The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-29

| stop. tnink we ought 70 De Satlsned but Blanche De Grey says no; that will | If Lady Blanche goes further she will not get rid of her difficuities,' said Lord Gaston.
 CHAPTER V.
 Though in the formation of oui character the influence of individuals cannot be doubted or denied, neverthe- 1 less there are some persons born with a predisposition so strong that 1t is dinicult to believe that. under any cir cumstances, that native vein would moi have asserted itself. Lord Gaston was of this kind and class. Even as Q child he was inquisitive, skeptical and ec- centric, doing things which were for btdden. or. if too original to have been contemplated, anticipated by the cen sure of others, when done, disapprov- ed. He had the awkward habit oi asking questions which could not be | easily answered and expressing opin. ions which perpiexed and sometimes shocked. Nevertheless he was a fa- vorite. and at first universally so. and this was owing to two causes-his l good looks and his good temper. Noth- l ing could disturb the last, and his first glance fascinated. still, it was a Ia- mentable fact that. in the long run, he could not. as the phrase goes, "get on" with anybody. At a great public school he was soon idolized. but 1t ends ed by the authorities privately com- | municating with his father that they thought, on the whole. it would be ad vantageous that his son should be withdrawn from their control. Not that he ever did anything disgraceful. | mean, or tgnominious. or even com | mitted violent or rebellious acts, but he was in the habit of circulating opin, ions which inJuriousIy affected the dis cipline of the school, was in the habit ] of reading and advising others to read | books which, while affecting to the philosophical, could not for a moment be tolerated, as tending, in the opin- ton of the masters, to the destruction of morals and religion. What howev- CT, brought affairs to a crisis was a motion which he made in the boys de. batting society condemning the system of public education. Had he not been the son of a great noble, who himself in hls day had been one of the bright ornaments of their institution. he would probably have been expelled, but as 1t was he surrendered and marched out with all the honors of war. Lord Bertram was such a complete man of the world that he resolved never to quarrel with hts son, and he
 
 him in the right path and counteract these evil tendencies. He thought Oxford would remove them, and he sent him there at an unusually early age. But the Oxford of Gaston was no longer the Oxford of his father. and Lord Bertram, who had many things to think about, was not sufficiently aware of this. A spirit almost as in- auisitive as that which influenced his nn haA kA H.
 university, and 1t unfortunately ham pened that the head of the house of which Gaston had become a member was one of those distinguished divines who do not believe in divinity. Of this Socrates he soon became the Ra- vorlte pupil. and, considering his rank lis fine looks, his fine temper. ana inc reputation for talents which was soon circulated about and easily and eaper- ly accepted, Oxford came to believe that 1t cherished in its bosom one who in due season would become its most brilliant ornament and its shining light.
 Nevertheless. when he had exhaust. ed all the nebulous interpretations of his master, which would prove tha. things, though entirely profane. were yet essentially sacred, Gaston enraysd in controversy on the origin of eyII which terminated by his somewhat ah. ruptly quitting his alma mater and In- forming ms fatner that he should not return to Oxford which he looked ,,,, on as a nest of sacerdotai hypocriu,s
 This was great disappointment +o Lord Bertram, who. however wac e man never without resource. ana T.orA Gaston was soon gazetted as an Al tache to one of our most important eTS- bassies. This seemed a succesaf,l