Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1906-10-12

"Cne does not cry, little one, when
one is suddenly endowed with
wealthy and distinguished relative.
Now. I did not spring this revelation
on YOU without a motive. II cleaV-
age has to come let us at least face
every consideration. Providence by in
scrutable decree ordained that my wife
and l should meet after twenty-one
years. That cannot have been prlr-
poseless meeting. In my careless
youth, when 1 assigned all things their
scientific place, I have scoffed at pre-
sentiments and vague portents of COM
ing evils. retract the immature judg-
ment then formed. During the height
of the hurricane when / feared the
very lantern would be hurled into the
sea l was vouchsafed a spiritual warn
ing. I could not read its import.
These things battle a man, especially
one whose mind leans toward materi-
alism. Nevertheless / knew, though
not in ordered comprehension, that my
life was tending toward a supreme
crisis AS the storm died, so l be-
came normal. and I attributed a
glimpse of the unseen to mere phys
ical facts. / was wrong. The coming
of that i'll fated vessel was heralded
to me- Hacked the key of the hidden
message. Now I possess it. On board
that ship, Constance, was your moth
er How strange that her advent
should be bound up Rlso with the mys-
terry of Enid's parentage"
Father, dear, if you can bear it, tell
me of my mother She knew me, and
that is why she asked me to kiss her"
"She asked you. to kiss herr" Each
word was a crescendo of surprise.
"Yes One night she came to me.
Oh, remember. She wished Mr.. Pyne
to telegraph to his uncle. When he
quilted us to take the message she, too
how weird it all seems now!-admit-
ted that she experienced something Of
the intuitiye knowledge Of the future
you have just spoken Of"
81 am not surprised. Poor Nanette!
She was always a dreamer in sense.
Never content, she longed for higher
flights. She was woman in ambition
ere she ceased to be a child. When Z
married her she was only eighteen. 1
was ten years older. My thought was
TO educate her to a somewhat higher
ideal of life than the frivolities of a
fashionable world. 1t was a mistake.
# girl harbors delusions before mar
riage the experience of married life is
not a cure, but an incentive. A less
tolerant man would have made her a
safer husband"
Constance would listen to nothing
which would disparage him.
81 hate to be unjust to her even in
my thoughts. but where could she have
found better husband than you, dadT'
millionaire indeedw protested Enid,
breaking in with her own tumultuous
thoughts. 81 would not exchange you
for twenty millionaires."
''My methods cannot have been so ill
considered If they hive brought me
two such daughters he said, with a
mournful smile. But, there! L am
only deluding myself into postpone
ment Of q painful duty. My secret
must QUITO you, at any rate. When
I married your mother, Constance, I
was an attache at the British embassy
In Paris. Her maiden name was Mad
eleine Nanette de Courtray. Her fam
lily, Notwithstanding the French sound
Of her name, was almost wholly Eng
iish. They were Jersey people, re-
cruited from British stock, but two
generations of English husbands were
compelled to assume the style De Cour-
tray owing to entailed estates on the
island. There is something quaint in
the idea rs it worked out. The place
was only small farm. When we were
married the stipulation lapsed, be-
cause it was more advisable for me to
retain my own name. 1 was then the
heir to title can now claim. 1 am
legally and lawfully Sir Stephen
Brand. ninth baronet of Lesser Ham
bledon. in Northumberland"
"And you became lighthouse
keeper!"
1t was Enid who found breath for
the exclamation. Constance braced
herself for that which was to come.
That Stephen Brand was well born
han was not a new thing in their ia
eelligence.
"Yes, a cleaner of lamps and trans
mitter of ships signals. Have we been
less happy?' A most vehement Nor
was the answer
Don't run away with the idea that
1 was, therefore, endowed with ample
means There are baronets poorer
than some crossing sweepers. The es-
tate was encumbered. During my
fathers life. during my own until five
years ago, it yielded only a thousand
q year. Even now, after fifteen years
of retrenchment-you both forget that
while was stationed at Flamborough
Head was absent for few days to
attend my fathers funeral-it pro-
duces only little over $4,000. Enough
for US, eh, to enjoy life on? Enough to
satisfy Lady Margaret's scruples, Enid,
as to her sons absurd notion of matri-
mony? Enough, too, Constance, to
p,oxo x-o,, - tho MON Of rorrr ahoiHa