4 life I Ml iTOrll M AN INDEPENDENT FAMILY NEWSPAPER. ... '' S2S7, Vol. '"VIII.' New Bloomflield, Pn Tuesday, Juno GO, 1874. INTo. 2G. 18 FCBMBCBD BVBRY TUBSDAT MORNING, BT ' FBANK MORTIMEE & CO., At New Bloomneld, Pcrrj' Co., Ta. Being provided with Steam Power, and large Cylinder and Job-Fressej, we are prepared to do all kinds of Job-l'rliitlng In good style and at Low Trices. . ADVERTISING KATKSI TramUnt 8 Onts per lino for one insertion 18 " " twolnsertloni 15 " i,",.' "three Insertions Business Notices In Local Column 10 Cents per line. ' ''' .For longer yearly adv'ts terms will be given upon application. if, ;:' i THE UNFAITHFUL GUARDIAN. OOKTISOXD. 1 .'. fcb TS it possible ?" Bears exclaimed, after I the first instant of surprise, , and going toward bim with his hand extended. "Can this bo you?" " 1 believe so," he replied, returning his greeting, but with hU eyes fixed upon the woman who seemed suddenly frozen to si lence. " I am sorry to have startled you sorry that my appearance should have dis turbed any one." ' "Mrs. Grant," William said, turning toward her, " this is my guardian and best friend Mr. James." Mr. James bowed low, but the smile on his face seemed to wither everything on which it fell. Catharine did not stir she was gazing forward . in blank dismay. Sears looked from one to another in silent questioning, lost in astonishment at the singular scene. " William," Mr. James whispered, "you must go with me at onoe do not hesitate you have a heavy stake in this." He took up Sears' hat and gently pushed him to ward the door. " I am very sorry that Mrs. Grant does not remember an old ac quaintance !" "Old acquaintance 1" gasped William. Catharine struggled to her feet as of old the indomitable pride swept across her face. " I remember you," she said, in a dis tinct, measured tone, " I remembor you!" . " Hereafter I shall hope to be allowed to renew that acquaintance," he continued, with the same smile. " Sears, I am sorry, but important business depends upon your haste." "One moment," exclaimed William, "I will join you in an Instant go on." " I fear I must be rude enough to insist your presence is necessary, and the mo ments are precious I am sure Mrs. Grant will excuse you !" She made no answer she was looking forward again with that dreary, expression less gaze. "Mi's. Grant Catharine!" exclaimed Sears ; but Mr. James laid a firm hand upon his arm. " She will pardon' your unceremonious departure," he said, very quietly. ... That voice made her shiver from head to foot, as if a chill blast had swept across the spring air. "Go," she said, "go William !" I shall see you again very soon, very oon V lie replied ' Mr. James drew him away, while Catha rine suuk back in her seat, those white lips murmuring still, " Go, William it is forever !" CHAPTER VII. They reached the street and entered ' the carriage before William broke the amazed silence into which he had been thrown. Mr. James asked his address, and the sound of his voice aroused him ; he gave ttie num ber and they hurried away. "What does this mean?" exclaimed Sears. " Do you know Mrs. Grant ; and your sudden arrival you bad not written to me that you were coming over !" " Have A littlo patience, William, don't overpower me with questions ! You shall hear everything in Its proper order; but let us get safo to your rooms first." When the carriage stopped, Sears sprang out, and Mr. James followed him up to his apartment la silence. When they had en tered, William closed the door, and turned hastily toward him. . " Dou't torture me any longer ! I could aluiott think' something terrible were com ing, only you always bring pleasant news," he added, striving to laugh, and thus shake off t lie namelotiS fear which had couio over him. . .' ' ' "It Is dark Lore, Sears," said Mr. James, "can't you find a light?" The room was growing dusky with the gathering shadows, but in his agitation Sears had not noticed it. IIo lit the lamp with nervous haste, set it upon the mantel, and turned again to Mr. James. "Have you anything to tell me, sir has anything happened? .What oonld have brought you to Europe so unexpectedly ?" " It was on your account that I came." "Mine? What is it?" lean think of nothing no affairs no" ' Mr. James waited for him to conclude, but Sears only made an impatient gesture, growing troubled and pale. . : "I believe you have found me always willing to advance your interests in every possible way," Mr. James said, in his de liberate, passionless way. "Always, sir always. You have been a true friond," returned Scars, with eager haste, strangoly at variance with the man ner of his companion.' " But tell me what it is you have to say I am getting as ner vous as a woman." " I have coine to take you away with me, Scars. "Where do you wish to travel?" " To America." " America ! But I have no reason for re turning there at present my business keepB me here I am writing a play for one of the London theatres." " You will be able to finish it in our own country.',' " Excuse me sir," said Sears, with some thing of his nsual haughtiness when irri tated ; " but will you have the goodness to be a little more explicit? there is nothing to be gained by talking in riddles." " I never do that, Sears, you know." " Were you acquainted with Mrs. Grant?" Sears asked, quickly. " Did you know her in America ?" "Mrs. Grant!" he repeated the name with a sort of icy contempt which made Soars quiver with indignation. "I was acquainted with her, and I kivw her hi America." "What does this mean, Mr. James? I demand an explanation 1 I am not a child to be treated in this way." " Do you love this woman, William ?" A light came over Sear's face his bosom heaved his proud eyes grew clear and un troubled he threw his head back with a noble pride, "Yes," he said, "I do love her." " And you know who Bhe is ?" " I know only that she is a good, grand woman, and that I love her, and would proclaim it before all the world." ' "Do you know what her past life has been?" . ; . ' " Her past !" repeated Sears, and Cath arine's singular agitation recurred to his mind, i A terrible shock passed over him, but be cast back the unworthy doubt. "No!" he exclaimed, defiantly, "but there is nothing which she need fear to to have known I would stake my life upon her goodness." "You would lose the stake !"' replied Mr. James, in his stem unpityingvoice. Walter sprang toward him, with his clenched hand raised, as if he would have felled him to the ground in the whirl of passion which those words had aroused. "Take that back," he exclaimed, "retract those words an angel from heaven should not repeat them before me !" "I would not give you noedloss pain, Walter ; but you must listen to me calmly, and without passion." " You must leave Paris for a time." "Why?" " Because you must be removed from that woman's influence until you are your self again." " 1 am myself, Mr. James, for the first time in my whole life ; it is only in her presence that I have begun to live,- and there is no power on earth or in heaven strong enough to separate me from her now." "You rave I cannot talk with a mad . man." , " I am not mad, sir ; but you seem de termined to drive me so by your words and manner." " William, I have never yet asked you a favor : will you refuse the first?" "What Is it? Let me hear what you desire." " All through your life I have granted you everything you asked,' without even demanding your reasons you cannot trust me so far it seems." "Mr. James, this is cruel I have) done nothing to descry such reproaches you make me frantic with your implied sus picions of a woman whom I prize beyond life itself, and then ask me to listen to you calmly and without passion I What l it you wish me to do? You know that I would give my right hand to serve you." " I wish yon to leave Paris, and promise mo never to see that woman again," . " No, by Heaven, that I will not do nothing shall induce me to trample my own heart under my feet." " What reason have you for demanding this?" Scars said, pausing before him in his hurried march.- "Why do you come hero with these damnable doubts, thrust ing yourself between me and my happi ness?" " I have intimated nothing which I Can not prove," he said. ; . " Then prove it let me know the woret at once I will bear this no longer." " For your own sake do not force me to say more !" replied Mr. James. " Speak, I say I" "That woman has deceived you she is false, body and soul 1" The words fell icy and cold, stinging Sears to the very verge of insanity. "It is a lie!" he exclaimed, "a mean, miserable lie ! Mr. James, you liavo severed the last bond between us fare well." He moved toward the door, but Mr. James rose and detainod him in a strong grasp. "Wretched boy, where would you go ?" " To her to the woman whom you have s'anderod ! This is not your work, you could not be so vile you have been deceived, but the very suspicion separates us let me go." But Mr. James held him firmly, his own face pale, and revealing some hidden passion which was more like hate than grief. " You shall not go I command you to stay." , . "You command me !" exclaimed Sears, shaking off his hold ; " a legion of demons should not stop me how dare you speak thus?" "Because I have the right," returned Mr. James, while William stood paralyzed with passion and doubt. " Tho right, the right !" he stammered. " No, never, you have none stand back, you are powerless here !" . He would have rushed from the cham ber, but again Mr. James', voice staid him. . . . "Ay, the right ! I command you to lis ten, because that woman is wicked and depraved because you are my own son, William Sears, and she has been to me what she is now to you, or would be if you desired it." 1 , Sears fell rather than sank into a chair, gazing upon the speaker with his frenzied eyes, while the whiteness of death settled over his face. " Now will you believe me, young man ? You have wrung forth the secret of a life are you satisiiod?" , Still there was no answer Sears was looking into . his face with the same dull stare. . At length his head fell slowly for. ward and was buried in his hands, while he trembled beneath the shock which had so nearly maddened him. " William," Mr. James said, in a soften ed tone, William 1" " Don't speak to me leave me alone 1" " Only a word this must be settled now and forever 1 Listen try to understand we are going away on the instant ! A steamer sails from Havre to.mortow, in that we return to America." Sears sprang to his feet, and a despair ing cry broke from bis lips. " Uusay those words tell the that you did not mean It, and I will follow you to the ends of the earth." " William, I am your father !" " I know I know not that ! I can bear shame disgrace but tell me that Catharine" "I chargo you never io mention that name again you dare not violate the laws of God and man by loving a woman who has been" . "No more do not go on! Let us go where you will when you will but leave me alone I" ' ' Mr. James went slowly away closing the door behind bim, and shutting that wretch ed young man in with the terrible solitude about hiraa solitude which could never be removed. That iron father wore a look of demonlno exultation standing in the dimly-lit passage his hands clenched, while his compressed lips hissed forth some broken words. ' ' " Catharine woman in my path again !" William Sears remained motionless where that man had left him. lie could not think yet his brain was too dizzy for that- but through the whirl of frenzy and despair came tho recollection of those fear ful words a gulf had boon dug between him and that woman, which neither could ever pass. He thought not of shame or disgrace, both he could bear, but he was separated forever from that happiness which had seemed so near. He sprang up and rushed to the door there was no collected thought in his soul, only a longing for death, a mad dosire to look once more upon her face ; it seemed as if fate would have done with him then, that destiny would be appeased. At the door he met Mr. James, who started at the sight of that face which was so contracted by despair, that those mo ments seemed almost to have done the work of years. "All is ready," ho said, "your servant will follow to Havre with your baggage." "Ready," he repeated, mechanically, "ready?" 1 ' Mr. James took a flask from the table and poured out a glass of wino. ' "Drink this," he said, "it will bring you to yourself a little. William drained it at a draught, and allowed himself to be led downstairs and placed in the carriage without resistance. All that night they were speeding away, the moan of the steam whistle sounding in the ear of the sufferer, and seeming to his excited fancy like the cry of a fiend. When morning came they had entered Havre, the quaint, old city, and drove away toward the steamer. An hour after, they were out upon the blue waves, aud William Sears was strain ing his eyes to catch a last sight of tho land, where he had found and lost all of happiness that heaven itself had power to bestow upon him on this sido of the grave. '"'' Catharine sat in her room after the de parture of Sears and that dreaded man, until the night gathered about her with its solemn gloom. She kuew what awaited her, and sat there stunned by the unexpect ed blow. Janet Brown's voice aroused her. "Iuthe dark, mistress, and alone. I have just got in, the young gentleman is gone t" "Gone?" she repeated, springing up. " Oh, Janet, come with me come with mol" The astonished womau threw a shawl over her and followed her mistress into the street. They humed in silence to Sear's lodgings it was too late he had left a few moments before whither no one kuew. What mattered it where? he had gone from her he knew all be despised and forsook her ! She reeled and fell into arms of her woman. . ( "Take me back, Janet, take me back and let me die !" "Mistress mistress!" . " Don't speak, Janet don't comfort me it is death this time oh ! it is death." So the dream ended the bright, beau tiful dream, which had seemed so glowing and so real ! The one lying mute and un conscious in that siokness which was like death, the other away upon the deep,' dark sea, and between those parted souls flow ing a gulf deeper and darker than the ocean's treacherous waves, a gulf which neither might cross to claim that happiness which had been so suddenly snatched from their grasp. The voyage came to an eud a length ! Sears arose slowly and went on deck, his step feeble, like one recovering from recent illness, and his pale face looking sorrow fully haggard and worn, Mr. James ap proached him with some words of pleasure at his improved appearance, but William could only bow his head in reply ; that man's presence filled him with an inde scribable pang, which ho strove in vain to subdue. No farther explanation had pass ed between them William desired none if there were grief and wrong be would not know it let that past be buried along with his own, and the weight of their ad ded ashes lie upon his heart until their chill pressed life slowly out I ' "My house is shut up," Mr. James said, after giving some orders to the servant, " so I will drive with you to a hotel, If you please. An hour's rest will set you up again, and then I would like to persuade you out into the country." William submitted passively anything rather than being obliged to exert his own will ! He followed him off the vessol, and they drove away to the hotel. William lay down upon the bed is the room to which he was shown, not sleeping, but too utterly worn out to make the slightest unavoidable exertion. ' ' Late in the afternoon, the eeivaut came up with a message from Mr. James it was time to start. -''' "Shall I reverbe left alone?" mut'.e'.ed William. " Eveii to die iu peace seems de nied me!" But he went down, silent and indifferent, after the first momentary fretfulnoss had subsided. "We goby railway," Mr. James said, " "and we must be off, for it is almost time for the train to start. ' William did not recognize the route they took probably a new road built during his absence, and he was too careless as to their destination to inquire. They got out at length at one of the way stations, and drove along a road which circled around the curves of a small river. " You have not even asked where I am taking you," Mr. James said, cheerfully. " Look, you can see the house on the hill yonder. It belongs to my ward you have heard me speak of her. I hope you will stay with us some time you remember what I said one day during the passage ?" "No, really " " Never mind, we will speak of it soon again." The sun was setting ns . they drove through the iron gates and entered the forest-like gronnds, losing sight entirely of the house for a time, until a sudden turn in the avenue brought them in full view of the imposing front. The sound of the carriage brought sev eral of the servants around, and the excite ment at Mr. Jame's arrival roused Nellie in her quiet chamber. She hurried down the hall and threw her arms about his neck with a glad welcome. "I am so happy to see you again. How could you leave us in that sudden way? but to comeback so soon how good you were !" ' ! ' Then, for the first time, she perceived a stranger, and started a little, blushing and surprised. . " Nellie, this gentleman is an old friend of mine, and a great favorite of yours Mr Sears. William, your poems will find a warm admirer in Miss Lennox." When Sears was alone in his room that night, Mr. James entered with bis usual gentle knock and quiet manner. " I saw the light and kuew you were not yet in bed I wanted to speak t with you." " Is it anything of consequenco, sir ? I am very tired." i " I will not detain you long, but what I have to speak of will admit of no delay." 1 William leaned wearily back in his chair, shading his eyes with his hands Mr. James was watching him with his 'old scrutinizing gaze which seemed to read his very thoughts. The wary man bad care fully chosen his time ; in Sear's state of wretchedness and mental fatigue, be was incapable of struggling against a will like that which had marked out and decided upon bis future course. . " You were pleased with ' my ward, Nellie Lennox?'' ; "Of course a charming little thing." . " Do not look so absent I wish your attention. That girl's fortune was placed wholly in my hands I acted as I thought best for her interests unfortunately it seems. I engaged in speculations which I believod would advance them, and thoy have failed I must account for the money placed in my hands to that girl's husband William, I wish you to marry her and save your father's honor.' ' 1 He had spoken clearly and without hesi tation it was his way, aud he knew well also the character of the youug man with whom he had to deal. ' " Marry Nellie why she is a child 1" "Hardly she will soon be fifteen." " But this is impossible, sir, I cannot do it." " You prefer perhaps to see me disgraced no one will believe that I acted from the best motives you will hear your father termed a scoundrel and a villain." William shuddered at that word father he could not help It such terrible doubts of shame arose doubts which he did not possess the courage to resolve to certainty. " But the poor child she does not care for me does not even know me." , " She will love you, sho would love any one that treated her kindly, she is at the right age for that ; besides your fame, your appearance, all attract her." But this Is terrible, sir I" "Only be rational, William I To-mor-row, any hour, Nellie is liable to meet with some one who will try to win her for hor telf or her fortune that day witnesses my total ruin and disgrace I I oall apou you to save me shall I ask aid In vain of my son ?" To be continued.
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