Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-01-30

l the second time. This was appar-
emily not matter of great sorrow to
her but she was changed woman.
/ For second time also she had be.
come mother, second son had
been born to her--a little delicate,
neurotic child, whose birth was not
as Rupert's had been, merely physi-
cal and detestable fact, but whose
frail little existence had brought to
her the knowledge of those things
which neither logic, nor erudition. nor
/ philosophy had ever vouchsafed to
4 her.
With the coming of this second
child (the offspring of a brief, mis-
cradle passion), the flood of those
natural warnings which make the
/ sum of most womens lives had
broken its barriers at last. Rupert
had been an amazement and humiii
alton: Cuthbert was a delight, hap
piness so illimitable, so wondrous
that the woman trembled even at the
realization of it.
The meeting between Rupert and
his mother had led to nothing. They
were as far apart as the two poles.
Mrs Baynhurst had misunderstood
the boys attitude; she supposed that
he resented her second marriage AMI
in her turn she resented his right to
do this.
But Rupert was quite Indifferent to
! 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 had
never missed a mother; whereas even
then, when at times he went to kneel
at his fathers grave, his heart would
contract with that old incredulous an
guisn which had lived with him for so
many black days after he knew he
would never see that father again.
Nevertheless, though they parted so
coldly, quietly, and differently, some
thing in the boys bearing, in his calm
submission to his fate, had struck a
reproach in the woman-s heart.
she never wrote to Rupert, but she
wrote very frequently TO Matthew
Woolgar, who never troubled to send
her word in reply.
She began TO fidget and to fret
1t was monstrous, SO she declared,
that her son should be working in a
factory. Such circumstance stung
her pride.
Rupert must go to tutors. She
knew that John Haverford had left a
small sum of money, and she declared
that this money should be used for
Rupert's education.
Matthew Woolgar took absolutely
no notice Of her wishes, and after a
time her interest faded, she grew in.
different, and left Rupert to his fate
The care, the anxious, engrossina
care that her second boy demanded OF
her filled her every thought
And so few years rolled on mark
ed only for Rupert by the knowledge
that he was slowly but surely moving
upwards. and sweetened by the fact
that he was following those lines
which mis- father had laid down fol
him as far as he could
Half his wages went in books and
to pay for tuition. He had put him
self into the hands of one of the mas
tiers of school situated just outside
the town, and with this man he had
worked in every spare nour he had
His craving for knowledge amount
ed to greediness.
Perhaps once in while he met
Woolgar, who had grown into a surly
and suffering invalid; there was
nothing, however, in this old mans
treatment Of him to indicate even in
the fatntest degree the wonderful
future which awaited him.
When ne was twenty-six Rupert
was in a post of authority at the fac
tory; when he was thirty he was mas
ter of all that Matthew Woolgar had
possessed-a fortune so large that nc
one quite knew it's limits; young
man with the world before him, and a
certain section of the world at his
feet.
| 1t was ne, then, who had sought his
mother.
year or SO back when he had ar
rived at manhood, and had inherited
the money his father had left (Which
in Woolgars hands had accumulated
to a decent sum-, Rupert had made il
his business to inquire into his moth
ers financial position, and finding, as
he had imagined. that her circum
stances were very poor, he had with
out hesitation Immediately passed
over to her his small inheritance.
And Octavia Baynhurst had taken
the money.
mot for myself" she had written
w u1il, Dul lOT SutuUeIl. he is ST
delicate: he needs so much care, and
he is so gifted! If he is properly
trained he can attain to anything, but
he must be in Che proper environ.
ment"
Since that bygone day when mis-
mother had sought him with that frail
pathetically small baby in her arms
Rupert had not met his half-brother
till the day When he reached London
after he had followed Matthew Wool
gar to the grave.
There was not the faintest possible
ity Of sympathy or even friendship be
tween Octavia Baynhurst's two sons
A portrait of Culbert Balnhurst
was hanging over the fireplace in the
hall, and Rupert glanced up at it now
as, he turned to leave his mothers
house and go uot into the fog again
and as he glanced he frowned uncon
sciously.
There were portraits of gilbert all
over the house. Young Baynhurst af
fected the society, and in degree the
calling, Of artistic life, and was a fav
orite subject with most of the artists