The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-12

EBMnHuEmE1MuHH EH HauHnRAHn II
 tConsinucd.p
 He looked at her tenderly. He Knew
 that he had chosen safe and opeh
 road
 'T do love you.- she replied in a
 whisper. "Yes. Dick. I do love you. in
 spite of everything"
 For a moment there was look or 1 fear on his face. but the woman did not
 see 1t. for her head was bowed m
 shame. she had lied. or she thought 1 that she had lied, for she did not know
 that no woman will sacrifice herself
 for a man unless she loves him
 Then he made the best of matters.
 and did the only thing possible. He | caught her in his arms. kissed her pas
 sionateiy. and whispered words of love. l TX.
 l The Furies.
 Three months passed. and Sir Richard
 Gaunt was still at Gaunt Royal.
 Ills engagement to Lady Betty Drake
 had not yet been announced to the
 world. At her own suggestion It was
 not to be published till he had served
 six months of what he called his I'm prisonment" and he was only too glad
 to fall in with the suggestion.
 It is characteristic of men like Sir
 Richard that however. cailous ana 1 Gl ametet8 tIey may De III thct NS@f ings with women in a lower station. | they draw the line at any act of open treachery towards a woman of their | own class. This kind of honor belongs l rather to a social than e moral code; | but whatever motive from which II | springs. 1t is very real and binding. Every hour that Sir Richard passed l mitigated dullness. Days and nignts | were equally dreary and uninteresting. I But. in spite of his unquenchable l dislike of country life, he endeavored | to keep his word to Lady Betty. When | they parted on the morning of their betrothal she had asked him to stay | at Gaunt Royal til he had served his | year of probation. Tn the excitement 1 of the moment. and the hot passion which her beauty and love had stirred | in his heart. he had promised to do l this Other men lived In the country. and could not be persuaded to leave 1t. | He thought it just possible that ne | might get used to the life. and become | sporting squire.
 | He was soon undeceived. There was I but little game to shoot, and his ef- I efforts with the gun were ludierously l unsuccessful. As q boy he had prom | ised to become good shot, but years l of excess had affected his nerve and | eyesight, and he made himself as ri-
 diculous as any Cockney sportsman | out for a holiday. He could not face l ridicuie. and one day, after missing an | easy shot with both barrels. he flung his gun over the edge of the ciin Into | the sea.
 | He was an equal failure on horse- back. He did not care for jogging l along the roads. and his first | day with the hounds showed him that 1 another attempt might cost him his life. afo at stones. | the precIpices which often checked man in the full swing of a sharp run, l were not suitable country for any one who had lost his nerve.
 He then bought motor car, but here I again he paid the penalty of long years i of vice. That nerve which is required 1 in almost every form of outdoor sport was again wanting. The swift turn | of a corner, the long sweep down an 1 Incline, siekened him. He could have l gone slowly, but that touched the other 1 extreme, and was mere weartness. For
 man in his frame of mind and body 1 there was no mean. His brain wasted | excitement, but his body was not equal l to the strain of bearing it.
 And so in turn, all physical amuse- ments failed. He learned to loath all | the beauties of Nature. and the scene | ry unsurpassed even in the grandest l districts of Wales. positively irriated | him. He hated the fine display of
 woodland and mountain range. The | dark cliffs and the grey sea, though | more acceptable, inasmuch as they did
 not seem so like a prison wall. were a poor sub bstitute for the noise and glare | of a city. The whole scheme of Nature | jared on his mind, and by degrees he | began to spend much of his time in- | doors, and was driven back on the re-
 sources of his mind.
 These, as may be imagined. were not vast He had no love for books. and was incapable of interesting himself | in music or art. He finally, after | struggle to master a heap of novels | from Nudes. relapsed into a phase of | absolute likeness, and spent most of the day musing by the fireside. with pipe in his mouth and brandy and soda by his side.
 And then came the new devil which was to take the place of the one which Lady Betty had striven to exercise
 A vicious mind, deprived of one form of vice, is field ripe for the accep- tance of another. Sir Richard Gaunt had much to think about. and plenty of time for thought. Unfortunately, his thoughts were of that nature which require solace and sometimes demand oblivion. Both solace and oblivion were to be found in alcohol, and he saw that 1t was plainly destined to be true friend through all the dreary months to come.
 Sir Richard had for several years drunk more than was good for him. but he had never done so with any more definite object in view than that of re- viving Nhis wasted physical energies. Now, however, he began to drink steadily from morning to night. The effect of this was not gaiety nor even cheerfulness but in the early parts or the day he experienced a certain con tempt for every form of annoyance, and later on he relapsed into e dull stupor, in which the brain was prac- ticaliy asleep.
 It was only in the early mornings that he was able to consider things clearly, and he gradually began to dread these brief glimpses of the reaii- ties Of life. He did not suffer from the conventional headache or any of the physical discomforts which follow on 8 nights debauch. Ills body, 1t is true, was devoid of all energy, but his mind was active enough, and it's activity was so painful to him that he endeavored to subdne it at the earliest opportu- nity. There was often a brandy and soda on his dressing-table
 During these brief periods of lucidi- ty he was troubled by two matters. each of hem at first distinct. but like ly to become fused together owing to the way in which they alternated in hfS brain. The first was his marriage with Lady Betty.
 He had no definite views on this, ex-