The West Cumberland Times, Saturday, Oct. 18, 1884 - THE FOSTER BROTHER VII

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The West Cumberland Times, Saturday, Oct. 18, 1884 -

 

THE FOSTER BROTHER
Or THE ORPHAN OF THE WRECK
By the Author of “Jeannie Sinclair,” “Very Hard Times,” “Rob Roy,” “Harold the Outlaw, &c.
______

 

CHAPTER XXIII (Continued.)

 

 “It concerns my sister Lilias,” answered Harry promptly, and as he spoke he consciously gathered together his inward strength, for he knew that now a contest was at hand. “I have come, he added, “to remonstrate with you against the project of marrying her to Duncan Ralston.”

 

 “Oh!” exclaimed his father, and drew a long breath. ‘Then let me inform you that you have taken a long and useless journey; and you can return at once from whence you came.”

 

 “Not so, father,” answered Harry; I am resolved to---”

 

 “Silence, sir; I will not listen to another word. You have insulted, defied, and thwarted me so far, but your insolence has reached its utmost possible limit. Leave the house, I say, and let me see you no more.”

 

 “I am ready to do so, sir, but Lilias goes with me. Nay, storm not, threaten not. My sister shall not be forced into this abhorrent marriage.”

 

 “Shall not?” roared his father.

 

 “Ay, shall not.”

 

 “I shall. If we have the misfortune to be the offspring of a selfish and unscrupulous man, we are no longer children, to be the victims of his imperious will. She is weak and might be helpless to resist; but I, who know her rights, am determined to protect her. I am here for this and no other purpose. Expel me from the house if you will. I am ready to go, but, in that case, Lilias must go with me.”

 

 “She shall not. This insolent rebellion shall be crushed, and to do it at once and effectively Lilias and Duncan Ralston shall be married within a month. That is my answer. Now go, or the servants will be summoned to eject you!”

 

 “Very well, father. You compel me to take a step which will not only defeat your purpose but bring the matter under the public gaze. Lilias has empowered me to invoke the aid of the law in her name. And you cannot be so ignorant of legal matters as to not know that the law will prevent you from exercising such power as you contemplate. Lilias, though still a minor, has a woman’s rights. Prevent her from going with me, and a sheriff’s warrant shall speedily open the door for her exit.”

 

 It would be vain to try to describe the rage and passion into which this threat threw Stephen Gibson. He became first pale, then green, and his brow grew dark, its veins swelled up like cords, and his face worked so convulsively that a fit seemed coming upon him. But with a terrible effort be obtained some little command over his fury, and, after biting his lip with effort, managed to his out through his firm pressed lips -

 

 “Since she has managed to convey to you the intelligence of the suitable and advantageous marriage I design for her, did she also communicate to you the fact that she has had an intrigue with her brothers’ tutor? She took care, I suppose, to suppress that circumstance.”

 

 “If by that you mean George Eglantine, she did tell me so.”

 

 “She did,” roared his father. “She has been shameless enough to proclaim this deep disgrace. Well, sir, since you know the folly of which she has been guilty, don’t you think it is high time I should take steps to save her from it? Am I not her best friend when I prevent her from going to ruin?”

 

 “Certainly,” returned Harry, with a slight smile, “is your assumption be true that a union with George Eglantine would be ruin.”

 

 “Can you doubt it? - can any man in his senses doubt it? To marry such a fellow means disgrace and beggary, and what is that but ruin? You, perchance could afford to be mad in marrying a penniless girl - thanks to your aunt you were given the means of doing so - but with Lilias there is no such shield, for she is as penniless as her designing lover.”

 

 “And therefore, in this respect, they are equal,” embarked Harry, still smiling.

 

 “I see,” he grimly said. “I might have expected you would have seen no evil, in such a disgraceful and dishonorable intrigue. You, who - but it matters not now.”

 

 He paused and looked to Garret, who in great alarm made him a warning gesture, whereupon Stephen turned abruptly towards the window, to hide the sudden paleness of affright which had overspread his face.

 

 

 

(To be continued…)