The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1901-08-24
lHlE lISOFREFg,S DAuGF
BY CHAIR O TE N. BRAEn t..

l.
lender, the calm, inscrutable man Of
business 's looked at the young earl
perhaps s. he wondered at his perfect
scalmness, then he glanced at a sheet
| OF paper lying ON the desk
1t will not be pleasant to hear, Lord /
! Car aver he said, slowly; but you
ask for it. To begin. AT the age Of
| q You succeeded to the Ravensmere
estates and title; the estates were clear
/ Of all debts and incumbrances: the
rent roll was thirty thousand per an
mum; there was, besides, a sum Of fifty
thousand pounds in the Funds, the saw
lngs of the late earl-that is correct, ]
believe %
Quite So" was the curt reply.
You are now % years OF. age, my
lord, and in seven years you have run
| through fortune" q.
3. Keep to facts; no comments plain
facts said the earl. ,ssl
The plain facts are these, con-
tinued the lawyer, the fifty thousand
went, believe, to pay the first years
losses on the Derby G
Yet my horse won interrupted
/ Lord Caraven.
The winning of that Derby was
your ruin, my lord. After that you
/. continually forestalled your income by
borrowing money; then your losses on
the turf and the gaming table were so
great that you were compelled to raise
a heavy mortgage ON the estate;s then
/ you borrowed money on the pictures,
4 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 Dor
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
belonging s-passes from you; it will be
seized with all it's CONTENTS ~.
1 f. Are you quite sure that I can bor-
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" sszz;-5ss5s VI ## : S3
4 Then, unless I repay the sixty thou
sand pounds in six weeks, 3Ravensmere
becomes the property Of the man who
4 lent the money!" NJ. - :r s.z ss :z
Precisely So" replied Arley Ran
some.
j. Then I hope he may live to enjoy
1t, for l have not sixty shillings.
Hush, he continued, seeing that the
lawyer was about to speak-t.no com
ments! am ruined man, as you say:
but will not submit to criticism. I
say frankly that have been wicked.
spendthrift-a prodigal; I say frankly
that if | could begin life again, would
live differently I have been worse
than fool have been a dupe. It is
all over. now, and have the price of
my folly to pay
80 1T is bitter price, too, my lord.
May ask what you think of doing?''
! You may ask-I know no answer.
In six weeks I lose Ravensmere, and
with it all sources of income, and. be-
sides that, am forty thousand pounds
in debt, and I have not forty shillings
to pay it with. It seems to me there is
but enc thing to be DONE"
Arley Ransome looked UP anxiously.
What is that?" he asked. - !. y*3}
81 had better invest the trif1e / have
remaining in the pu1 chase of revolver
you can imagine for what purpose ST
will be but a fitting end to such a ca
reer as mine. I really do not think.
Ransome, that I have had a hundred
. thousand pounds worth Of pleasure
| What comments the newspapers will
| make upon me! They will head their
paragraphs, Suicide of a spendthrift
Earl'-they will draw excellent morals
and warnings from my fate Mel. Of
my 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
| vens :" ,.,xss Il KS