Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-11-01

L
the house-died in that same dark IL
brary concerning which you have
asked SO many questions.
remember the circumstances well
how well!-down to each and every
detail. Our mother had gone back to
her room, and the general and my ia
ther, who did not linger over their
wine-why should they when the gen.
eral would not drink ?-had withdrawn
to the library at the suggestion Of the
general, whose last words are yet lin
gering in my ears.
The time has come for our little
talk said he. Your reception augurs'-
You do not look WE'LL my father
here broke in in what seemed an I'M
naturally loud voice. Come and sit
down
| "'Here the door closed.
| we had hung about this door, curl
Gus children that we were, in hopes of
catching a glimpse Of the queer new
settle which had been put into place
that day. But we scampered away at
this and were playing in and out of the
4
and my father came out.
Where's Sam6or he cried. "Tell him
to carry a glass of ,oine to the general 1
do not like his looks. am going upstairs
| for some medicine" This he sctispered in
fhoked tones as he set foot on the stairs.
| Why remember it do not know
for Reuben, who was standing where
he could look into the library when our
father came out and saw the settle and
the general sitting at one end of it, was
chattering about it in my ear at the
very moment our father was giving his
orders.
Reuben is a man now, and have
asked him more than once since then
how the general looked at that critical
instant. 1t is important to me, very,
| very important, and to him, too, now
that he has come to know a mans pas
sions and temptations. But he will
never tell me, never relieve my mind,
and I can only hope that there were
real signs Of illness on the generals
brow, for then could feel that all had
been right and that his death was the
natural result Of the great distress he
felt at opposing my father in the one
desire of his heart. That glimpse which
Reuben had of him before he fell has
always struck me with strange pathos.
A little child looking in upon man
who for all his apparent health will in
another moment be in eternity-I do
not wonder he does not like to talk Of
1t, and yet
".It scas sambo pho came upon the
general first. Our father had not yet
descended. When he did 1t .oas 10Th loud
cries and piteous calculations. Word had
gone upstairs and surprised him In the
room .oith my mother. I recollect won
dering in all childish simplicity why he
wrung his hands SO over the death Of
man he SO hated and feared. Nor
was it till years had passed and our
mother had been laid in the grave and
the house had settled into gloom too
heavy and somber for Reuben to en-
dure that recognized in my father
the signs Of q settled remorse. These
I endeayored to account for by the
fact that he had been saved from
what he looked upon as political death
by the sudden but opportune decease
Of his best friend, This caused shock
to his feelings which had unnerved
him for life.
| "sDon't you think this the true ex-
PLANTATION of his invariably moody
brow and the great distaste he always
showed for this same library7 Though
he would live in no other house, he
would not enter that room nor look at
the gloomy settle from which the gen
eral had fallen to his death. The place
was virtually tabooed, and, though as
the necessity arose it was opened from
time to time for great festivities, the
shadow It had acquired never left 1t,
and my father hated its very door un-
| til he died. Is 1t not natural that his
daughter should share this feeling7
ut was, and I said so, hut would
say no more, though she cast me little
appealing looks which acquired an
eerie significance from the pressure Of
her small fingers on my arm and the
watling sound Of the wind which at
that moment blew down In one gust,
scattering the embers and filling the
house with banshee calls. simply
kissed her and advised her to 60 back
with me to England and forget this old
house and all its miserable memories.
For that was the sum Of the comfort
at my poor command. When after an
other restless night crept down In the
early morning to peer Into the dim and
unused room whose story had at last
learned, cannot say but that half
expected to behold the meager ghost
Of the unfortunate general rise from
the cushions Of the prodigious bench
which still kept Its mysterious watch
pver the deserted hearthstone."
So much for the passages culled from
the book itself, The newspaper ex-
cerpts, to which next turned, bore q
much later date and read as follows:
"a strange coincidence marks the
death Of Albert Moore in his brothers
house yesterday. He was discovered
lying with his head on the identical
spot where General Lloyd fell forty
years before. It is said that this sud
den demise Of man hitherto regarded
as model of physical strength and
endurance was preceded by a violent
alteration with his elder brother. II
this Is SO, the excitement incident upor
such break in their usually pleasant
relations may account for his sudden
death. Edward Moore, spho Nnfortu
ssately soas out of the room, sohen III
brother succunbed some say tAat he soa.
IN his 0randfather's room abope- was
greatly unnerved by this unexpected
end to what was probably merely q
temporary quarrel, and now lies In 9