Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-07-21
Continued.


banking shares, and brought him in a
small but certain income. When he
was going to India, he said, laugh
ingly, that he knew had good heaI
for business, and that, ii ever l saw
a chance of turning his five per cent.
into ten, I was to do it. When they
wrote to me for this last five thousand
pounds, thinking was helping to make
his fortune as well as treble my own,
without awaiting his permission,
sent it; and it is all lost, Ianthe.
Could any man be so mad, SO foolish
as l have been?"
''You must pay it back, papa" she
said, cneerfuIly. 'You diu not intend
to lose it."
''Pay it back!" he moaned. II
would to Heaven that | could! You
do not realize what / mean, when /
say that | am a ruined man. 1t
means that l. Maurice Care, earl of
Croombe, stand before you penniless.
The home of my ancestors-this old
abbey. where the best ard bravest Gl
my race have lived and died-has
gone from me. My income is
pqortgaged-I have sold the Home
tarm-I am as utterly ruined ana
without resource as a pauper within
the work-house gates. Yet I could
bear it all if it were possible to repay
Wyndham Carre. cannot live,
Ianthe, to hear myself called thief
She had grown very pale as she
listened.
mo man can say that, dear. You
frighten yourself with shadow.
Wyndham told you to do better with
his money, if you could"
"And l have lost it. Ianthe, what
answer shall make to him if re
comes to me and says, Where is my
all, the fortune left in your hands? .
Gould | not sell my jewels? A1d
the pictures they would De
worth more even than five thousand
pounds?"
THE jewels are not worth cne-haIf
the sum, and the pictures-do you not
understand, Ianthe?-the house as it
stands, have gone from me. l am
destitute, penniless. Was there ever
a sorrow like unto mine?"
And this is Christmas" said the
girl, thoughtfully, when every one is
supposed to be so happy? Papa, what
shall we do?"
Il cannot tell. / dare not think. 1
am a ruined man. Do you realize ali
that that means for you, Ianthe-you,
brought up in the midst OF luxury, ac-
customed to carriages, horses, SER
wants, to dress as you liked, to do as
you nKed? What will become of You,
my darling? When we two walk cut
OF here hand in hand, there will be no
home for us to go to; we shall not
have one shilling in the wide world.
Now do you realize what ruin means %
She grew even whittier, and looked
at him w4vh great startled eyes.
Are matters SO bad, papa?" y
He tore his hands from her grasp,
and, with a passionate cry, fell on his
knees before her.
Can you forgive me, Ianthe? l
would die to win your pardon. l
have ruined your. bright young life
you, the fairest, the brightest Of my
race. You will have to work for
your daily bread? Can you ever for
give me?"
Papa do not speak to me in hat
fashion You have done all for The
best. | should have nothing to for
give, even if you had done the dead
Hest wrong. l am your child-it IS
not for me to judge you. Let me help
you-comfort you-but do not ask
me for pardon. l am willing to suffer
with YOU
Yesterday" said the old earl, in
his trembling voice, when the letter
came to tell me that the mine was 4
failure, there came also a letter from
John Culross-that is, from his eX-
ecutors-he himself-the man who
lent the money-is dead. They are
calling in all the moneys due to him;
they have asked for the ten thousand
pounds. They have given me formal
notice for it's repayment; if in three
months it is not paid, l shall lose
Croombe abbey-it will pass from my
hands into theirs"
Three months, she repeated--to
her it seemed like a reprieVe. Surely
much can be done in three monuns-
you can borrow the money from some
one else, papa?"
'SWho would lend ten thousand
pounds to ruined man? Of course
shall send for a lawyer, and do my
best; but I know it will be useless.
Croombe abbey, the home of the
Cares, will become the property Of =.
manufacturer 1t is enough to make
the dead Cares rise from then
graves
Her beautiful face flushed hotly-
her eyes flashed fire.
''Papa," she said, there is one thing
we must do at once-we must tell the
truth to Lord Ravencourt. You thiph
he is here because he admires me; re-
must know that am no longer rich
heiress. We shall see if that makes
any. difference to him. Then we must