The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-09-27


MNM\ENM3ENl%N Thirty odd years
M NNK[/2NJAA ago the set he
%NMfW~MSS1 lived i'm had been
" VWN fsN~ startledand mys-
titled by his sudden flight and disap-
pearance. At that time his position
here had seemed IL singularly pleasant
one. He was young-he was seven or
eight and twenty; he was fairly well
off-he had something like three thou
sand year. indeed: he belonged to an
excellent family. the Shropshire Vel
lans of whom the titled head. Lord
Vellan Of Norshingfeld, was his uncle;
he was gOOd-looklng. amiablc. amusing,
popular, and he had just won a seat
In the House of Commons, (as Jun
ior member for Sheffingham), where.
since he was believed to he ambitious
as well as clever, it was generally ex-
pected that he would 70 far.
Then. quite suddenly. he had re-
signed and left England. His motive
for this unlikely course he explained
20 no one. To few intimate friends
he wrote brief letters of farewell.
Il am of for a journey round the
world. | shall he gone an indefinite
time"
The Indefinite time ended by defin-
ing ID as upwards of thirty years. for
the first twenty of which only his so
llcitor and his bankers could have
given you his address and they
wouldn't. For the last ten he was
understood to be living in the Island Of
Porto Rico, and planting sugar. Mean
while his uncle had died, and his cous-
in (his unclSs only som had succeeded
10 the peerage. But the other day his
cousin. too. had died, and chlldless, so
that the estates and dignitles had de-
volved upon himself With that re-
turn to England became an obligation I,
there were score of minor beneficial
ries under his cousins will whose lega-
cies could not without delay he paid
unless the new lord was at hand.
Mrs. Sandyrl Kempton sat before the
fire in her wide. airy, faded drawing
room and thought of Theodore Vellan
of old days. and wondered what the
present Lord Vellan would be like. She
had got note from him that morn
ing, dispatched from Southampton the
day before. announcing:
II shall he in town to-morrow-at
Bowden's Hotel, in Cork street" and
asking when he might come to her.
She had answered by telegraph:
Come and dine at eight tonight -
10 which he had wired back an ac-
ceptance.
Thereupon she had told her son that
was seated before her fire, waiting for
Theodore Vellan to arrive, and think
ing of thirty years ago.
She was a bride then, and her hus-
band. her brother Paul and Theodore
Nellan We're bound In league Of ar.
dent young mannish friendship a
friendship that dated from the time
when they had been undergraduates to-
gether at oxford. she thought of the
three handsome. happy talented young
men and Of the brilliant future she bad
foreseen for each Of them, her husband
at the bar, her brother In the church,
ana Vellan-nOt in politics, she could
never understand his political aspira-
lions. they seemed quite at odds with
the rest of his charncter-bu in litera.
tue. as a poet, for he wrote verse
which she considered very unusual ana
pleasing She thought of this. and then
she remembered that her husband was
dead. and that Theodore Vcllan had
been dead to his world at all events
for thirty years Not one of them had
IN any way distinguished himself; not
one had in any measure fulfilled the
promise of his youth.
Her memories were sweet and bitter;
they made her heart glow and ache
Vellan, as she recalled him. had been
before all things, gentle-with the gen.
Hest manners. His gentleness, she
told herself. was the chief element OF
his eharm-his gentleness which was
really phase of his modesty. "Ht
was very gentle. he was very modest
he was very graceful and kind" SHE
said, and she remembered hundred
Instances of his gentleness, his mod
esty his Kindness. oh, but he was ne
milksop. He had plenty of spirit
plenty or run. He was bOyish, h,
could romp. And at that time scenl
repeated Itself to her mind, seen,
that had passed In this same drawlnl
room more than thirty years ago. L
was tea time, and on the tea table lay
n dish OF pearl biscuits, and she AN,
her husband and Vellan We're alone
Her husband took handful of pear
biscuits and tossed them one by on
In the air, while Vellan threw bacl
his head and caught them In his moutl
as they came down-this was one o
his accomplishments. She smiled a
she remembered II, but at the sam
limc she put her handkerchief to he
eyes.
why did he go away What coul,