The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-07-05

Taxed, and an expression near akin TO
tenderness oyerspread his face.
ANY man might be proud to claim
YOU. my girl. no matter how many 9TH
err reasons for pride he possessed. But
YOU have not come here merely be-
cause some one fiattered the Earl of
STAFFORD by saying you resembled
him."
NO. my lord 1 am come to return
to you this document. which once you
presented to my mother
She handed him a paper, which he
read with intent care. 1t ran thus:
I have in little, much to say to you.
or else one of us must be much to blame.
But in truth l have that confidence in
YOU and that assurance in myself as to
rest secure the fault will never be made
on either side. Well. then. this short and
this long which l aim at is no more than
to give you this first written testimony
that l am your husband, and that hus-
band of yours that Will ever discharge
these duties of love and respect toward
YOU which good women may expect and
are Justly due fsom good men to dis
charge them. and this is not only much
but all which belongs to me, and wherein
I shall tread out the remainder OF life
which is left to me
STAFFORD look ed ,up from his perusal,
blank amazement upon his counte-
nance.
How came you by this paper:"
Il found it amongY the documents left
by nv grandfather, who died a year
ago. 1t was sent by you to my moth
en-"
impossible"
DO you deny the script?"
81 do not deny it, but twas written
by me eight years. since and presented
TO nv third wife, whom l married pri-
vately."
"Your third wife? Who was she"
"She was Mistress Elizabeth Rhodes,
and is now Lady STAFFORD"
Then she is your fourth wife. You
will see by your own indMing that this
letter was written in March, 1874
The date was Enthusiastically set down
by the same hand that had penned the
bold signature, Thomas Wentworth,
and the bewilderment of the earl in
creased as he recognized that here was
no forgery, but a genuine letter ante
dating it's duplicate.
us it possible" he murmured to him.
self, that man has so little original
ity as to do practically the same thing
twice?" Then aloud to the girl he
said:
"Who was your mother?"
Il had hoped the reading Of this
document would have rendered your
question unnecessary. Has man such
gift Of forgetting that the very name
Of the woman he solemnly married has
slipped his memory as easily as the
writing of the letter she cherished!
"She was Frances, daughter of Sir
John Warburton," murmured the earl.
His only daughter, as am hers, my
lord"
But when Sir John wrote me coldly
of her death, he made no mention of
any issue"
MY grandfather always hated you,
my lord 1t is very like that he told
you not the cause of my mothers death
was her children's BIRTH
"Children?
eyes, my lord. My twin brother and
myself
IF, as you say, you have brother,
why is he not here in your place, you
in the background, where you properly
belong?"
Sir, 1 suppose that her good name is
thought more of by q woman than by
q man. She wishes to be assured t1ht
she came properly authenticated INTO
this world, whereas man troubles lit
tie of his origin, so be it he is here
with some one to fight or to love. Or
perhaps it is that the mancis the deep
err and refuses to condone where a wo-
man yearns to forgive. My >prother
shares our grandfather's dislike of
you. He thinks you cared little\ for
our mother or you would not have been
absent during her last days when
81 knew nothing of it. The times
then, as now, were uncertain, requiring
absorbed attention from those thrown
willingly Or unwillingly into public al
fairs. What can boy of sixteen know
of the duties thrust upon man in my
situation?"
Sixteen or not, he considers himself
even now a man of position, and he
holds your course wrong. He says he
has taken up the opinions you former
| ly held and will do his best to carry
them to success. He is for the parlia-
ment and against the king. AS for me-
l know little of the questions that dis
turb the state. My own knowledge is
| that you are my father. and were you
the wickedest person in the world
would come to you. A man may have
| many daughters, but a daughter can
| have but one father; therefore am !
here, my lord"
| Like the quick succession Of shade
| and sunshine over the sensitive surface
| of lovely lake, the play of varying
emotions added an ever changing
| beauty to the girls expressive face;
now a pitiful yearning toward her
| father when she saw he suffered; then
| a coaxing attitude, as if she would
win him whether he would or no;
, "0n the instant, your majesty" he
replied, with a sigh of relief.
That is well. l trust your malady
! is alleviated, in some measure at least
| Still, l know that sickness has never
| been a bar to duty with you. Yet
ask no man to do what / am not will.
! ing to do myself for the good of the
| state, and / shall be shortly on the road
/ at your haalS