Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-10-05


 over andasaw the enameled drawing on the back. crest clearly outlined.
 He started The crest was quite fa- mihar.
 Where did ..y you get thisT' he de- manded in English and with such blunt suddenness that she was startled. Where did it come from?'
 "L have always had it.'
 Always? It's the Tarleton crest. Do you belong to that family?"
 Indeed I do not know. Papa Rous- silIon says he thinks do.'
 well, this is strange and interest ing" said Beverley, rather to himself than addressing her. He looked from the miniature to the crest and back to the miniat ture again, then at Alice 'tI tell you this is strange" he repeat ed, with emphasis. Tt is exceedingly strange"
 Her cheeks flushed quickly under their soft brown, and her eyes flashed with excitement.
 "Yes, know" Her voice fiuttsred; her hands were clasped in her lap. She leaned toward him eagerly. "It is strange. I've thought about it great deal" ~..~ 'IAHce Tarleton; that is right. Alice is a name of the family. Lady Alice Tarleton was the mother of the first Sir Garnett Tarleton who came over in the time of Yardley. It's great fam fly, one of the oldest and best in Vir- ginia." He looked at her now with a gaze of concentrated interest, under
 RzIF D. 1Sr. fex mantle" he exclaimed, absolutely TO- mantle! And you don't know how you came by this Iocket2 You don't know who was your father, your mother?'
 'I do not know anything"
 "And what does M. Roussillon know ?
 |'Just as Httle."
 "But how came he to be taking you and caring for you? He must know how he got you, where he got you, of whom he got you. Surely he knows''-
 ooh, know all that. was twelve years old when Papa Roussillon took me, eight years ago. had been hav- ing hard life, and but for him must have died I was captive among the Indians He took me and has cared for me and taught me. He has beensyeTy, very good to me. love him dearlyp !
 And don't you remember anything at all about when, where, how, the In dians got you?"
 '.No.'' She shook her head and seem4 ed to be trying to recolIect something. t'No, I just can't remember. And yet there has always been something like dream in my mind which could not quite get hold of I know that I am not Catholic. vaguely remember sweet woman who taught me to pray like this: Our Father who art in heav- en, hallowed be thy name.
 And Alice went on through the beau, tiful and perfect prayer, which she re peated in English with infinite sweet ness and solemnity, her eyes uplifted, her hands clasped before her. Bever- ley could have sworn that she was shining saint and that he saw an au. reole.
 "I know" she continued, "that some time, somewhere, to very dear per- son, I promised that never, never, never would pray any prayer but that, and remember almost nothing else about that other life, which is far off back wonder in the past, don't know where sweet, peaceful, shadowy, a dream that have all but lost from my mind" !"
 Beverley's sympathy was deeply moved. He sat for some minutes look ing at her without speaking. She, too, was pensive and silent, while the fire sputtered and sang, the great logs slowly melting, the flames tossing wisps of smoke into the chimney still booming to the wind.
 q know, too, that I am not French" l" she presently resumed, 1'but I don't know just how I know it. My first words must have been English, for have always dreamed of talking in that language, and my dimmest half recol- lectfons of the old days, are of large, white house and soft voiced black woman, who sang to me in that lan- guage the very sweetest songs in the world"
 Beverley listened as one who hears a clever reader intoning a strange and captivating poem. To his mind it was clear that she belonged to the Tarle- ton family of Virginia. Youth always concludes a matter at once. He knew some of the Tarletons. But it was 3 widely scattered family, it's members living in almost every colony in Amer lea. The crest he recognized at a glance by the dragon on the helmet with three stars. It was not for Wo- man to bear. But doubtless it had been enameled on the Iocket merely as a family mark, as was often done in America.
 'NThe black woman was your nurse, four nanny" he said. T know by that and by your prayer in English as well as by your locket that you are of good old family
 Like most southerners, he had strong faith in 'genealogy, and he held at his tongues tip the names of all the old families. The. Carters, the Blairs, the Bftzhughs, the Hansons, the Ran dolphs, the Lees, the Ludwe1ls, the Joneses, the Beverleys, the Tarletons- 8 whole catalOgue of them stretched