Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-09-17


 settled after.
 She trembled as she said this and instinctively drew nearer to my side so that our heads almost touched over the dickering flame from whose heat and light we sought courage. She seemed to feel grateful for this con- tact, and the next minute hinging all her scruples to the wind, she began a relation of events which more or less answered my late unwelcome queries.
 'The death in the library, about which her most perplexing memory hung, took place when she was a child and her father held that high govern mental position which has reflected so much credit upon the family. Her. fa- ther and the man who thus perished had been intimate friends. They had fought together in the war of 1872 and received the same distinguished marks of presidential approval afterward. They were both members of an impor- tant commission which brought them into diplomatic relations with England. It was while serving on this commis- sion that the sudden break occurred which ended all intimate relations be- tween them and created a change in her father that was equally remarked at home and abroad. What occasioned this break no one knew. Whether his great ambition had received some check through the jealousy of this so called @friend-a supposition which did not seem possible, as he rose rapidly after this-or on account of other causes darkly hinted at by his contemporaries, but never breaking into open gossip, he was never the same man afterward. His children, who used to rush with effusion to greet him, now shrank into corners at his step or slid behind half open doors, whence they peered with fearful interest at his tall figure, pac- ing in moody silence the halls of his ancestral home or sitting with frown- ing brows over the embers dying away on the great hearthstone of his famous library.
 Their mother, who was an invalid, did not share these terrors. The fa- ,ther was ever tender of her, and the only smile they ever saw on his face came with his entrance into her dark ened room.
 s memories. Those which followed were more definite and much more startling. President Jackson, who had high opinion of her fathers ability, advanced him rapidly. Finally position was given him which raised him into ma tional prominence As this had been the goal of his ambition for years, he was much gratif1ed by this appoint ment, and, though his smiles came no more frequently, his frowns frightened and From being positively threatening became simply morose. S
 "Why this moroseness should have sharpened into menace after an un- expected visit from his once dear but long estranged companion in arms, his daughter, even after long years of constant breeding upon this subject, dares not decide. If she could she might be happier.
 1.-The general was kindly man, sharp of face and of tall, thin figure, but with an eye to draw children and make them happy with look. But his ef- feet on the father was different. From a the moment the two met in the great hall below the temper of the host be- trayed how little he welcomed this guest. He did not fail in courtesy the MOores are always gentlemen but it was hard courtesy, which cut while 1t fattered. The two children, shrinking from its edge without know ing what it was that hurt them, slunk to covert and from behind the two pill lars which marked the entrance to the library watched the two men as they walked up and down the halls discuss ing the merits of this and that detail of the freshly furnished mansion. These two innocent but eager. spies, whom fear rather than curiosity held | In hiding, even caught some of the sen fences which passed between the so called friends, and, though these neces- sarily conveyed but little meaning to their childish minds, the words form ing them were never forgotten, as wit ness these phrases confided to me by Mistress Callista twenty-five years aft erward
 You have much that most men lack remarked the general as they paused to admire some little specimen of Italian art which had been lately received from Genoa You have mon ey-too much money, Moore, by an amount I might easily narne-a home which some might call palatiaI, love ly if not altogether healthy wife, two fine children and all the honor which | man in a commonwealth like this should ask for Drop politics
 Politics is my life,' was the cold | response. To bid me drop it is to l bid me commit suicide Then, as an | afterthought to which moment of intervening silence added emphasis, And for yod to drive me from it would | be an act little short of murder
 Justice dealt upon a traitor is not l murder, was the stern and unyielding reply. By one black deed of treacher- ous barter and sale, of which none of your countrymen is cognizant but my self, you have forfeited the confidence of this government Were I, who so unhappily surprised your secret, to al- low you to continue in your present place of trust I myself would be