
tenderer than it was when he performed
the wedding ceremony olandestinely in
Miss Bascom's sitting room up stairs.
He excuses that by saying that Whitney
represented Miss Bascom's mother as
not being averse to the marriage, but
unreasonably objected to it's being per-
formed by Baptist. -
"What matters the method SO the
hideous fact stands firm? You have not
yet accounted for my uncle's guardian
ship. How did I get into his hands?
Where was born?''
"You were born in my house. Your
grandmother had intimidated or bribed
Whitney into leaving the country. My
own opinion is that he dared not await
Bascom's return"
"Do not lose sight of the fact that it
Is my father you are describing, - said
Jessica, with inexpressible bitterness.
"Pardon me, dear child"
EGO on"
"When you were a month old, your
mother left my house for Mexico, de-
claYing her intention of making Bascom
bring about reconciliation with her
mother"
ct did not oppose her going. / pro-
cured a trusty attendant for her. ]
thoughs the journey would do her good,
and I knew the estrangement from her
mother was almost killing her.
''She came back to me six weeks later
without her attendant and without you.
She told me strange story, to which
I gave no oredence, although Bascom
did write to me later that she had mar
rowly escaped death in a terrible rail
road accident.
"The clumsy story she told was that
on recovering consciousness she found
herself in a private houss surrounded
by kindly natives, all jabIs.ing Spanish
at her. One of them brought an infan;
and put it in her arms. She shriekeo
out at the sight Of it. 1t was not he's
child. The doctor was brought He
could understand English. She explain.
ed to him that few moments before
the shock she and young mother sit
ting in front of her had exchanged ba.
bies to see which was the heavier. A.
the crash came each woman clasped the
infant in her arms to her bosom. Then
they told her that the only other infant
on the train had been killed. together
with it's mother. No one believed her
story. I certainly do not 1 think tht
shock of the accident, coming on top O.
all the nerve strain she had been endur-
ing for several years, unbalanced hel
mind permanently. AS the main object
of her journey was to see her brother,
she took carriage and drove to his ad-