The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1901-01-02
g e & 81 e e
CHAPTER I.

beluS more or less OF Qut1rul so
It is with no little conjunction that
begin this narrative, for 1t nearly con
Germs my father, and fear he will
come none too well out of the ordeal
Yet what l have to relate Is SO remark
able that for its singularity alone
may hope to be pardoned any lack O
Glial piety. And perhaps, when all il
said and done, my father, though Ii
may not cut an irreproachablc figure
may appear not quite contemptibl,
one. 1t must not be forgotten that
only knew the wreck of him; the stou
ship that had battled with so many
tempests In so many seas was to mt
practically unknown. Yet, from what
have since heard, there was u time
when the name of Captain Bob King
ston was respected In very strange
company-when his mere entrance into
q public place caused men to nudge
each other and whisper low, when
from Hakodate down to the Torres
strait his name was common proper
ty. But that was long ago, long before
the Terror had seized him.
Ny personal knowledge of him up to
my seventeenth year was extremely
slight, for, with rare intervals, he spent
the whole of that period at sea. Some
times he was away for two or three
years together, and once he staid
abroad for five years at a stretch. 10
me his absence meant little or nothing.
Had it not been for my mothers talk
of him should have forgotten his very
existence. 10 my Imagination he SEEM
ed almost myth, Il sort of Flying
Dutchman, who was forever battling
with stormy seas. But to her of course,
he was still the man to whom she had
plighted her troth, and often had |
caught her porting over her album, in
which We're at least dozen portraits
Of him. And though at first | did not
know what her hasty closing of the
book meant, l have still vivid recol-
lection Of her great, sad eyes as she
turned them up to me--cyes full Of a
pitiful, inquiring pathos. Sometimes l
thought the scrutiny satisfied her, at
others she turned away with sigh
which l failed to read. Perhaps In
those days did not try very hard-for
what has a boy to do with the inner
thoughts Of wOmen?-but 1t all comes
back now, and l read the meaning of
those looks as | would written page.
But, boy as was, soon knew that
his long absences preycd upon her
mind. Never once did hear her muir
muir word against him, and whenever
she spoke of him it was always with
glowing satisfaction, just as one sees
face light up at the resurrection Of IA
memory and one charged with incifa-
BILE sadness.
1t was mainly through my Uncle
Jim, my mothers brother, that ! first |
learned to suspect my father of not be-
Ing the best of husbands. But when | |
preached the subject to her she de-
clared quite angrily that It would be
come Uncle Jim better If he were to
mind his own business. And yet this |
know he continued to believe was his ,
business, for he loved his sister very
dearly. and SO that he might be near
her he had lately taken Il cottage on !,
The Maidenhead road Il little the other !
side Of Slough.
We lived between Slough and Wind.
Dor, a bit back from the road that
branches Off to Datclctt. Here father
had brought my mother shortly after
their marriage, and the l was born.
There lived during III whole of my
young life, and ii was there my father
spent the few weeks he could spare
from the sea. l have but slight rccol.
lection OF him at that time, for on the
occasion of his last visit to us | was
only $ years old I know he brought
mother some laces and silks and me
Some queer eastern toys-dolls from
Japan, IDOLS and the like from Burma
and Siam aud Il wonderful kite from
Wilma which was the encvy and admi-
ytion Of every boy in the neighbor-
BOD. Then ] thought my mothers
ice changed, and she looked young
fnd pretty again. Not that she could
sver lave been anything but pretty
with her wonderful brown eyes, her
masses Of black hair and her soft,
sweet face but I suppose the inward
happiness heightened the effect of the
mere physical beauty.
Then came the parting and for days
before melancholy fell upon the
house, while for days after she would
move about like one in dream.
AT first the letters came with COM
mendable regularity, and with a glad
face she used TO rc:lsl extracts to ne.
Now he was In Japan, now in Java
and now at Thursday island. II seems
he had boat Of his own and used to
trade between the China seas and the
northern coasts of Australia. That he
was shrewd business man as well rs I
4 capable sailor had no doubt for, I
though we did not live in luxury, We
had never monetary trouble. No, II
was not the want of money that grad.
ually paled my mothers cheek and
gave her that wstful. farolf look; II
was not for money that she watched |
the postman come down the road week
In and week out.
As the years slipped on the letters
came at rarer intervals. Once we did I
not hear from him for ten months. and 1
then 1t was only short note to say
that he had just returned from long
voyage In the Pacific and that he was
about to undertake a mission In the
Interior Of China We were not to ex. Z
pect to hear from him for long time, y
and sure enonmh lie kent liz waiting Z