The Holly chieftain., 1898-11-11

pany to which he was bred; and his
sisters WINGED and blushed at his free
comments upon themselves, the life of
the home and of the east, as it appeared
to him after an interval of absence;
and his mother wistfully took note of
her boys gray hairs and his old, tired,
unspiritual appearance. but would not
discuss him or hear him criticised; and
his brothers pointedly requested him
to pay a visit to their tailor, and they
sometimes forgot TO mention to mutual
dinner-giving friends that Fred was in
town. Yet they thought he might be
presentable enough. according to west
ern standards. He had. at his best, a
good manner, trifle out Of date, to be
sure; he had the indurate remains of
an expensive education; he drank too
much, undoubtedly, though that was
not an exceptional failing with the men
of their set. They did not conceive the
manner of his drinking when he was
at his lonely posts of unmatched re-
sponsibility; how he drank alone, and
continued idiotically replenishing, in
solitary boredom; how he drank with
his interiors lest they should think him
proud. and with his subordinates, of
course, because at an isolated mine the
managers boys" are his sole compan-
IONS and sometimes better-bred men
than himself; nor the perilous stuff
that man drinks. at those attitudes,
who is careless of himself. These
things the mothers heart OWNED.
shrinkingly, without a question or a
fact. But the prosperous eastern broth
ers, sensible of the continental scope
and importance of their own affairs,
thought that second-rate man might
do we'll enough for such places us they
sought for Fred. 1t could not be ex-
pected that frst-class men would be
willing to exile themselves to holes and
corners OF the earth, at any price. So
the good name, and the good manner
that was not quite up to date, and the
family influence, were in requisition
once more to cover up the inner facts
of Fred's latest failure (what the facts
were his brothers hardly knew, and
they had not been very particular in
their inquiries), and he was passed on,
like counterfeit coin, to his next op-
portunity, at some other persons ex-
pense.
OF late years friends of the family
had hesitated to ask: '.What is Fred
doing now?" He changed his occupa-
ton SO often-or it seemed often to per-
sons who thought of him only once in
three or four years; and they said to
one another: What mercy that he
has never married again!" and they
bethought them that they must "do
something" for that pretty creature.
his daughter, and perhaps were a trifle
relieved. on casting up her years. to
remember that she could not be more
than schoolgirl, and there was plenty
| of time. And her aunts were such very
sensible women-no doubt they were
bringing her up to fit sense Of what
her fathers daughter might have to
look forward to; which they were not
doing at all, but were petting her, and
making as much ado over the child as If
all the good fairies hadmet at her christ
ening. They were not even attempting
to revise her innocent impressions of n
parent known to her chiefly through
his munificence in gifts and pocket
money. Her aunts never toldiher of the
carelessness that went with the munifi-
cence; OF the lapses, when there were
no remittances even for shoes and
school-bills; nor how often their own
private means had been drawn upon, to
spare the little inheritance that they
held in trust from their sister to her
child. This money, they were resolved,
should not be touched, neither princi-
pal nor interest, while they were its
custodians; and in this way alone they
showed their prudence. For why should
she need to know, poor child, what the
world said Of her father? They them
selves did not pretend to know or to
| judge him, but always, for the sake of
their sisterwho had known him and had
been silent to the last. they too were
silent. What the child's own mother
would never have told her, they be-
| lieved that they, who stood in the
mothers place, had no right to tell
her.
When at last they were startled by
their brother-in-law's unexpected de-
mand that his daughter should follow
him into the far west. they knew not
what to say. They had no objections
that they could dare to offer now, and
they had no rights in the child herself.
that they could set against the right of
a father; and Faith, as any girl would
be. was wild to 60. They watched and
prayed, feeling as II some unhallowed
bargain, transacted long ago, in which
an unconscious life was the innocent
forfeit, had been fatally foreclosed. And
they had made no effort to prepare the
girl for whatever surprises, or shocks,
or ordeals. this foreclosure involved.
They could not have said just what it
was that they feared-simply they did
not trust the man. her father. and they
greatly feared the life to which he was
| taking her. But they never questioned
that she must go.
Those gentle, unassertive. maiden
mothers who, with more than maternal
unselfishness, had fulfilled every duty
and made every sacrifice for their sis
ter's child. yielded her up to the natural
tie, and every one said that it was well
done. A few outspoken old gentlemen
who had no daughters of their own,
and one or two defrauded young ones,
declared it was shame; but the wives
and mothers generally said that 1t was
the right place for Faith; all the more IL,
as was limited, her father was not in all
respects just what he should be. So.
with no more preparation for the ex-
perience before her than girls have who
go to the altar with men they are ex-