The Monmouth inquirer., 1898-09-01

Berthal"
Helen Gilbert smiled sneeringly, and
her brother exclaimed:
''You are true woman, Miss Vim
cent. We, as a class, should be better
if the ladies would frown down our
vices"
1--WE, however, have gained the VIC
tory--we are two to one" cried Carrie,
with a light laugh.
1T is no laughing matter" said
Bertha. II hope we shall none Of us
have such trial as Theodoras
Il declare we are growing dismal,
exclaimed the Southern belle; 'let US
change the subject
With ready tact she set some other
topic afioat, and dismissed the affair
from my mind till painful circum-
stances led me to recall it.
The day after the conversation
/ have recorded Bertha Vincent and
Miss Vincent and Miss Gilbert were
passing fashionable restaurant, when
Helen grasped her companions arm,
and said, quickly:
ssLook! looki"
AS she spoke she pointed to a coacn
into which two police officers were lift
ing a man. Bertha cast one glance at
him, and gasped:
Robert"
Then she rushed forward and ex-
claimed, hoarsely:
"Is he hurt? What has happened? ?"
Nothing very unusual" replied the
officer nearest her. HE got drunk in
the saloon and insulted waiter; they
had a hand-to-hand battle. and this
man received a blow which left him
/ senseless. We heard the tumult and
hastened in; somebody says he's Rob-
ert Lincoln's son..
"Yes, he is" faltered Bertha; take
him home"
sAnd where does he live?"
"At No. - B street"
The officer closed the carriage door,
one of them sprang upon the box, and
the coach dashed away.
"Oh Bertha, Bertha, what shall we
do?' cried Helen, wringing her daintily
gloyed hands.
Bertha Vincent made no reply: si-
lent, pale, she stood gazing after the
carriage, but statuesque as was her
external appearance, her heart was
burning with baptism of fire.
Bertha, Bertha!" resumed Helen,
why don't you speak?"
Still the gir1 was dumb, but when
the carriage was out of sight, she
thought of the proud father to whom
they were bearing him--the father who
had never before had cause to blush for
| his son.
"Oh. poor Uncle Johnl" she wal ed,
for like everybody else, she called him
Uncle.
Yes, yes, this will be a great shock
| to him." chimed in the Southern girl.
"a terrible shock--let us go home.
Helen"
And seizing Miss Gilbert's hand, she
dragged her along to the stately man
sion she had left in such high spirits.
My heart grows faint as l think Of
1 the scene I witnessed at Uncle Johns
1 that day The poor old man sitting be-
side his degraded son. the pale. de-
spairing girl, who ministered to his
| wants. the tears that bathed his bloat-
ed face, the means which went echoing
/ through the chamber, the prayers
breathed in an agony which | cannot
describe-ah! this was a fiery trial
| When young Lincoln was pro-
nounced out of danger, he received the
! following note:
Dear, dear Robert: You know my
nature--I cannot marry one whom /
| cannot trust. I therefore leave you.
Do not seek to change my determine
tion, for it is unalterable How l have
loved you, God alone knows. How
have suffered since last Thursday, what
it costs me to sever the ties which bind
us together, He also knows. But He
will, I trust, heal the wounds your con-
duct has opened in my heart, and give
me peace, If not happiness.
II cannot, however, bid you farewell
| till beseech you, for your fathers
sake, to abjure your degrading habits.
and be the comfort and stay of his old
age. I go, but l shall pray for your
welfare as long as life lasts.
THUS Bertha bids you farewell"
1t would be impossible to portray the
| tumultuous emotions which shook
Cousin Roberts frame, as he read the
| above He wept, he raved like mad
man, he frantically protested that he
had drank nothing but glass OF lem
onade at the saloon, though urged to
taKe brandy by a gentleman to whom
4 Gilbert had introduced him three or
four evenings previous at the opera. OF
course none of us dared credit his asse-
verations at first, but when he took a
/ solemn oath that he would never take
drop of anything at a fashionable sa-
loon, we began to have more confidence
/ in him.
| This took place last winter, and all
! the spring he kept his VOW. Helen Gill
bert exercised every effort in her pow
er to bring him to her feet, but in vain,
and she returned to the South disap-
pointed woman.
Her brother took a severe cold in our
bleak climate, and sank into rapid
consumption. On his death-bed he
4 wrote Cousin Robert letter, in which
he confessed that as he was in love
with Bertha, and Helen with young
Lincoln. they had plotted to estrange
.Aem forever A friend of his, at his
request. had asked Robert to drink
brandy being refused, lemonade was
proposed. The liquor was drugged, and
operated fearfully, as we have seen.
There was a jubilee at Uncle Johns
when this was noised throughout the