Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-07-05


] after dinner and Mary and Miss Var
49, ney sat together in the drawing room
Doesn't Mr.. Bretherton ever sit with us
with you, 1 mean?" Mary asked involun-
tarly.
Miss Varney looked up from her crochet.
"Oh, yes; sometimes, my dear! But he 8
not at all strong, you know; in fact, at once
time we never thought he would live to grow
up. He's much better now, but he has to be
careful. like him to rest as much as posi-
BILE. But we shall quite a lot of him,
and you'll like him very much when you
know him BETTER"
'I like him now" said Mary impulsively.
Miss Varney looked pleased; she was new
er tired of listening to praise of her idol.
He's a Wonderful man-Wonderful!" she
said, with a quiet enthusiasm. He doesn t
make many friends, and he doesn't make
them easily; but once he likes a person, he'd
do anything for him.
81 am sure he would"
Hes just like his grandfather in some
respects" Miss Varney went on, with evident
enjoyment Hes the straightest man |
know, but once you make an enemy of
him She looked up at Mary with sort
of pride 1.-The Brethertons never forgive"
she said severely.
81 don't think that's very nice of them"
said Mary, with a nervous little smile. They
might need forgiveness for something them
selves one day
Miss Varney unwound some more cotton
from the ball on her lap.
"It's a family trait, my dear; l can't eX-
plain it in any other way. Of course know
we are all taught to forgive our enemies,
but not many of us do so, l am afraid.
Just now David was speaking of the family
ghost, as he calls it, but he didn't tell you
about the last time it appeared, and why it
is supposed to have appeared, did he?"
mo"
Il Fo+I o,,e fiooo naIriI' c
father was young man then, and his broth
err Ralph-youve heard Nigel speak of his
brother Ralph, of course?"
''No."
Miss Varney looked surprised.
Haven't you? l wonder he didn't tell
you about him. He was the black sheep of
the family He was older than David's
father, and he got into some trouble here at
home and went off abroad Nothing was
heard of him for years, until one day news
of his death was sent to his father He q
died somewhere in America, and that appar-
emily was the end of HING and everyone nat
urally looked upon David and Nigels father
as heir.
81 suppose it must have been about six
months later" she went on, that woman
arrived at the Red Grange. 1t was Novem-
Der. [ wasn't here, Of course, but I've
heard the story told so often I almost seem
to have been here and witnessed it. She had
u
said she was Ralph Bretherton's wife, and
that the boy was his son. Nobody ever
heard of his being married, but she per
suaded his father into believing her. She
had papers and certificates and told him a
very plausible story of how she met him,
and what their life had been, and how he
died.
"Well to cut a long story short, she was
received here as Ralph Bretherton's widow
and the child acknowledged as his son. A
nice little fellow he was, 1 believe; and,
Judging from his portrait-there's one in
the gallery-he was a very pretty boy, but
not bit like a BrethertOn. He and his
mother stayed here for about two months,
living in luxury, before they were found out.
David's grandfather took a great fancy to
them, it appears, and thought nothing too
good for them.
''Then one night the Gray Lady was seen;
no fewer than three people saw her, and all
on separate occasions. It was a warning, so
everyone said that some disaster was fall
ing on the family. And sure enough it was
because the very next day someone sent an
anonymous letter to the head Of the house
David's grandfather-and warned him that
the woman he was sheltering his sons
wife was an impostor. l don't remember
the details but it proved to be true enough.
She had only known Ralph Bretherton very
slightly, and the whole thing was a put-up
scheme to get the money and estates for the
boy"
Tuesday-"The BrethertOn Character"