The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1912-04-25

e1e UNIFORM Dlue or MS LIES horizon
that gave a certain rugged softness to
his touch, as his hand fingered over
That neat glove which nestled securely
In among the folds Of his coat sleeve?
Now" she sail simply.
Have you" he asked with abrupt ir-
r~eievance read your paper all through
this morning z"
Not all through. Only the import
ant headlines
And you saw nothing about a claim
to a peerage?"
Nothing"
sprung up from Nowhere in particular,
VINO claims to be my Uncle Arthur's
son, and, therefore. heir presumptive to
the title ana ALL.
Luke heaved a deep sigh, as If with
this brief If ungrammatical statement,
his w heart had been unburdened of
a tlreSome load.
You Uncle Arthur" she repeated
somewhat bewildered.
Yes. You never knew him, did
you?"
No." she said, II never knew him.
though as a baby l must have seen
him. l was only three, 1 hin when
ne died. But I never heard tina he
had been married, I am sure father
knew"
Nor did I. nor did Uncle Rad, nor
any Of us. The whole thing is either
a thundrebolt or an imposture."
Tell me-" she said, "a little more
clearly, Luke dear, will you? am feel
ing quite muddled." And now it was
she who led the way to the Isolated
seat beneath that group of silver birch.
whose baby leaves trembled beneath
the rough kiss Of the cool April breeze.
Ihey sat down together and on the
gravelled path in front of them a robin
hoped half shyly, half impertinently,
about and gazed with tiny. inquisitive
eyes on the doings of these big folk.
All around them the twitter Of bird
throats filed the air with its magic,
It's hymn to the reawakened earth, and
wi in this pleasing solitude the
aa asal sounds Of the busy, city that
seemed SO far away from this secluded
nook inhabited by birds and flowers.
and by two jewellers in Fata Morgana's
land.
Tell me first" said Louisa, in her
most prosy, most matter of fact tone of
voice. ali that is known o your
Uncle Arthur"
We'll, up to now, 1 individually knew
very little about him. He was the next
eldest brother to Uncle Rad, and my
father was the youngest Of all. When
Uncle Rad succeeded to the title, Ar
thur was heir-presumptive of course.
But as you know he died-as was sun
posed unmarried-19 years ago, and my
poor dear father was killed in the hunt
ing field the following year. I was a
AAASSS hlo Il1Sl1 dllu lu0 OCQGfS were
babies-orphans the lot of US. My
mother died when Edith was born.
Uncle Rad was said to be a confirmed
bachelor. He took us all to live with
MIN and was father, mother, elder
brother, elder sister to us all. Bless
him!"
Luke paused abruptly, and Louisa too
was silent. Only the song of a thrush
soaring upward to the skies called for
that blessing which neither Of them at
that momen could adequately evoke.
Yes" said Louisa at last, II knew
all that"
Lord Radcliffe and his people were
all OF the same world as herself. She
knew all about the present mans
touching affection for the children of
ms younges brother. but more espec-
tally for Luke on whom he bestowed an
amount Of love and tender care which
would have shamed many a father by
its unselfish intensity. That affection
was a beautiful trait in an otherwise
not very lovable character.
II d~aresay," resumed Luke after a
little while, that I have beer badly
brought up. I mean in lis way, that
lf-if the whole story is true-if Uncle
Arthur did marry and did have q son.
than | should have to go and shift for
myself and for Jim and Frank and
Edith. OF course Uncle Rad would do
what he could for US, but 1 should no
longer be his e!r-an we couldn't go
on living at G~rosvenor Square and"
Aren't you rambling on a little too
she beamed with an almost the
smile-the smile that a woman wears
when she means to pacify and to com
fort-on the troubled face Of the young
man.
o course 1 am" he replied more
calmly, but I can't help it. For some
days now We had a sort of feeling
that something was going to happen
-that-Well, that things weren't going
to go right. And this morning when
got up, made up my mind that I
would tell you"
when did you hear first and from
whom?"
1.-THE first thing we heard was last
autumn. There came a letter from
abroad for Uncle Rad. 1t hadn't the
opened 1T along with the rest Of the
correspondence. He showed it to me.
The letter was signed Philip de Mount
ford, and began, My dear uncle I
couldn't make head or tail Of 1t. 1
thought 1t all twaddle. You've no idea
gets some times from every kind of
lunatic or scoundrel you can think of,
who wants to get something out of him.
Wen, this letter at first looked to me
the same sort Of thing. / had never
heard of any one who a the right
~ 4
but 1T had a lot in it about blood be-
ing thicker than water and all the rest
OF 1t, with a i of request for jus
tice and talk about the cruelty of fate.
The writer, however, asserted positively
that he was the only legitimate son
or Mr.. Arthur de Mountford, WIDTHS
he professed to have only heard recent
Twas own brother to the Earl Of
Radcliffe. The story which he went
on to relate at full length was queer
enough in all conscience. L remember
every word of it, for it seemed to get
right away into my brain, then and
there, as If something was being ham
mered or screwed straight into one of
the cells of my memory never really
to come out again"
and yet when-when we were first
engaged" rejoined Louisa quietly, you
never told me anything about it,,
I'll tell you directly how HI was.
! remembered and then forgot-if you
know I an-an now it has