The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1906-04-06
Tor The Term of His Natural Life

By MARCUS CLARKE

money. A shrewd man of business, a
thorough master of his trade, troubled
with no scruples of honor or of delicacy,
he made money rapidly, and saved it
when made. He married his sister to
| wealthy Bristol merchant, one An
thony Frere, and married himself to
Ellinor Wade. the eldest daughter of
Col. Wotton Wade, an uncle by mar
riage of a remarkable scamp and dandy,
Lord Bellasis. At that time, what with
lucky speculatons in the funds, and the
legitimate profit on his government con-
tracts, he had accumulated a princely
fortune. and could afford to live in
princely magnifcence. But the burden
of parsimony and avarice which he had
voluntarily taken upon him was not to
be shaken off, and the only show he
made of his wealth was by purchasing
on his knighthood, the rambling but
comfortable house at Hampstead, and
ostensibly retiring from active business.
His retirement was not a happy one.
He was a stern father and a severe
master. His servants hated and his wife
feared him. His only son Richard ap
peared to inherit his fathers strong will
and lmperious manner. Under careful
supervision and a just rule he might
have been guided to good; but left to
his own devices outside, and CALLED by
the iron yoke of parental discipline at
home, he became reckless and prodigal.
The mother-poor, timid Ellinor, who
had been rudely torn from the love of
her youth, her cousin, Lord Bellasis-
tried to restrain him, but the headstrong
how fh0uoh for hot
strong love which is often part of such
violent natures, proved intractable, and,
after three years of parental feud, he
went off to the continent, to pursue there
the same reckless life which in London
had offended Sir Richard. Sir Richard,
upon this, sent for Maurice Frere, his
sisters son, and bought for him a COM
mission in a marching regiment, limiting
darkly of special favors to come. His
open preference for his nephew had gall
ed to the quick his sensitive wife, who
contrasted with some heart-pangs the
gallant prodigality of her father with
the niggardly economy of her husband.
Between the houses of Devine and long
descended Wotton Wade there had long
been little love. Sir Richard felt that
the colonel despised him for a city
knight. and had heard that Lord Bella.
Sis and his friends had often lamented
the hard fortune which gave the beauty,
Ellinor, to so sordid a bridegroom.
Lord Bellasis visited at Sir Richards
house during the first year of his cous-
ms marriage; but upon the birth of the
son he affected quarrel with the city
knight, and cursing him for a misery
curmudgeon, departed, more desperate
ly at war with fortune than ever, for
his old haunts. He was now hard
ened, hopeless old man of sixty, bat
tered in health and ruined in pocket;
but who, by dint of stays, hair-dye and
courage, yet faced the world with I'M
daunted front. Of the possessions of the
house of Wotton Wade, this old manor,
tlmberless and bare, was all that remain
ed, and its master rarely visited it.
On the evening of the Sd of May
Lord .Bellasis had been attending
pigeon match at Hornsey Wood, and
having resisted the opportunities of his
companion, Mr.. Lionel Crofton, who
wanted him to 60 on into town, he had
avowed his intention of striking across
Hampstead to Belsize. II have an ap-
pointment at the fir-trees on the Heath"
he said, with a parson."
"a parson"
swell, he is only just ordained.
met him last year at Bath, on his vaca-
ton from Cambridge, and he was good
enough to lose some money to me-"
"And now waits to pay it out of his
first curacy. l wish your lordship joy
with all my soul. Then we must push
on, for it grows late"
'Thanks, my dear sir, for the we
but l must go alone" said Lord Bella
sis, dryly. Tomorrow you can settle
with me for tho sitting of last week.
Hark! the clock is striking nine. Good
night"
At half-past nine Richard Devine quit
ted his mothers house to begin the new
life he had chosen, and so, drawn to-
gether by that strange fate of circum-
stances which creates events, those two
approached each other.
As the young man gained the middle
of the path which led to the Heath,
he met Sir Richard returning from the
village. 1t was no part of his plan to
seek an interview, and he would have
skunk past in the gloom, but seeing him
thus alone returning to desolated
home, the prodigal was tempted to ut
ter some words of farewell and of re-
gret. To his establishment, however,
Sir Richard passed swiftly on, with body
bent forward as one in the act of fall
ing, and with eyes unconscious of sur
roundings. staring straight into the dis
lance Half terarifed at this strange
appearance. Richard hurried onward,
and at turn of the path stumbled upon
something which horribly accounted for
the curious action of the old man. "A
dead body lay upon its face in the
heather, beside it was a heavy riding
whip stained at the handle with blood.
and an open pocketbook. Richard took
up the book and read, in gold letters
on the cover, Lord Bellasis."
The unhappy young man knelt down
beside the body and raised it. The skull
had been fractured by blow, but it
seemed that life yet fingered. Over
come with horror-for he could not
doubt but that his mothers worst fears
had been realized-Richard knelt there
holding the man in his arms, waiting
until the murderer should have placed
himself beyond pursuit. 1t seemed an
| hour to his excited fancy before ne saw
light pass along the front of the house
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