The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1915-10-27

Ing my WIFE"
There was bitter irony in the dis
covery. A scornful rasping laugh e.
capped her in the silent room. AS girl
-four years ago In Chiswick also-no
doubt she had pictured her father as
a splendid noble remote personake.
who one day might step down from his
high place and graciously acknowledge
her.
CHAPTER xL.
She wondered II he had any suspi-
cion OF their relationship. But It was
obvious that he had not That would
be . claim ON her that he would have
proved with all possible energy. At all
hazards she must keep this secret
from him. She could never endure
him as a father, even In secret.
Imagine him assuming paternAl
familiarity perhaps insisting on q
daughterly salute. She shuddered at
the thought. Whatever sympathy she
might have felt for this battered demi-
rep was changed by this revelation In
70 aversion and contempt.
She Regards Him
A. = william.
The man was a william. She had new
er attempted to fathom those financial
swindles in which, Oswald had told
her. he had been for years and years
involved She remembered his deser-
ton OF her mother, his still more abso-
lutte indifference to the fate Of her.
his child. Stay! Did he know Of her
existence? The letter did not make
that clear She prayed Heaven that he
had never been appraised OF her birth
that there might be one chance the
less OF his ever Identifying her.
And this was the awakening from
her childhood Illusions about coronets
and Norman blood. Sir Ralph was OF
Norman, or rather Angevin, blood
right enough. He had q larger pedi-
gree than any peer OF the realm. As
far as she remembered, however, the
founder of his house had been as
great rogue as he.
She had been ashamed of her moth
cr's humble blood. She looked round.
These castle walls had been rebuilt
with her brothers money. 1t was
ut. ange that he should have benefited
the family to which belonged, though
remotely, the betrayer OF his sister.
It was stranger still, Leslie often
thought, that he should have done so
little for his own kith and kin and so
much for the family whose name he
had taken.
Yet his giving keepsake-this
book on "Self-Help"-to his sister be-
fore his departure for America seem
ed to indicate some sympathy between
them. Leslie was half proud, half an
cry at Uncle James. He was the only
man OF her blood apparently who had
been able to earn an honest living or
make a success of life; yet he had
been such a snob as she was when q
girl. and cast off his humble kinsfolk
with his humble name.
OF all the men she had to do with
the sweetheart of her girlhood, Vic
tor Steele. was the only one who had
at all conformed to her old ideals. He
had won his place by the sword and
babe fair to leave name written on
the skies.
Al d he also had deceived and trick
ed her.
She walked up and down the room.
What was she to do about this father
of hers? She hated him intensely. Her
dead mothers wrongs cried out for
vengeance. She might make things
very uncomfortable for him. She had
suspi ion. that among her late hus-
bands papers which the family law
yers were now ransacking would be
found a number of IOU's and promis.
sorry notes with the Baronet's sigma
ture.
The baronet had allowed the baby
to pull his nose with the most Spar
tan fortitude. He could not, then, be
wholly bad. How much did
he want 1.-TWO thousand dollars to
meet an immediate and unexpected
need. the result Of my consideration
Tor group of INSCRIPTIONS under
writer's" What an underwater was
Leslie had not the faintest idea
something underhand, she vaguely sup
posed.
Half ashamed of herself. she took
out her check-book and dashed off q
check for the required amount She
enclosed 1t In a sheet Of black border.
ed paper on which she wrote simply:
II send the sum you ask for.-L. ""
post-box faced the entrance to the
castle grounds, and the fancy took her
to dispatch the letter herself. 1t was
odd to be posting letter to her faith
er-she who had never written a line
or spoken a word to either father or
mother before. She passed over the
bridge on which the motor car had
halted the night Oswald had first
brought her to River, and glanced up,
ward. as she often did. at the battle
ments. where he had asked her to be
his wife.
Her earliest memories of him had
savored of romance, and some of il
fingered about him dead-dead after
going forth like a knight of old to
ayenge her on the field of honor.
AS she paused a stranger came UP
the drive. There was something
about him which reminded her of Vic
tor; yet he was a much older man,
shorter. and in no way resembling the
other in features. She saw that the
likeness lay solely in his soldierly
bearing and his sun-scorched skin. In
stinctively she felt that he had husi-