The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-06-24
ssPENDENNIg'
BY WILLIAM NJ THACKERAY

commentator by X
One fine morning in the full Lon
don season, Major Arthur Pendennis
(retired on half pay came to break
fast at his accustomed corner in his
Pail Mall club. His were the best
BACKED boots in London. His buff
waistcoat, checked cravat, spotless
linen, white gloves, his whiskers, his
very cane were perfect of their kind.
He seemed thirty years old, until
you saw the Fictitious nature of his
rich brown hair and the crow's-feet
around the eyes of his handsome face
with its Wellington nose. His long
white cuffs showed the gold sleeve
buttons given him by His Royal High
ness, the Duke of York.
Through his gold double eye glass
| es, he reads his letters, one an invita-
ton from the Marquis of Steyne, one
from the Bishop of Ealing and Mrs.
Trail, another from an Earl and so on,
and last Of all, two others, one from
his widowed sister-in-law, and the
other from her only child Arthur Pen
dennis, Jr,. The first begs him to
come immediately" to Fair Oaks,
Clavering, St. Mary's, ito entreat, nay
command" the '.wretched boy to give
up his engagement to marry Miss
Costigan, an actress twelve years the
senior of this lad Of eighteen. The
second from this same lad beseeching
his uncle to remove his mothers OBJ
jections to his proposed union with his
dear Emily" descendant of the old
Irish royalty, the most beautiful wom-
an in the world. "A love like mine
sir writes young Pen, Il feel is con-
| tracted once and forever shall die
without ever knowing another pas
sion"
| The Major, inwardly in a rage, rue
| fully sends refusal to the Marquis, the
] Earl, the Bishop and other entertain
ers and takes a sleepless and firing
| trip in the tight, smelly night mail
coach for C1avering
| On arrival Major Pendennis is most
affable to Pen and his mother He
| does not "entreat" or command" his
nephew but wins the boys confidence
and talks Familiarity of his own noble
| friends and the brilliant career he has
had in mind for Pen. The Major then
faces the enemy Captain Costigan,
! the half tipsy, imaginative old Irish
| soldier, the father and protector of
Emily" To him and his beautiful,
honest but dull daughter, the Major
! IS equally suave. Beautiful she is,
with. broad brow, large melting eyes,
black wavy hair, white complexion,
rosy cheeks and the arms of a
Venus" Pen had come to see and
know her through Foker, a school
friend, lad homely and kindly, dull
at his books but bright in everyday
/ matters, whose father, the great brew
| er, furnished him money and Lady
Agnes, his mother, social position.
Verses Pen had been writing to the
Greek goddesses he now dedicates to
his new divinity
Major Pendennis, as his next move,
lets slip, in the presence of the Cos
tigans, the fact that Pen has no means
beyond what his mother allows him
out of her slender income Costigan
| is then indignant that Pen should
have had the face to offer himself to
his dear beguiled daughter" Pen can
not believe his adored Emily has calm
/ ~ thrown him over, until the Costi-
cans openly "cut" him in the street.
He almost dies, or believes he is dy-
Ing OF despised love, with all the sym
ptoms of sleepless nights and feverish
days, and is scarcely consoled by his
/ a,
Laura is five years younger than
Fen. his second cousin on the side Of
his mother, who adopted her on the
death Of her parents, perhaps because
OF romance of early unmarried DAYS
with Laura's father
Miss Cosugan secures an engage.
ment at a London theater through
Major Pendennis' influence. The mag.
netic attraction being thus removed.
Pen goes to "Oxbridge." Then through
F'oker and with the Majors encour-
| agement Pen makes rich and aristo-
cratic friends and begins a brilliant
career at the Debating Union, at din
ners and late supper, with his wit.
eloquence, poems and commanding
self-confdence. Wild without being
means and neglecting his studies, he
becomes deeply in debt and is
'plucked' in his degree examination
though many fellow he has de
sp1sed for his dullness or crushed in
debate passes with honors.
/ Unselhsh, he would leave the gayest
party to go and sit with a sick friend
and yet, selfish, he forces his mother
i TO pinch herself to keep him in col
lege and he accepts Laura's savings
to pay his debts. He fees "Oxbridge''
IN disgrace, though later he tries again
/ and passes his exams" with fair
/ credit
Coming home from college, Pen,
now young man of good figure, me.
dunn height, blue eyes and auburn
whiskers, finds Laura grown from the
simple little girl. into a tall, slim,
handsome young lady with large gray
eyes, long black lashes, pale face with
rose tinge in her cheeks which Pushes
easily into deey blush.
/ Now comes on the scene Sir Francis
/ Copyright, 1919, by Post Publishing
| special arrangement with the Mcclure