Connecticut western news., 1911-04-06
THE BAR
 SINISTER By FRED L. YOUNG Copyright by American Press Asso-
 ciation. 1911.
By FRED L. YOUNG

 stitution. What gives them their glam- our is that they are not American.
 When on visit to England l visited the Earl of Bannerton. We were sit ting one evening together drinking port wine and smoking. The walls were covered with portraits of his ancestors.
 ''We Americans" I said, ''envy you your family histories, your blood, your ancestral homes. What a fine thing it is to feel that you have pure blue blood iu your veins, especially when there is no taint in it."
 The earl smiled. What would you say," he replied. If told you that my grandfather was a highwayman?"
 'I should say you were amusing yourself"
 "He was"
 "A highwayman?
 "Yes. Come, I will show you his portraits and that of his wife, my grandmother"
 He led me into room used exclu- sively for family hkenesses and stop ped before two portraits, a young man and young woman. The man must have been extremely handsome. We sat down, and he told me their story while I was looking at them as they were when the events narrated occurred
 "The young bloods of England in olden times were not as vicious in some respects as they are today. They drank pretty hard, but they were not
 
 fighting foreign enemies or engaged in cruel warfare an outlet was required for their surplus vitality. One day Sir Roger Smartleigh was driving on a road with his daughter Clarissa-the girl faced lady you see before you when his coach was stopped. A horse man appeared at the window and de- manded what he called 'alms.' He was masked, of course, but he had the manner of a courier. Captivated by Clarissa's beauty, he swung his hat in difference to her like the hero of a sixpenny novel of the present day. Sir Roger emptied his pockets, holding out the contents, with his watch, to the highwayman.
 "'Never mind those,' said the rob Der. If the young lady will give me that bit of lace she wears about her throat will ask no more.'
 "Glad to escape with so little dam age, Sir Roger bade his daughter give up her lace. She obeyed like dud- ful child, handing it to the highway man. .-...-a#. s ...
 CT only ask it as a loan,' he said, and will bring it to you in person.
 eff you do,' said Sir Roger, you will be taken and hanged to the high est gibbet in England.'
 "That prospect will only enhance the zest of the visit replied the man. Besides, to see this beautiful girl once more I would be willing to dan gle from ropes end'
 "The coach was driven on and the highwayman left behind.
 Several months after that Sir Roger and Lady Smartleigh gave a masked ball. The dancing was at its height when Clarissa observed a figure dress ed as a Spanish toreador which seem ed to her the acme of manly form. Determined to discover if possible who he was, as soon as the dance was fin- ished she resolved to join him. When he parted from his partner he made her a bow, sweeping the floor with his hat, and she knew there was but one man in England who could make so grand a salute.
 "She stood undecided, her heart beat ing like a kettledrum, for she knew the highwayman had come on his promised visit, and she remembered her fathers threat. At the moment the highwayman turned and, seeing her, came toward her, thrusting into her hand a bit of lace. His own hand touched hers, and he felt hers trem- ble.
 "That touch, that quiver, precipitat- ed a love affair. The man knew she was trembling for him, and she was infatuated by the frightful risk he ran to visit her. He drew her hand through his arm and led her out on to the dim ly lighted terrace.
 "There was the usual melting of the woman under the warm sun of love. At first she demanded in an assumed tone of severity what right he had there, and when the rascal told her that he had come to see her and die she threw her arms about him and begged him to flee for his life. How he could flee when she wouldn't let him go I don't know. Sir Roger had got a glimpse of the fellow when he was making his courtly bow and, hay ing seen it before, knew his guest. He made his way through a crowd of dancers as fast as he could, but before he reached his man the latter had dis appeared, for Clarissa, hearing her fa- ther roaring and swearing and crying Where is the villain? opened her arms, and the robber was in the gar den and over the fence like the boy of twenty-five he was.
 "Clandestine meetings between the lovers followed the ball, and a secret marriage followed the meetings. The highwayman-the handsome chap was the second son of my great-grandfa- J;1 with hic xuifn fpr