Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1915-04-08
CHAPTER v.
SEAWARD.

1t was said that Horace aged 10
years in less than a week. The shock
came about the time of the Easter va
cation, n fell from d clear sky. Chef
Wynd and another youth had been
found guilty of indiscretions that could
not be overlooked by the powers at
Harvard. The true story never quite
came to light, but there was a great
deal of talk about two chorus girls.
~disgraceful orgies. voluptuous dances
and Il brawi in which one of the young
women vas severely beaten.
' GhetWynd was bundled off to Europe.
with his mother. to stay until the thing
blew over. or, at least. until Horace
could clear his perturbed brain of the
something that seemed TIC clog 1t. Be-
sides, there We're the ugly newspaper
accounts to be lived down; tina is to
say. the stories hat were printed in
the Boston and New York papers. 1t
goes without saying that the Corinth
Courier ignored the matter. There was
not IL line of 1T In the columns Of the
local paper. Horace Blagden owned
the publisher of the Courier. body and
soul. as we'll rs considerable Of the
stock in his newspaper
Todville unhesitatingly assisted in
giving voice to all the tales. true and
untrue. that came to notice. There was
general rejoicing among the inmates
OF the Seaman's Home, and along the
water front. In the barrooms and
g~rogshops there were contests be-
tween all who struggled to create the
coarsest jests at the expense of the
great and spotless man of Corinth. If
he could have heard them, the subject
of these ribald qutps would have shriv-
eled within himself. and groaned.
Eric n Mary were wise enough to
hold their tongues. n to curb a very
natural elatiop. From afar off, they
watched the comings and goings Of the
Rev. Mr.. Presbrey, and somehow their
keen inner consciousness told them that
he, too. In his own way, rejoiced in the
downfall OF Chetwynd, who had long
been a thorn in his side; q thorn he
cou!d not well afford to extract, but
must endure in patient humility-as, for
instance, the Hindo fanatic suffers him
self to lie, on his bed of pointed spikes.
In course of time, Mrs. Blagden and
Chetwynd returned to Corinth. The
um1ner was waning and raw. fog laden
winds were sweeping in from the sea.
| All summer long, when other men were
sWelter1ng in the heat, Horace BIag-
denis heart was feeling the raw, chill
winds of the sea: there was no warmth
in the world for him. Something had
frozen within him. and it would never
thaw. He went to Boston to meet the
returning voyagers: he came back with
them to Corinth, ~outwardly as proud
n confident as ever, but inWardly as
desolate and humble as the lowliest Of
Lazaruses.
The sore that hurt him most was the
one that opened every time he thought
of Mary Blagden's children. Why could
1t not have been one of them instead
of Chetwynd? Why should an ironical
malevolent fate have led his son into
the very miro he had prescribed for
hers? Horace could not understand
why God had done this thing to him,
while Mary's son was so available.
Corinth received the hayward youth
without reserve. Houses and arms were
opened to him. just as Horace expect
ed; and the t~actless assistant paying
teller in the bank who politely asked If
Chetwynd was to return to Harvard
next week, was the one who lost his
place in order that the presidents son
might begin his career as a banker
a little earlier than his father had in
tended, to be sure, but in accordance
\ with a destiny he had personally ar
ranged. The ~tactless teller assisted fate
to a certain extent by putting the ques-
ton. for Mr., Blagden was in some
what Of a quandary as to how he could
make room for Chetwynd without re-
moving a competent employee. OF course
1t was quite obvious that q competent
employe would never a asked if
| Chetwynd We're to return to Harvard.
1t made 1t very easy to remove him.
Chetwynd rather objected to going
into the bank at first. He was quite
sure he could make the crew at Yale,
If the Governor would only go down to
New Haven and six it up with the
heads of the institution. 1t did not en-
ter his head that a man so powerful
as Horace Blagden could fail to in
fluence the officials of any college, in
spite of the Harvard episode. But Hor-
ace said he hoped he would never be
called upon to resort to anything SO
desperate as the sending of a son of his
to Yale!
So Chetwynd began his career as a
banker sullenly, and in defiance Of
what he considered his w best inter-
ests. He started a mustache, and in.
sisted that it was his right to smoke
cigarets. having taken a course in the
art at college.