Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-12-23
CHAPTER VIII.

1
Kelly, who has been Brian's u,st for the
last fortnight and who is to remain as long
as suits him, or as long after the grouse
shooting in August as he wills, has taken
himself into the garden to smoke cigar.
| This he does at n hint from Briin.
Now, finding himself alone With his uncle,
| Brian says, in the casual tone OF one making
an Indifferent remark
by the bye, ! can see you are not on
good terms with those old ladies at Moyne."
NO" says The Desmond, shortly.
"Some old quarrel. / have been gwen to
understand"
II should prefer not speaking about it,"
says the Squire.
well, OF course, dare say should not
have mentioned the subject, " he says, apollo
! getlcally; "but had 10 idea it was sore
point. 1t was not so much bad taste on my
part as ignorance beg your pardonr
1T was very unhappy affair altogether"
says the old Don Juan.
"Very unfortunate indie l. from what
have heard"
More than unfortunate right down dis
! graceful" says the Squire, with such un-
looked-for energy as raises astonishment in
the breast Of his nephew c'By Joye, one
would think the Old chap had only now
awakened to a sense of h'S misconduct" he
thinks, irreverently)
"Oh, WELL" he says, leniently, 'hardly
that, you know
"Quite that" emphatically
ut has been often done before; yours is
not solitary case"
SOLITARY or not, there were elements
about 1t meXcuSablc,' says the old Squire,
beating his hand upon the table as though
! to emphasize his words.
" wouldn't take it so much to heart If
were you" says Brian, who Is really begin
ming to pity him.
1T has lain on my heart for twenty years.
L can't take it off now," says the Squire.
You have evidently suffered" returns
Brian, who Is getting more and more amazed
at the volcano he has reused. "Of course |
can quite understand that If you were once
more to find yourself in similar circum-
! stances you would act very differently"
II should indeed !--pery differently A
man seldom makes fool of himself twice
in lifetime"
"You didn't show much wisdom, | dare
say"
mo, none; and as for her,--to fling away
such love as that" Here he pauseS,
and looks dreamily at the silver tankard be-
fore him.
This last speech rather annoys Brian; TO
glOat over the remembrance of a love that
had been callously east aside to suit the eXi-
gences of the moment, seems to the younger
mau caddiSh sort of thing not to be endured.
C'Though what the mischief any pretty
girl of nineteen could have seen in HIM" he
muses., gazing with ill-conCealed amazement
ut his uncle'S ugly countcnance, "iS more
than / can fathom.~
,.I, =. 4, l..
imagine he cannot refrain from saying
q prOp0S his uncle's last remark, with the
view to taking him down peg.
1T was sir" says the Squire, Sternly. ut
was the love of lifetime. People may
doubt as they WILL but know no love has
superseded it,"
'Oh, he is in his dotage!' thinks Brian,
dsgustedly; and rising from the table, he
makes few more trivial remarks, and then
walks from the dining-room on to the bal
cOny, and too the garden beneath
Finding his friend Kelly an iyied bower,
lost in a cigar, and possibly, though inn
| probably, in improving meditation, he is
careful not to disturb him, but, making
successful dctour, escapes his notice, and
turns his face toward that part of Coole
that is connected with Moync by means of
the river.
At Moyne, too, dinner has come to an end,
and, tempted by the beauty of the quiet
evening, the two old ladies and the children
have stroled into the twilt garden.
There is strange and sweet hush in the
air--a stiffness full Of lifc-but slumberous
life. The music of streams can be heard,
and distant murmur from the ocean; but
the birds have got their heads beneath their
wings, and the rising night wind wooes
them all in vain.
Shadows numberlesS are lying in misty
corners the daylight fingers yet, as though
loath to quit us and sink into eternal night.
1t is an eve of 'holiest mood" full Of tran
guilty and absolute calm.
1T is that hour Of quiet ecstasy.
| Whom every rustling wind that passes by
The sleeping leaf makes busiest minstrclsy"
"You are silent Priscilla" says Miss
Penelope, glancing at her.
~ am thinking. Such an eve az this al
ways recalls Katherine; and yesterday that
meettng,--all has helped to bring the past
most vividly before me-"
"Ah. dear, yes" said Mss Penelope, re-
garding her with afurtive but tender glance.
"How must he have felt, when he thought
what grief he brought to her young life"
you are talking of mother" asks Kit,
suddenly, letting her large dark eyes rest on
Miss Penelopes face, as though searching
for latent madness there.
"YeS, my dear, of course"
'IIe would not haze dared so to treat her
had her father been alive, or had we been
blessed with brother" says Miss Priscilla,
sterny. ale proved himself bastard and
| a coward"
perhaps there was some mistake" says
Monica, timidly, plucking pale blossom
and pretending to admire it.
mo, no. We believe he contracted an
affection for some other girl, and foy her
sake Tilted your mother. If so, retribution
swift and proper followed OH his perfidy,
because he brought 10 wife later on to grace
his home. Doubtless he was betrayed in
his turn. That was only just"
There seems to be reason in that con-
lecture" says Miss Penelope, because he
went abroad almost Immediately. | saw
him shortly before he left the country, and
he was then quite broken-down man. He
must have taken his Oipn misfortune greatly
to heart.
"Servcd MIN rightr' says Miss Priscilla,
mcompromisingly ''IIedeserved no greater
luck. Your mother suffered so much at his
hands that she almost lost her health.
don't believe she ever got over It,"
"Ol, yes, she did," says Terry, suddenly;
''she got over it uncommonly well. We
didn't know who Mr. Desmond was then, of
course; but knsg she used to make quite
joke of him"
"A joker says Miss Priscilla, in an awful
tone.
Eyes, regular fun, you know" goes on
Terence, undaunted. "One day she was tell
1 ino e. n.Il % ahC In nac.
nond, good thing she called 1t, and she
was laughing heartily; but he wasn't and
when she had finished, remember, he said
something to her about want of delicacy of
feeling or something like that"
II was there" SAYS Kit i her high trebIe