Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-05-22

You did perfectly right, Harold in
terposed the elder man. "And Clarice, you
say, is attending to the poor fellow with
her W hands,"
eyes, sir; she preferred to do So"
A few minutes later Clarice Templeton
entered tho room, and both its male occu-
pants were surprised to see her eyes were
fearful. "You have been weeping, child?"
said her father as she sank down on the
hassock at his side.
Eyes," she said, softly; sit was some
thing that poor man did and said when he
was bidding me good night and thanking
me for the food I had placed before him."
Robert Templeton was too much en-
crossed with his own thoughts to reply to
what Clarice was saying.
my child" he said after Il short pause,
t'it is only right that you should hear
what l am now about to say. 1t is only
right that the man who desires to make
you his wife and who is here tonight for
my answer should know your history-and
mine"
The young lovers gazed wonderingly
upon the speaker, and their hands sought
each others instinotively.
"History, sir! 1 scarcely understand
you," said Franklin. IT know already
that you, the most illustrious architect Of
the time, were in your younger days far
poorer than you now are. Have you not
told me often that your early struggles
were fraught with privation. Your his
tory, sir, is one that rebounds to your
credit"
II do not refer to the struggles Of my
youth, Harold; it is something else-some-
thing which concerns Clarice. 1t Is this:
Clarice is not my daughter"
The words were spoken at last.
mot your daughter" whispered the
girl, her face blanching deathly pale.
"Sit down again, my child, and listen
to my story. 1t is an old story-a common
theme for novelists, but true in my case:
1.-Two brothers fall in love with one girl.
One of the brothers is studious and aspir-
ing, the other Is wild and careless. The
girl chooses the one who thought of to-
morrow as a time of pleasure and hated
the plodding life Of industry. The brother
who was studious guarded his secret we'll.
None knew his heart was rent with unre-
Quilted love. He smiled and spoke COM
monplace words to the woman who had
unconsciously broken his heart. But in
the solitude Of the night his thoughts
would ever wander from his books to the
dream that had been shattered.
"He left his native town and settled for
a short time in Manchester. One day he
received word that the brother who occu-
pied the place he himself had often dream
ed to fill had been arrested on a charge of
forgery. The charge was we'll founded and
eventually he was sentenced to 10 years
penal servitude.
"This was two years after his marriage,
and one year after his child was born. His
wife never recovered from the shock, and
when the husband had served but one year
of his imprisonment she was laid to rest.
/ reached her side a few hours before she
died. She begged that I would take care Of
the golden haired prattler she wal leaving
b%ehind-take care of her until he had serv-
ed his period of imprisonment. Ipromised.
And when the earth closed over the body
of her I had loved I took the child away
the child that resembled the mother Sc
much. You were that child, Clarice."
A silence fell on the little group az
Templeton finished speaking, and the gold
en- head of Clarice had dropped forward
until 1t found rest on the architect s knee.
"And what do you expect me to say,
Mr.. Templeton?" asked Franklin at
length.
IT expect to hear you say what your
heart prompts you to say"
"My heart prompts me to say that moth
| ing you have told me tonight has altered
my love for Clarice, and l repeat again.
| love her dearly, and she loves me. We ask
| your consent to our marriage"
"And I give 1t, Harold" said Temple
| ton, taking Franklin's hand and wiring
ing it. The young fellow stopped and
raised Clarice from her detected attitude,
kissed her streaming face and they passed
slowly side by side from the room.
An hour later the lovers stood at the
end of the wooded drive bidding each 9th
or good night. The rain hadceased falling.
"And to think, Harold, that I who have
always felt proud Of my parentage should
be SO disillusioned-to think that I am the
daughter of a felon!'. and as the words
fell from Clarice Templeton's lips she
sought to check the sobs that filled her
bosom. Franklin drew her throbbing form
closer to his side.
"Nay, sweetheart, " he said, 'let not the
news trouble you 80. You are not to blame
for what your father did, and he perhaps
by this is sorrowing for his past cruelty
| and wickedness. However, let us try to
forget him and the past and be happy in
| our mutual love and the golden days to
come"
Engrossed as the lovers were, neither of
them was cognizant of the proximity Of a
third PERSONA man who crouched i'll the
| shadow of the trees.
eyes, forget him and the past" mar
| INJURED the latter. ''It is only right that
| you should. As for him !'-and the crouch
ing figure stole softly away.
"But tell me, Clarice," said Franklin,
tell me the cause of the tears l saw IN
your eyes when you joined your father-l
| shall always call him such-and ne in the
study"
cit was the poor man-.the tramp
"He did not brighten your" broke In
Franklin.
"Frighten me, Harold! No, something
quite different. He said I reminded lin
Of one he loved-a daughter who is lost to
| him forever-and-and he asked ne to-
to kiss him, Harold"
And you did9" queried franklin,
smilingly.
eyes, / couldn't refuse. Besides, he was
all old man, you know"
%
The following day there was found in a
pool some miles away the dead body OF an
unknown man. 1t was the tramp.-Iit-
bits.
such a Good Man!