CHAPTER XVIII. MR FOREST BECOMES INTERESTED.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 181, 4 December 1886, Page 7

CHAPTER XVIII. MR FOREST BECOMES INTERESTED.

" I kNEW it ! I knew it !" cried the young girl, as she concluded reading the note regarding Mile, de Brienze and her marriage) and there was a ring of triumph in her sweet tones as she turned toward her lover. Louis had grown a trifle pale, but he Smiled sceptically as ha held out hts hand for the book from which she had just been •wading. She gave it to him, and he quietly perused the note. Then he said, bending near to her, and speaking in a low tone : " You forget, dear, that my surname is not Dunbar.'* " True," she said, her countenance cloud ing a trifle. "But," she added, after a moment of thought, " the name, you know, belonged to your mothor ; it must have tsme down to her through soope ancestor, and I cannot help believing still that you are in some way connected with this court jbeauty. It must be ; your strange resemblance to her is no freak of nature ; I feel suxe there is a good reason for it, if we could • only trace it." "It ia barely possible that I may be distantly related to these people of whom wa have read, but I cannot see how I am to reap any advantage from it even if it could be proved. It would be very pleasant, however," he concluded, with a touch of bitterness, " to know that I was honourably • connected. It must bo pleasant to know ' that one has had noble ancestors." "Hush, Louis," Margaret said, gently ; s> you are noble yourself, and that is more honourable than to have had illustrious progenitors. 1 Louis gave her a quick, fond smile ; then turning to the others of the party, he said lightly : "We have been pleasantly entertained for a half hour by this little incident, but I do not attach any importance to any resemblance I may have to the portrait of Mile. de Brienze. I think we shall have to return this interesting book to its place, and leave the secrets of the past al >ne. What I know of my parentage goes to prove, I believe, that I could reap no benefit by drying to trace my ancestry back three or *sour generations." " Ha, Dunbar ! then you have learned something more concerning your parentage since you and I were boys at school ;" said •Arthur Aspinwall, approaching him, and -speaking with strange eagerness. •' Yes," Louis answered, briefly, and not ■caring to be questioned further, he shut ' the book he held and handed It back to "their attendant, thanking him for his ■courtesy ; then he led the way from the room, anxious to be relieved from the conspicuous po3ition that he had been occupying during the last half hour. Mr Forest lingered before that portrait after the rest of the party had passed out, studying it with etrange intentness. Suddenly he turned to the attendant, saying -. " Pardon, monsieur, but will you kindly allow me to read for myself what iB printed ' regarding this picture ?" " Oui, monsieur" the man replied, politely, and handing him the book. Mr Forest took it and re-read the account, after which he copied carefully into his own note book. " Rather a startling resemblance that of the young man to the picture?" he retmarked, caret epsly to his companion. " Oui, Monsieur, exceedingly," '* He does not appear to pay much attention, however." 11 To me it is very strange, monsieur," replied the man, adding, with an expressive shrug of his shoulders : " But Americans -care not much for pedigree." Mr Forest smiled, amusedly, and then, having finished his copying, he returned the book, thanking the man for his kindness, and dropping a five-franc piece into his hand as a substantial token of his gratitude. Then he hastened to rejoin his friends, whom he found already in the carriages waiting for him and wondering at his absence. The party, on their return to Paris, were '3riven directly to Mrs Houghton's hospitable home, where a sumptuous dinner awaited them, and the evening was spent 1 in a most social manner. As Margaret passed to her seat at the table, which happenel to be opposite that of Arthur, the young man caught the flash of a brilliant diamond on the third finger of her left hand. A second glance told him that it was a new one. " They are engaged," he said to himself, -with a terrible heart-sinking, while for a ■moment hie head reeled as he felt his cause was lost, and with it a quarter of a million of money. But he recovered himself immediately, though the look of bitter hatred that he bent, upon Louis plainly indicated that he would have annihilated him if such a thing had been possible. The lovers, howevor, Heated Bide by side, and wrapped up in their own happiness, were wholly unconscious of both his disappointment and his enmity. "Do you enjoy your life here in Paris, Mr Dunbar ?" Mr Forest asked of Louis a little later in the evening, when, having watched hia opportunity, he succeeded in opening a little private chat with him. "Very much," Louia replied, smiling, and all unconscious of the fond look in his • eyes as they rested upon hia lovely fiancee across the room. Mr Forest's own eyes twinkled, for ho bad seen it and read plainly enough the story of their love, and while he could not help regretting the disappointment which this state of affairs would entail upon his nephew, he could not fail to acknowledge that Louis Dunbar was the nobler man of the two, and better calculated to make the fair girl's life a happy one. " Do you think you like Paris well enough to make it a permanent home ?" he continued. "No, sir; I hardly think I do," Louis answered, gravely. "I believe I am too thoroughly American to be willing to become a permanent resident ia any other country. I should not chooee France if I were, for the life of the French people as a ' class is too superficial and pleasure-seeking to be the noblest kind of a life." "Then, even if you should discover by - and by that your ancestors were French, . 70a think you could not be weaned from - America ?" Mr Forest asked.

"No, sir ; I shall not trouble myself vefy ifinch about that matter. I was born in America, and I do not believe that any other country would ever seem like home to me. I am afraid I Bhould not be content here even now," Louie added, smiling and fluehing slightly, "if it were not for the very pleasant friends whom I have met here and the lucrative position that I hold." " Ah, then, you are making money, young man?" " Yes, sir, I find my business profitable." "I do not know about it being a good thing for one as young aa you are to make money too fast," observed Mr Forest, gravely. Louis looked up questioningly. "I think it hardens a man's nature, makes him grasping and avaricious, if he learns to love gold too well, and makes the attainment of it his one purpose in life," explained the gentleman. " I think so too," Louis returned ; " and I am afraid I was once in great danger of drifting that way. I saw so much misery and shiftlessness when I was a boy that the only thing worth living for, it seemed to me, was to get rich. But I believe I have learned since that there are better things to be obtained in life than an independent fortune." 11 What things?" asked his companion, bestowing a searching glance upon the young man's earnest face. " A good education for one thing, a good name, an unimpeachable character, and the charity that makes all mankind one's brother." "Have you attained all that?" queried Mr Forest, with a touch of sarcasm in his tone. " Oh, no, sir," Louis said, fluphing. " I should be egregiously egotistical to assume that. I simply assort that I have learned to feel that thoso qualitios I have enumerated are more to be desired than mere wealth." " To what use would you put a fortune if you should succeed in amassing one ? Do you simply want to have it said that you are a rich man, or that you may be able to live at your ease and gratify your tastes ?" " I am bound to confess that I have some selfish motives in desiring wealth," Louis | returned, his tender glance again unconsciously resting upon his betrothed ; " but at the same time I have a desire — and it has grown with me from boyhood— to be able to make others happy. There were years when I knew nothing about my parentage — when I was ragged, neglected, hungry, and unhappy, and unable to understand why things were bo unequally divided in this world. Some one was very good to me just then, out of her abundance, proving to me that there were kind people even among: the rich. I was very grateful, and it was the turning point of mv life. I vowed, if I lived that I wculd be a rich man, and that / would devote a portion of niy wealth to making others as happy aa I was that day over that simple act of kindness. But pardon me," Louis concluded, in some confußion, " I am talking too much about myself." Mr Forest reached out and grasped the young man s hand. " I honour you, my young friend, for the sentiments you have expressed, and I thank you for having allowed me this glimpse at your inner nature," he said, earnestly : then he added : " But you say ' there was a time when you knew nothing about your parentage' — my nephew has told me that there was a mystery regarding your birth ; that seems to imply that you have since had your doubtß removed." Louis's face fell. He could never refer to his father without a sense of shame and humiliation, though be often reproached himself for it ; but he was so noble and upright in his own nature that it cut him keenly to know that the man whom he ought to love and respect most was unworthy of this filial record. " Yes, sir,' he replied, gravely, " I diecovered the mystery of my birth some four or five years ago." Mr Foreet regarded him keenly for a moment. " Would you mind telling me about it ?" he asked, hesitatingly. "Pardon me if I eeem inquisitive," ho added, flushing as he saw that his request had embarrassed his companion, " but really, Mr Dunbar, I feel a deep interest in you ; in fact, any young man who has struggled up through poverty and hardship, and made a position for himself, becomes to me an object worthy the greatest respect and esteem.' His look was so kind, his tone so earnest and inviting, that Louis somehow felt as if he were an old friend, and almost involuntarily he unburdenbd his whole heart to him, and related all that he knew of his own history. Mr Forest appeared deeply interested in the account, and, when Louis had concluded, asked a number of searching questions regarding the man Murray's claim and proofs. " You do not adopt his name?" he Baid, inquiringly, •• No, sir," Louis returned, colouring a deep crimson, " I couldnot ; when I learned what his life and business were I preferred to retain the name by which I had always been known ; besides — " l< Well ? — do not be afraid of me, Mr Dunbar,'' said Mr Forest, smiling as his companion stopped short. "I have never confessed as much to anyone before," Louis continued.deprecatingly; "but truly, I have never felt the least affection for the man ; he has, on the contrary, repelled me ; and even before I discovered his illegal and. disreputable transactions, I found it difficult to feel any sympathy with him, or to bestow upon him the proper regard of a son." Mr Forest made no reply to this, bnt looked so grave, almost stern, that Louis felt sure he disapproved of the confession that he bad just made, and he regretted that he had given utterance to the words. •♦ You do not appear to attach much importance to your resemblance to the portrait which we saw to-day," Mr Forest at length observed. "No, sir I own that the liknesa was rather startling, but if I am indeed connected in any way with the original, the relationship is doubtless so distant that I could reap no benefit from it," Louis answered, indifferently. "It is singular thac this court beauty should have borne that name, and that you should resemble the picture bo strikingly, if there is not come of the Brienze blood in youi veins." " Yes*, it is strange. My mother's name was Annie Dunbar Burgess— so Mr Murray informed me, and he said nothing to lead me to suppose she was not of American parentage. She may have been remotely connected with the Scotch Dunbars, but I ilo not believe it would be worth my while to Bock to trace back her ancestors." "Annie Dunbar !" repeated Mr Forest, in an absent bone. Then he asked : " Have you nothing belonging to her by which you could discover how she was related to the Dunbars?" " I have nothing but her weddingring, and a little volume of Tennyson's poems— given her, my father asserted, by her cousin Alfred Burgess ; a little verse on the fly-leaf, in nis handwriting is signed "A." " Do yon know the date of your mother's marriage?" Mr Forest inquired, seeming not to Have heard Louis's last remark,

"Yes; it is engraven upon this ring, which I have worn ever since it would fit my flngar," the young man returned, removing the heavy gold band from the little finger of hie left hand and passing it to his companion. He bent low to examine the date engraven upon ite inner surface. " Uncle Albert are you aware that it is nearly midnight ?" Mr Forest started so violently at tho sound of his nephew's voice, that he dropped the ring he was examining, and it went rolling over the carpet almost to Margarot Houghton's feet. Arthur Aspinwal! had been chatting with his aunt and cousin on the opposite side of the room, but he had been keenly watching his uncle and Louis, and was anything but pleased with the evidences of good will and sympathy established between the two, and he resolved to break up their interesting tete-a-tete without delay. He had come up behind them silently, just as hie uncle bent to examine Louia'a ring. There was a dark look upon his face, and he shot a glance of hate and disdain upon his foe as he spoke to Mr Forest. " Bless me ! is it possible ?" exclaimed that gentleman in reply to his question, and looking more startled, his nephew thought, than the occasion required. "I had no idea it was so late," he added, recovering his composure. "I was so interested in what Mr Dunbar was telling me I did not mind how rapidly the time was, passing. Pardon my awkwardness in dropping your ring," he added to Louis, who had recovered it. "I'm afraid I have bored you with all my questions." "Not at all," Louis answered, heartily, "I* feared it was vice versa wich my reminiscences." "No, indeed, I— well, I am coming to ccc you one of theae days at your office ; 1 want to know more about your business." Perhaps I may want to invest in some of your stock," Mr Forest returned, a3 he cordially shook hands with him, and then turned to take leave of the ladies. "Not if / can help it," mattered Arthur 1 Aspinwall to himself " You're getting (oo thick with thia beggar to tuit me — I'd like to sink him in the Seine and have done with him for ever ; he's been nothing but a mar plot ever since he first crossed my path." Louis lingered only a few moments after their departure, just long enough for a few fond words with his betrothed, then he too departed. As he stepped out upon the street a hand was laid rudely upon his arm. "Loui3, I want some money," was the authoritative demand by which ho was saluted, and his father confronted him with a determined attitude. "I told you I should not give you money," Louis said in reply, and shaking his arm free. "But I spent my lastjsou tor a roll, at teatime. Will you let your own father go hungry while you feast upon the fat of the land?" was the whining query. The hot blood mounted to the young man's brow. He plunged his hand into hte pocket, drew forth a five-franc piece, and dropped it upon the man's palm. "That will keep you from hunger until morning, then, if you'll come to me, 1 will get you work ; but I will not give you money to gamble away, or to support you in idleness while you are in health. I mean what I say, and it will bo useless for you to apply to me." Louis spoke in a Btern, resolute tone, and, without waiting for any reply, he quickened his steps, leaving the applicant for alms standing crest-fallen and angry over the small amount he had received. Presently ho pocketed his money, chen looked back and watched Louis's retreating figure until it turned a corner and disappeared from sight " You young whelp !" he said, shaking his fist in that direction, "you don't bleed worth a cent.; but — I'll^find a way to make you shell out — I'll skin you yet, or my name isn't — ha, ha !— Louis Murray." A half-hour later be might have been found in a low gainbling-house, where, strange to say, he played a winning game with the five-franc piece Louis had given him, and when at length he left the place he had eeveral times the amount in his pocket. {To be Continued.)