Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-04-28

~>%+e-N@f ~ ~+%% ttt<+<-~1
and gay enough had been the life they
two had led-s gay, so intimate, that
Philippe gave promise that, should he
ever hold in his own hands the gov
eminent of France, he would end Laws
Punishment and give to him the op-
portunity he sought, of proving those
theories of finance which constituted
the absorbing ambition of his life.
Meantime Law, ever restless, had
passed from one capital Of Europe to
another, dragging with him from hotel
to hotel the young child whose life
had been cast in such feverish and I'M
natural surroundings. He continued
to challenge every hazard, fearless,
reckless, contenptuous, and withal
wretched, as one must be who, after
years of effort, found that he could
not Danish from his mind the pictures
of a dark-f1oored prison, and of knife
stab in the dark, and of raging, awful
waters, and of a girl beautiful though
with sealed lips and heart of ice.
From time to time, as was well known,
Law returned to England He heard
of the Lady Catharine KnolIys, as
might easily be done in London; heard
of her as young woman kind of heart,
soft of speech, with tenderness for
every little suffering thing; a beautiful
woman, whose admirers listed scores;
but who never yet, even according to
the eagerest gossip Of the capital, had
found sutton to whom she gave word
or thought of love.
So now at last the arrogant selfish
ness of his heart began to yield His
heart was broken before it might
soften, but soften at last it did And
so he built up in his soul the image
of a grave, sweet saint, kindly and
gentle-voiced, unapproachable, not to
be profaned. To this image ali, which
of us has not had such shrine!-he
brought in secret the homage of his
life, his confessions, his despairs, his
hopes, his resolutions; guiding thereby
all his life, as well as poor mortal man
may do failing ever of his own stand
ards, as all men do, yet barking ever
back to that secret sibyl, reckoning all
things from her, for her, by her.
There came at length one chastened
hour when they met in calmness, when
there was no longer talk of love be-
tween them, when he stood before her
as though indeed at the altar of some
marble deity Always her answer had
been that the past had been mistake;
that she had protested to love a man,
not knowing what that man was; that
she had suffered, but that it was better
so, since it had brought understand
ing. Now, in this calmer time, she
begged of him knowledge of this child,
regretting the wandering life which
had been its portion, saying that for
Mary Connynge she no longer felt hor-
ror and hatred Thus it was that in
hasty moment Law had impuIsively
begged her to assume some sort of
tutelage over that unfortunate child.
II was to his own amazement that he
heard Lady Catharine Knollys consent,
STIMULATING that the child should be
placed in Paris convent for two
years, and that for two years John
Law should see neither his daughter
nor herself. Obedient as a child him
self he had promised.
Now, go away, she then had said
to him. go your own way. Drink,
dice, game, and waste the talents God
hath given you You have made ruin
enough for all of US ] would only that
it may not run so far as to another
generation
So both had kept their promises;
and now the two years were done,
years spent by Law more manrully
than any of his life His fortune he
had gathered together, amounting to
more than million livres. He had
sent once more for his brother VIII,
and thus the two had lived for some
time in company in lower Europe, the
elder brother still curious as ever in
his abstruse theories of banking and
finance theories thea new, now out
lived in great part, though fl to be
called portion of the great Foundation
of the commercial system of the world.
1t was wiser and soberer and ripsr
John Law, this man who had but re-
Gently received a summons from Phil
ippe Of Orleans to be present in Paris,
for that the king was dying, and that
all France, France the bankrupt and
distracted, was on the brink of sudden
and perhaps fateful change.
With quick revival Of all his high
land superstition, Law hailed now as
happy harbinger the fact that, upon
his entry into Paris, the city once more
of his hopes, he had met in such fash
ion this lady of his dreams, even at
such time as the seal of silence was
lifted from his lips. It was no wonder
that his eye cleaned that his voice
took on the old vibrant tone, that every
gesture, in thought or in spite of
thought, assumed the tender defer
ence of the lover.
For the Lady Catharine herself there
had been also many changes. The