Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-02-04
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The QSOKEKS DAUGHTER.
BY CHARLOTTE N. BRAEME.
INTERNATIONAL PRESS ASSOCIATION.

lender, the calm, inscrutable man Of
business, looked at the young earl
perhaps he wondered at his perfect
calmness, then he glanced at a sheet
of paper lying on the desk.
1T will not be pleasant to hear, Lord
Caraven," he said, slowly; but you
ask for it. To begin. At the age OF
estates and title; the estates were clear
Of all debts and incumbrances the
rent roll was thirty thousand per an
mum; there was, besides, sum OF nifty
thousand pounds in the Funds, the saw
ings of the late earl-that Is correct,
believer"
quite So" was the curt reply.
"You are now % years Of age, my
lord, and in seven years you have run
through a fortune"
Keep to facts; no comments-plain
facts" said the earl.
"The plain facts are these" con-
tinued the lawyer, "the fifty thousand
went, believe, to pay the first years
losses on the Derby"
"Yet my horse won," interrupted
Lord Caraven.
"The winning of that Derby was
your ruin, my lord. After that you
borrowing money; then your losses OH
the turf and the gaming table were so
great that you were compelled to raise
heavy mortgage on the estate; then
you borrowed money on the pictures.
the plate and the furniture at Ravens
mere. In fact, my lord, briefly told,
your situation Is this-yOu are hope
lessly helplessly ruined. You owe six
ty thousand pounds mortgage money,
and owe forty thousand pounds bor-
rowed money-and you have nothing
to pay it with. You received notice
from me six months since that the
mortgage money was called in. Unless
it is paid in six weeks from now the
estate-Ravensmere Castle with all it's
belongings-passes from you it will be
seized with all its contents"
Are you quite sure that can Dor
row no more?" asked the earl.
"Quite sure, my lord, you have sold
all the timber that you could sell, as I
told you-the only thing left is your
self"
"Then, unless repay the sixty thou
sand pounds in six weeks, Ravensmere
becomes the property of the man who
lent the money!"
Precisely So" replied Arley Ran
some.
"Then l hope he may live to enjoy
1t, for | have not sixty shillings.
Hush" he continued, seeing that the
lawyer was about to speak-"no COM
ments! am ruined man, as you say;
but l will not submit to criticism l
say frankly that I have been wicked
spendthrift-a prodigal; 1 say frankly
that if l could begin life again, would
live differently. l have been worse
than a fool have been dupe 1t is
all over now, and have the price of
my folly to pay"
at is bitter price, too my lord.
May I ask what you think of doing"
you may ask-I know no answer.
In six weeks l lose Ravensmere, and
with it all sources Of income, and, be-
sides that l am forty thousand pounds
in debt, and I have not forty shillings
to pay it with. 1t seems to me there is
but one thing to be done"
Arley Ransome looked up anxiously.
"What is that?" he asked.
81 mad better invest the trifle have
remaining in the purchase of a revolver
you can imagine for what purpose; it
will be but fitting end to such ca
reer as mine. l really do not think,
Ransome, that I have had hundred
thousand pounds worth of pleasure.
What comments the newspapers will
make upon me! They will head their
paragraphs, Suicide of Spendthrift
Earl'-they will draw excellent morals
and warnings from my fate. Men of
nv age will read 1t and think what a
dupe must have been: it will not be a
noble ending for the last Of the Cara