The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-06-04

cons may hear evil fruit or yoo6-l
Know not. | understand the chlsd Us
no one else ever can, and | say TO you
most decidedly, ii eEerNou wish 10 WIN
her love or her heart. do not shock her
Al first br telling her that you are her
father: remember she has been taught
10 hate the English. and to believe that
her father is dead. Let her learn to
know YOU and to love you first: then
tell her when YOU will. ! impress this
on you. for l know her well. VIII
forward by her all papers that are
necessary to prove her birth. Seno Iot
Veronica at once. | Know tilai i''Ne
not many hours TO live. ,>,,,,
He was sitting in the oraWlhs-foolll
At Queens Chace when that letter was
hrorIrht to him. His daughter halhe..
rinr w1S 1T the piano. singing some OF
fhr old English ballads that he loved.
! ady Brandon lay on the couch, en-
crossed in novel. y clear, bright lire
Was burning in the CRATE: the warm ar
was percumcd with the odOr of flowers
lie raised his haggard face as he
read. Great Heaven, what was he to dc:
lie Lad almost forgotten the very eX-
istence Ct the child. She had faded
from his memory. His passionate love
for her beautiful mother was as Keen
as erer-as full Of life as it had been
on the first day he met her. but the
child he had diSliked: the child had
cost her mother her life. Why had
AsSunta given her that sweet, sad
name OF "NerOnica'? What was he TO
do with her when she came: lie looked
at his handsome wife. with her high
bred face and dignitied manner, he
looked at his lovely young daughter.
and then bowed his head in despair.
\ thought had pierced his soul. Dur
ing all these years he had forgotten the
child: she had passed, as it were, out OF
his life: .Assunta had taken her. and
would keep her. She had refused his
help, she would have nothing from
him. She would take no money. noI
ANYTHING else, from him. She had toid
him that he must wash his hands OF
the child. and had done so. II ever
he thought about her, he concluded
thai she would be brought up in entire
ignorance of England and OF him, that
she would marry some Venetian: but
of late he had thought but little Of her,
and during the past three or fouryearS Is
she had faded from his mind.
So the letter was L terrible blow tG
him. He asked himself what ne should
do. for it had suddenly occurred to
him thatE veronica was his eldest daugh-
ter. and that she-not the golden
haired girl singing with the clear voice
OF a bird-waS the heireSs OF Queen.
Chace, and the thought pierced his
soul like sharp sword. What should
he do?
His first impulse was to tell his story:
then second thoughts came-he could
not. Of all people living his wife was,
perhaps. the most unSympathetlc: he
could not take the treasured love-story
from his heart and hold it up to public
gaze: he could not have uttered the
name of Giulia, nor have told how she
died. when the sun was setting, with
her head on his breast. 1t would have
been easier for him to tear the living,
beating heart from his breast than to
do this.
Ee could imagine his wife's cold,
proud, handsome eyes dllatlng in un,
mitigated wonderhe could hear thecOld
grave saying, voice What a romance!
Why have YOU hidden it all these
vears?" He could anticipate the
sneers, the comments about the great
statesman's love-story. All. if 1t had
but been possible for him to die with
her.
So he sat there muSing, with ASSun-
ta's letter in his hand. He found af-
terward that he had missed one para
graph, in which she told him that she
had prepared Veronica to live for the
future with her English guardian.
Sir Jasper Brandon suffered keenly.
He was an English gentleman, with
English notions of right and wrong.
He hated all injustice, all conceal
ment, all deceit, all fraud, all wrong
doing, all dishonesty; yet he did not,
on receipt of Assunta'S letter, tell his
wife and daughter the truth. He said
to himself that he would come to no
decision, that he would wait and see
what Veronica was like.
You look perplexed and thought
full, papa said Katherine Brandon.
Let me help you. Women's wits,
they say, are quicker and keener than
mems"
1T is libel" he replied, trying to
speak lightly. II may well look per-
picked. katherine-Ilam dismayed."
Lady Braudon closed her book and
looked at him.
:'You dismayed?" she cried. What
has happened? Has Brooke voted with
the OPPOSITION, or what?"
1T is nothing Of that kind, said
the politician. "ThiS is a domestic
difficulty, about which shall have to
ask your help"
At the woTS domestic" Lady Bran
don opened he. book again-matte% Of
that description never interested her.
THE fact is" continued Sir Jasper,
"that a friend of mine has died lately
in Italy, and left me ward"
"a ward" cried Lady Brandon.
"How intolerable. What a liberty to
take"
"a ward" cried katherine. How
strange, papa"
Sir Jasper turned quickly to his wife.
He never spoke unkindly or angrily to
her. even when she annoyed him.
do not say 'intolerable.' Marie: we
must make the best Of it.
But who is it?' cried her ladyShip.
"Of course if it be any one of position,
that would make a difference
The young lady-my ward, Eeron-
ica di Cyntha-is descended from one
of the first families in Italy he said,
land she has, or will have, d large for
tune"
And is that too placed in your
hands?" asked his wife.
THAT also is in my hands," he re-
piled briefly.
But, Jasper" cried her ladyship,
''surely you are going to tell US more?
Who is. or rather who was, your friend?
Tell me: l want to know the whole