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NKTRESSILIAN COURT;OR,Tin* Itaronct’H Son.out writing. I shall telegraph from Marsailles that you will come home with me.out and despairing, my mother died when I was ten years ofd.”\nd you will, will you not? Again the wind shrieked past, againYou will not abandon me, my friend? the little vessel lurched, the sea sweep-I will charge myself with your future, ing her deck.palIft.nt.:t*3.*88,il-t ftICOnst lt;1-it.,Hy MRS. HARRIET LEWIS.Author of *' Tho Double Life/' •• The Bailiff's SoIh mo,” Tlit Sumlered HearU,” “ The Lady of Kildare, “A Life at Stake, “The Houeu of Secrete/’ etc., t*lo., etc.1 will see that you obtain the position to which your talents entitle you. You have no ties to keep you on the Continent ?”The captain screamed his orders to his men, and for a few minutes disorderreigned.A nasty hit of weather!” said Low-•sA*y-re,j*-»n-Cli AFTER I.A PATEFUL CATASTROPHE.A wild storm was raging upon the Mediterranean Sea, near the close of a drearv November day, and sky and wa*•r ¥ * »ters were black with the gloom of the sudden and furious tempest, before which a small sailing vessel was scudding under hare poles. Her build and j rigging proclaimed her Sardinian. She , was The Gull, Captain Varino, master, ted the sentence.A strange expression passed over der. “ And a bad sky 1” Jasper Lowder’s lace. “ Yes, but I’ve seen alt;as bad,” returnedNo, I have no ties,” he said huskily, j Tressilian. “We shall make port allright, never fear. Wo must be well on toward the Cape di Gallo. And its only seven miles from the Cape to Palermo.” “But the seven miles in this storm are worse than seventy in good weath1 ^ 1 7 —------“And you will go home with me?” “What will vour father sav to my coming ?” demanded Lowder. “lie will think your generosity Quixotic. Hewill dismiss from his house the hiredcompanion who dares to resemble his i or. These coasts are dangerous, Treason—” silian.”A sudden lurch of the little vessel, a Lowder shuddered as lie surveyed sea wave sweeping over the deck, interrup- j and sky.“ But about your father, Jasper ?” saidinningmtfornrE,n*A-n-on her way from Cagliari to Palermo.She had on hoard two seamen, and two passengers.These passengers were Englishmen, who had procured passage on The Gull to Palermo, whence they intended to embark by steamer to Marseilles, the following day.While the Captain and bis assistants were attending to their duties, and expressing apprehensions as to their safety, the two Englishmen stood apart, leaning against the low bulwarks, and surveying the wild scene around them.These men were both young, apparently of the same age, about three and r ,twenty, but evidently they were not of JasPer» he said, with something of an1 ellort. My lather has a ward, theYou wrong my father,” said Tressil Tressilian, who had become deeply in-mn, bis blue eyes kindling, when the terested in his companion’s story, vessel had righted. “ He is the noblest “ What did he do after your mother’s man in the world. He will welcome death ?”my friends as his own. You will love j “I remained at the old lodgings with him, Jasper, as 1 do, when you know our single old servant a month or more, him.” ! my father visiting me several times, and“ He doesn’t seem very affectionate,” j expressing anxiety as to what he shouldnrL’Oll I ,n\t’ill»r U Y/ill llflVXk liOOtl trill) W\i\ A iirnnl/ off ah *»»»r in/.lremarked Lowder. “ You have been away from your home for live years, and ho has but just recalled you!” Young Tressilian’s cheeks Hushed, as Lowder saw in the lurid glow that mo-do with me. A week after mv mother’s death, he told me that his brother was dead. A month later, his father was killed by being thrown from his horse. My father came into riches and honorsheA-k-■d.in)..orerc-s*ethe same station in life.One, the more striking of the two, was aristocratic in his bearing, tall, slender and handsome, with a frank, i smiling mouth, a pair of fearless blue j eyes, set under a wide and massive fore-1 head, and tawny hair blowing back from his face. Noble, generous andkind hearted, he had an adventurous disposition and a dauntless courage.He was Guy Tressilian, the onlv son ' and heir of Sir Arthur Tressilian, liaro-net, of Tressilian Court, England.Ilis companion presented a remarkable resemblance to him, being also tall and slender, and fair, with tawny hair and mustache, but he had not the frankmenturily lighted up the tempestuous I by these deaths. At last, deciding toscene. i rid himself of me, he took me down to“You know, or can guess, the reason, Brighton, to my old grandmother. Hersons were dead; she had given up keeping lodgers, and was grown miserly. He promised her five hundred pounds a year to keep me, and to keep also thedaughter of an old friend. Ah! hear that wind shriek! The gale is increasing :P’secret of paternity, solemnly promising “ Yes,” assented Lowder. “And the to acknowledge me some day as his son ward is Miss Irby—the golden-haired | and heir. The old woman ag*eed to Blanche of whom you have talked so 1 carrv out his wishes. She would havomuch, and with whom you have exchanged letters?”“ Yes. My father formed a project to have mo marry Blanche. He did not wish us to grow up together, lest we should^learn to regard each other as brother and sister. When Blanche came to live at the Court my father sent me te Germany. The night before I left home, he called mo into his libra-k.3D. \smile, the bright, fearless look, or the anlt;I 1110 hopes and plansjoyous spirit that characterized young ,ny future, and entreated me to con-Tressilian. Young as he was, lie had j t,n,ue worthy of his innocent ward, and seen much of the dark side of life, and keep my heart pure for her. I havehis experiances had been such as to tie- done so, Jasper. I have never yetVt/idofyusgII-Vo.e,velop in him some of the worst qualities of his nature.lie was Jasper Lowder, Guy Tressilian’s hired traveling companion and bosom friend.The meeting connection of (he two had a touch of romance. Young Tressilian had spent four years in a German university, whence he had been graduated with honor. On leaving the uniloved any woman. And yesterday Ireceived my father’s summons to comehome. He has recalled me after fiveyears of absence. I know the wish *that lies nearest his heart. He wants me to return and marry Blanche. I shrink from the proposed marriage. I dread going home. And I dread ofl'end-ing my dear father, whom I love better than ativ woman. It is hard, Jasper, tocv.■0.118o.slbnsii-versity, in obedience to his father’s revolt against the hopes and plans of a written command, he had undertaken a Riid generous father, whose verytour oi the countries inclosing the Med- , h)ve lor me causes lam to urge on this iterrerraneun Sea, in company with one , marriage.of his late tutors. This gentleman be- j “ It it ?” said Lowder, dryly, and witha strange smile full ot sneering bitterness. “My experience lias been widely different from vours, Tressilian. Hid I ever tell you of my father ?”ing unexpectedly promoted to a professorship, abandoned Tressilian at Baden, leaving him to find another traveling companion.On the evening of the very day after this desertion, as Guv Tressilian was sauntering through the streets of Baden, he had been assaulted by a trio of his own countrymen, all more or less intoxicated. It was apparent that they took him for another, and intended to wreak vengeance upon him. Without allowing him to speak, they forced him to defend himself. Guy was getting the worst of the conflict, when a stranger came running to his assistance, and in a few moments the two had put the ruffians to flight.This stranger who came so opportunely to Guy's assistance was Jasper Lowder. Ilis resemblance to young Tressilian awakened- in the latter a romantic interest. lie questioned Lowder, learned that he was poor and alone in the world, and took him with him to his hotel. Believing that the similarity ot features indicated a similarity of tastes and natures, he engaged Lowder as his traveling companion, and the“No. I took it for granted that he is dead.”“ Perhaps he is. I don’t know,” said Lowder, with a reckless laugh. “ But if he is living, he is a scoundrel. Don’t start, Tressilian, at my uniilial speech. Wait till you hear my story. I am in a desperate mood to-night. This stormdone anything for money. I never saw my father again. 1 went to school, grew up, and at the age of twenty-one came into my grandmother’s money, the fruits of years of saving, she dying at that time. My father had deliberately abandoned me. I did not know where to seek him, if I had wished to.I took mv monev and came abroad. 1»had been two years on the Continent, and had spent my little fortune when I met you. The rest vou know.”“An old, romantic story! But why did vour father abandon you ?”•‘That he might be freed of encumbrance to make a grand marriage. From what my grandmother said at different times, I conclude that my father was in love with a titled ladv before mv moth er's death. No doubt he married this lady. If he lives, this lady’s son may he liis acknowledged heir. My father lias utterly disowned the son of his first hasty, ill-starred marriage. I havo a fancy that I shall meet him some dav,”i Iand Jasper 8 brow darkened to deeper blackness. “ However, I stand no chance of ever receiving justice at hishands.”“ What is your father’s name, Jasper ?” asked Tressilian.Lowder’s face darkened. He bit his lip savagely.“ What I have told vou about mvself%/I learned from mv own observation, or%from chance words of my parents and grandmother. My mother’s maiden name was Jeanette Lowder. At our London lodgings my father bore the name of Lowder. I don’t know his real name, hut I should know his face anywhere, although I have not seen him instirs up all the bad within me. As ' thirteen years._ My mother was uctu-nearly as J can discover, mv father wast •the youngest 6on of a proud old countyfamily—”“You do not know, then?” asked Tressilian, pressing his companion’s hand.“I have no proofs of it. All I possit-ally married, Tressilian, but 1 never heard my father’s name. The clergy man who married my mother is dead ; the witness also. When my grandmother was dying she tried to fell mo the story. She had put it off too long. All that I could understand of hermumblings was the name of Devereux.past year they bad spent together more . , ... . . . .. , , . . .like brothers' than like employer and I'J/ landlady s daughter.L J He oflered the young girl marriage, onively know is this. My mother was ol j b|iall never forget that name—‘Dever* humble station, pretty, with blue eyesand an apple-blossom face, and tender,appealing ways. She was the daughterof a widow, residing at Brighton. Thewidow, my grandmother kept a lodginghouse, and my father, a gay, dashingyoung fellow, came to lodge with her.As might have been expected, he fellK.employed.“This storm is a regular Levanter,” ^mndition that the union should be kept said Lowder, clinging with both hands ! fecrJt un 11 !ls affiU.™ brightened and to the bulwarks. “Do vou think the ie clJ°IsP to d/vulge I,ie younglt;girlcraft will stand it, Tressilian ?” ' lov,ed h,m*. IIor l™)tI,er wa3f ambitious“Oh, yes,” answered young Tressil-1 j1 penuiious. Ihe result was theian, wiping the salt spray fro.,This face. »over, thad fnd“The captain knows the Sicilian coast | daughter of his landlady quietly, almostperfectly. In two hours, or less, we I hen ho took hi* bi ubshall be in the bay of Palermo. In L mdon, to cheap and obscure lodgithree hours we shall be domiciled in ! d|C*le» 51 year later, was born.el'X !’ Probably that was mv father’s name—my own rightful name. But as I should never find him if I sought him, and as he would repulse ine if I did find him, I stand no chance (if inheriting his property. He may he dead, liemay have other sons who have succeeded him. It is all a mvsterv, but the• *prominent truth is that I am an outcast, poor, disowned and friendless.”He leaned over the bulwark, the spray dashing over bis lace violently. Tressilian’s heart warmed to him.“ My poor friend !” be said. “ Must Isay again you are not friendless whileI live. My father has influence enough. to obtain for you a government appoint-Sicretly. lhen ho took his bride to ment. This tangle may straighten itsings,self out some dav. But if it don’t, vou*are resolute enough to make your own The wind for a moment drowned his j happiness.”He grasped Lowder’s hand, and look-three hoursthe best rooms of the hotel Trinacria, jwith the best supper which Messer Ka- j voice. As it presently lulled, ho re-jgusa can furnish. And to-morrow, at sumed recklessly, and with passionate ed with warm bright eyes, full of sym-noon,” he added, “we shall embark for Marsailles in a Messageries steamer.”5IE“ And from Marsailles you will pro--! ceed to England and to TressilianCourt,” said Lowder, with some bitterness. “And/—what is to become of me? I have had a year of unalloyed happiness, and now comes back the drudgery, the hopeless toil, the anxieties of the wretched old life. You picked me up at Baden, a poor adventurer seeking to gain a living by teaching English, and the same destiny isopen to me now.”Tressilian turned his handsome face upon liis companion in surprise andaffectionate reproach.“Jasper!” he exclaimed, “you talk strangely. Do you suppose I havecalled you friend and brother so long,1 ilicstf8IDsciI-t-lt;1»nbitterness:“For years rny mother and I lived in# 7pathy, into Lowder’s lowering face. There had been a temporary lull ir»those stuffy, obscure lodgings until her ^ie storm. But as the two stood therethe tempest revived and swept over the wild sea in maddened rage.There was no time for talking now'. The wind rose so high that words would scarcely have been distinguished. Thestorm that had gone before had been but play to this awful outburst. Thebloom had faded, and she had grown thin and wan and nervous. My father visited us at stated seasons, once or twice a week, but he never brought any of his family to call upon us. I doubt if his aristocratic relatives even suspected tHe existence of the fadedwife and son of whom he was secretly vessel drove on, creaking and groaningashamed. I have good reason to believethat he had fine lodgings at the West End, where he was supposed to be a bachelor, and that he went into fashionable society, while my poor mother and 1 lived obscurely. lie was a profligate and a roue, and he had an air of fashion that awakened my boyish admiration, and aroused mv mother’s affectionatea mere cockle shell on the billows.“Mother of Mercies!” wailed the captain. “It’s all up with us, signores. 1 can’t make out the Cape in this darkness. We shall go on the rocks. St. Anthony save us!”The seamen echoed his cries.The two young Englishmen, comprehending their peril, clasped hands inI.B.and loved you so well, to lose you now ? pride in him. She w as always pleading sj]ence.I meant to have written to my father j to he introduced to his relatives, and to For the next few minutes it seemed concerning you and your future, Jas- ”ave ^ .s,on l**1 Dlicly acknowledged, tliat a Pandemonium reigned.per. but his sudden recall, received yes- But my father always put her off, say- Then the noise like the report of aterday, caused me to return home with- mg that he was not yet ready. W oru cannon suddenly boomed through the
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Defiance Democrat
Defiance, Ohio, US
Sat, Jan 07, 1871
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USA 29 May 2019
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