The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1905-06-02
THE WIDOW
AND THE
BARONET.
BY Theodore DAZZLE.

Sir Leonard Burnleigh-Burnleigh
shivered in his garments, shivered to
the very marrow, because he was
hungry and cold, and hadn't the
wherewithal to buy food and warmth
and shelter.
Yet he seemed a craftsmanship
years of age; a gentleman, and shiv-
ering! Shivering under his greasy.
silk hat, in his green-black frock coat,
with its rusty silk facings, and in his
threadbare trousers; snivering from
his clean paper collar to his gaping
boots.
The drear November sky blanketed
London with the usual fog that was
half mist and half rain. The biting
northeaster cut through the baronet's
skin into his lungs. razor-keen.
Within him was vacuum.
yearning void, and he longed to eat
and be filed. But void. alas! were
his pockets also.
Without begging, or stealing. or
borrowing, all which were beneath
the dignity of gentleman, he could
not have raised as much as cent.
He had nothing for which pawn
broker would issue ticket. nothing
to vend, nothing to hope for.
He was without home. without
even a bed. so bad was 1t with him.
He was at the stage wnen man feels
that two of the big copper coins that
England calls pennies" constitute a
fortune.
The mighty human tide of the
Strand hurried past him. needless.
The cold, Implying swish of it was
for his eyes, the hum OF it for his
ears.
He was one among millions. and
the millions were busy with their own
affairs, as is their wont.
Each separate unit was palpitant
or fears. it's struggle. its defeats or
1t triumphs.
If the sidewalk under him had sud-
denly gaped wide and swallowed his
shivered body utterly. not one unit
would have missed him, not even the
editor who kept his name shining IN
the classic pages Of the peerage,
baronetage, and what not Of that is
land kingdom.
He was not a gentleman who could
work for long, or be happy while he
fought the wolf at the door.
Until he was thirty life appeared
to be that of one who had been par
ticular in the selection Of his parents.
Then his father was gathered to mis-
ancestors, and till he was forty he
lived without stint-even as his
father had lived.
At fifty, as indicated by the cheir-
osophists. the fate line of his hand
parted-the bank in which lay the
bulk Of his earthly treasure called in
the official receiver, and, after the
lapse of three years, paid the English
equivalent Of three cents to the dol
lar.
At fifty-two his gold-mining shares
went to the bottom of the Stock Ex-
change list-and stayed there.
On his fifty-fourth birthday, the sad
news came to him that the only sur
viving partner in the firm who had
been the family solicitors for genera
TOSS had blown out his brains; and
within a week he discovered that this
Solemn act had been accomplished ap-
parently to avoid ten years impris-
onment for forgery and malfeasance.
Thereupon Sir Leonard realized
that he was worth exactly what he
stood up in. which. at that momens
included twenty pounds in notes, a
number of rings, gold chronometer,
a gold watch chain and a fur-lined
cloak coat.
He lived on the twenty pounds, the
chronometer, the watch chain and the
rings for two whole. years. and brush
ed his garments regularly, as a gen.
tleman should.
Then he tried to work in feeble,
good-natured, whole-hearted sort of
way, eventually grayitating to the
docks, where other gentlemen once
moving in England's higher circles