The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-07-22
"A Hidden Inheritance

0CquSdLn dlI Lly pSISOAd1 JSWSlo dAu
ornaments, together with a sum Of
$1,000 to be paid to her, with the
accruing interest on her twenty-first
birthday, or, In the event OF her
death, to her father, Hugh Grandson.
To the aforesaid Hugh Grandson, my
dear nephew and godson, leave as
token of my sincere good will and
affection, my old armchair 1t is
grown shabby as well as old, but with
such deft and clever fingers as my
nephew's wife possesses this defect
may very easily be remedied. And
to my dear friend and goddaughter,
Elizabeth Graydon, devise the resi-
due of my property, including my
household furniture and what money
may lie to my credit in the Midland
Counties Bank, after all my debts
have been paid, and the above men,
toned charge has been provided for"
So ran the provisions of old Miss
Helen Grandison's will, read aloud in
cold formal tones by her lawyer on
the morning after her funeral. Hugh
Grandson could not conceal the fact
that it came to him as considerable
shock. The first of it sounded all
right, and, of course, it had been very
nice of Aunt Helen to remember the
baby and bequeath her the family
jewels as well as sum of money.
But when mention was made of the
absurd legacy to himself he found
himself first redding up furi-
ously at being made, as it
were, the butt of a grim and cruel
practical joke. Then he grew quickly
as pale again, realizing how much it
meant to him now, with Cynthia i'll,
and heaven alone knew how many in
sistent and heavy calls to be made on
him.
So Aunt Helen had never forgiven
him after all! And Bessie Graydon,
a comparative stranger, was to have
everything, or nearly everything,
while he, his eccentric aunt's own
flesh and blood, was put off with a
grotesque legacy of an old armchair!
Had the matter not been so very
serious for him just then, he could
have almost laughed aloud. Yet at
the back of this temptation to un-
seemly hilarity he had the feeling of
being sorely wounded and hurt. For
he had been really attached to, and
fond of Aunt Helen, as he had good
right to be, seeing that she had taken
the place of mother to him since
both of his parents died at any early
age.
1t had been a real sorrow to him,
too, to disappoint his kindly guardian,
after all, in her intentions with regard
| to his marriage. Aunt Helen had
always been romantic and sentimental
"a little whimsical, too, perhaps, de-
spite her great kindness and goodness
of heart And it had caused her both
grief and anger that at the last mo-
ment, as she considered, Hugh had
failed to fall in with her wishes and
Marry Bessie Graydon, the orphaned
daughter of an old sweetheart of hers
with whom she had foolishly quar-
relied as a girl and had repented it
ever since.
Bessie was a nice girl, pretty and
well-bred and sweet voiced; she was
also some half-a-dozen years older
than Hugh, and as poor as church
mouse. Not that either of these con-
siderations would have weighed in the
least with Hugh could he have salts
fed his aunt's most earnest desire
and fallen in love with the girl. But
that was impossible, seeing, he had
long ago given his heart to Cynthia
barley, the sweetest and dearest girl
in all the world, for all that she was
only a poor milliner, and Catholic
as well. That he was very much in
love with her he had given abundant
proof in the fact that he had married
her-he an all but brief1ess young bar.
rister with nothing but his brains and
the good will of his one wealthy rela
tive to depend on, and now he had
offended that relative beyond recall
Not only had he married Cynthia, but
he had at her entreaties become a
Catholic beforehand, and thus planted
another bitter sWord-thrust in rigid
Aunt Helen's heart.
Well, he had not regretted eithe1
step, nor was he likely to, though
troubles great and small had dogget
his footsteps ever since. He had ex
pected to be poor, but hardly dream
that matters financial would turn on
as badly as thew did, or.that the mere
fact of his breaking away from the
religion of his father and adopting
the Catholic faith would have playet
such havoc with his erstwhile hopeful
prospects as an advocate. And still
he had been happy, SO frankly, deli
ciously happy with his dear Cynthi;
that, despite their poverty, not for al
the wealth of the world would he hav,
wished himself free again. In hi
bachelorhood Hugh Grandson hat
been nominally Protestant, in real