The Washington herald., 1907-12-29


ated from the fretting duties and small
events in her husbands professional life;
10 feel that miles and miles stretched be-
tween her and the clang of the factory
bell and the eyer-whirring noise of the
restless machinery.
She only saw Rupert al a few odd times
during the years that stretched between
his birth and his fathers death. And she
was abroad when John Haverford died.
By his fathers viii the boy was left 10
the joint care of his mother and OF a
man called Matthew Woolgar.
No one knew where TO find Mrs. Haver-
ford, so the charge Of the lad passed into
the hands of this Woolgar, who accepted
the trust in a very grudging spirit.
He was an ignorant, churlish man, who
had worked his way up from the gutter
TO the command OF enormous wealth: a
man whose very name was a curse in the
ears OF the men who served him; a man
who was both feared and hated. and cred
tied truly with being the hardest task
master in the world. II was asserted by
many that the foundation OF Woolgar' s
fortune lay IN Isury-mOney lent 10 his
feilow-workers at an enormous rate Of
interest-bu whether this was true or not
no one knew All that was certain was
that he owned more than half the town
and ruled with the hand OF tyrant.
John Haverford had written down his
wishes as to his boys education and pro-
fession, but Matthew WoOlgar sneered
| these wishes into thin air
A pauper had no right to the training Of
a prince. he decreed, and so without wait
ing 70 consult Octavia Haverford. ne took
matters into his own hands, and sent the
| boy into the factory.
/ Rupert HaverfOrd wore common clothes
as the others did, he ate the same COM
mon food. he lived and moved and slept
/ among these people who had adored his
father and for whose children his father
had lost his life. There was nothing out
wardly 10 mark any difference between
! Rupert Haverford and the others. except
/ when Matthew WOOlgar paid one OF his
/ surprise visitations (as lie was fond OF
doing) 10 the works, when he would be
| certain 10 single out u poor doctor s
/ lad" for some sharp repTOOf or snarling
word
Then the mother had flashed into exist
! ence again.
She wrote from America. announcing
/ that she was married a second time, and
/ peremptorily commanding Rupert to join
her
| Matthew WOolgar quietly and grimIy re-
| fused 10 permit this.
! IN truth. Rupert himself had no desire
/ to go His mother was nothing 20 him,
/ hardly name. The passion, the intense
| love. OF his childhood and boyhOod had
/ been given to his father; even 20 live In
the place where his father had lived and
/ died signi1ed n sort Of happiness 10 Ru-
pert. II was because he felt he was doing
what John Haverford had wished him 70
/ do that he gave his strange guardian
] rfr,f.srae4sr.~,gv,..
/ certainly the loved memory Of his father
which sustained him and made his dreary
/ life possible. Every day he toned eight
/ to nine hours IN the factory; every night
/ he sat for hours studying, teaching him
\ SELF. He had dreams OF his own He
would get promotion. earn more. save
/ money, and even yet follow that career
| which his father had desired for him.
| Il was a task OF incredible difficulty
but he was his mothers child. and the
will which spurred her on 10 such cues
! tiOnabie lengths ran ike a steady IRE in
| Rupert's veins. The very work which q
/ some would have seemed so para,yZing
/ so harmful, served 70 urge the boy on
il gave him grit; il taught him more than
/ books can teach.
And he got on
! Against all odds he advanced
He was about eighteen, tall. raw
youth with a thin. resolute face. when his
| mother and he met
/ Mrs. Baynhurst was a widow for the
second time. This was apparently not a
matter OF great sorrow 10 her, but she
/ was a changed woman.
! For a second time also she had become
| a mother. a second son had been born 70
her-a little delicate. neurotic ch!ld
/ whose birth was not, as RupeTts had
| been, merely a physical and a deJestable
/ fact but whose frail little existence had
/ brought to her the knowledge OF those
I things which neither logic. nor erudition,
/ nor philosophy had ever vouchsafed 70
I her
( With the coming Of this second child
I Cthe offspring OF brief, a miserable pas
sion). the flood Of those natural yearn-
I ings which make the sum OF most wom-
/ ems lives had broken its barriers at last
| Rupert had been an amaZement and q
/ humiliation: Cuthbert was a delight. a
/ happiness so nlimitable, so wondrous. that
( the woman tTembled even at the realiza-
/ ton Of It.
1 The meeting between Rupert and his
mother had led 10 nothing. They were as
/ far apart as the two poles.
/ Mrs. Baynhurst had misunderstood me
/ boys attitude: she supposed that he re-
! sented her second marriage. and IN her
/ turn she resented his right 10 do this.
! But Rupert was quite Indifferent 70
/ anything his mother had done. Had she
/ had any tangible existence for him in the
/ beginning. things. OF course. would nave
/ been different, but he had never known
a mother. he haG never missed a
mother: whereas even then. when a;
/ times he went 10 kneel at his fathers
/ 1,se 10,
/ old incredulous anguish which had lived
with him for so many black days after ne
/ knew he would never see that father
| again. Nevertheless. though they
/ parted so coldly, quietly, and Indifferent
/ ly. something in the boys bearing. IN his
calm submission to his fate had struck
/ a reproach in the womans heart.
| She never wrote to Rupert. but she
wrote very frequently TO Matthew Wool
gar. who never troubled TO send her a
/ word in reply.
! She began to fidget and to fret.
/ II was mOnstrous. so she declared, that
/ her son should b5 working in factory
/ Such circumstance stung her pride.
/ Rupert must go to a tutors. She knew
/ that John HaverfOrd had left a small sun
Of money. and she declared that this
money should be used for Rupert's edu-
/ cation.
Matthew Woolgar took absolutely nc
notice OF her wishes. and after a time heI
! interest faded, she grew Indifferent, and
| left Rupert 10 his fate.
The care. the anxious. engrossing care
/ that her second boy demanded Of heI
| filled her every thought.
! And so a few years rolled on, marked
only for Rupert by the knowledge that
he was slowly but surely moving up
ward. and sweetened by the fact that he
was following those lines which his father
had laid down for him as far as he could