The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1912-04-25

poN youl Luilu Oh my arm! AIRY ana
'Arriet, Ell? We'll! never mind. There's
no one to see"
He took her hand-that neatly
gloved, small hand of hers-and put it
under his arm. For one moment it
seemed as If he would kiss that tiny
II tantalizing place just below the
thumb where the pink palm shows in
the opening Of the glove. Luke was
not u demonstrative lover, he was shy
and English and abrupt; but this
morning-Was it the breath OF SprIng
In the air, the scent OF the Roman
hyaclnths in hat bed over there, or
merely the shadow Of Il tiny cloud on
the uniform blue Of his lites horizon
that gave a certain rugged softness to
MS touch, as his hand fingered over
that neat glove which nestled securely,
III among the folds of his coat sleeve?
Now" she said simply.
'HaVe you,' he asked with abrupt ir-
r~eievance, read your paper all through
this morning."
Not all through. Only the import
ant headlines
And you saw nothing about a claim
to a peerage?"
Nothing"
We'll! that's all about it. A man has
sprung up from nowhere in particular,
who claims to be my Uncle Arthur's
son, and, therefore,, heir prcsumptive to
the title and ALL"
Luke heaved q deep sigh. as If with
thls BRIEF II ungrammaticai statement,
his own heart had been unburdened OF
a tiresome load.
Your Uncle Arthur" she repeated
somewhat beWildcred.
Yes. You never knew him. did
your" ~
No. she said, Il never knew him.
though as a baby / must have seen
him.. l was only three, l think, when
he died. But l never heard that he
mad been married. l am sure father
never knew"
Nor did l, 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.
They sat down together and on the
graVelled path in front of them q robin
hopped half shyly, half impertinently.
ABOUT gazed with tiny, inquisitive
eyes on III doings Of these big folk.
Al around them the twitter of bird
tnroats filled the air with its magic,
It's hymn to the reawakened earth. and
drowned In this pleasing solitude the
distant sounds Of the busy city that
seemed SO far away from this secluded
nook inhabited by birds and lowers,
and by two dwellers in Fata Morgana's
land.
Tell me first" said Louisa. in her
most prosy, most matter of fact tone of
voice, "all that is known about your
Uncle Arthur"
Well, up to now, 1 individually knew
very little about him. He was the next
eldest brother to Uncle Rad, and my
| flfhar yx,nC fha - .
Uncle Rad succeeded to the title. Ar
thur was heir-presumptive of course.
But as you know he died--as was sup
posed unmarried-19'years ago. and nv
poor dear father was killed in the hunt
Ing field the following year. | was a
mere kid then and the others were
bab1es-orphans the lot of us. NV
mother died when Edith was born.
Uncle Rad was said to be a confirmed
bachelor. He ooh 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 could adequately evoke.
Yes said Louisa at last, Il knew
all that"
Lord Radcliffe and his people were
all or the same world as herself. She
knew all about the present mans
touching affection for the children of
MS youngest brother. but more espec-
lally FOR Luke on whom he bestowed an
amount or love n tender care which
would have shamed many a father by
It's unselish intensity. That affection
was a beautiful trait in an otherwise
not very lovable character.
Il daresay," resumed Luke after a
little while, that 1 have been badly
brought up. l mean in this way, that
Tiff the whole story is true-if Uncle
Arthur did marry and did have a son.
than l should have to go and shift for
myself and for jim and Frank and
Edith. or course Uncle Rad would do
what he could for us, but | should no
longer be his .heir-and we couldn't go
on living at Grosvenor Square and
AREN'T you rambling on a little too
fast, dear?' said Louisa gently, whilst
she beamed with an almost motherly
smile-the smile that a woman wears
fort-on the troubled face Of the young
"Of course l am" he replied more
calmly. but I can't help it. For some
days now I've 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
I got up, 1 made up my mind that ]
would tell you"
when did you hear first and from
whom?"
THE first thing we heard was last
autumn. There came a letter from
abroad for Uncle Rad. 1t hadn't the
private mark on it. so Mr.. Warren
opened 1t along with the rest of the
correspondence. He showed IL to me.
The letter was signed Philip de Mount
ford, n began, My lear uncle
couldn't make head or tail Of IL.
thought IL all twaddle. You've no idea
what sort of letters Uncle Rad
gets some times from every kind OF
lunatic or s~coundrel you can think of,
who wants to get something cut of him.
Well, this letter at first looked to mo
the same sort of thing. | had never
heard OF any one who had the right
to say, dear uncle to Uncle Rad
but 1t had a lot in IL about blood be.
ing thicker than water and all the rest
OF 1t, with a kind of request for JUS
tice and talk about the cruelty Of fate.
The writer, however, asserted positively
that he was the only legitimate son
of Mr.. Arthur de Mountford. who-this
he professed to nave 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. / remember
every word of it, for ii seemed to get
right away into my brain, Their and
there. as II 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