Lakeland Evening Telegram Newspaper, November 18, 1914, Page 7

N THE EVENING TELEGRAM, LAKELAND, FLA., NOV. 18, 1914, 40 Shaddddssdads < L ITERERNY B. STREATER! i i ; ..0..................‘.l“ i i i | | NTRACTOR AND BUILDER s had twenty-one years’ experience iracting in Lakeland and vicinity, r the best services in this line. ; in building I feel competent i If comtemplatin will be pleased to furnish estimates and allpinme All work guaranteed. 169. § J. B. STREATER. e Us Be Your Grocers? CETDSNVYD handle only fresh, clean! is and we keep a full line resh{Meats, Including teaks, Roasts, Chops, Breakfast Bacon, Brains, Chickens, etc, Vegetables are pecialty. We Keep Fresh Fruit, aiso! g inZCan Goods that you may suggest ng Vegetables, Soups, etc. uy your goods where You can get the most for the money. lace is the grocery of G. TWEEDEL PHONE 59 et Us Supply Your Needs Orange Clippers Spruce Pine Picking Ladders Cement Coated Box Nails p's' Orange Plows American Field Fence Cyclone Ornamental Fence Everything usually carried in an up-to-date Hardware Store ILSON ARDWARE CO. FORGOT THE PAST By JOHN ECCLES. _=——rr—x (Copyright, 1914, by W. G. . At first John éharltgn C:;gm::t)en out his heart in loneliness; then, as the weeks slipped into months, he grew reconciled to his fate. He could never hope to return to England. He had been accused of forging his father's name to a check. His elder brother, the heir to the estate, was the culprit. His brother’s Iwite had come to John and pleaded, With tears in her eyes, that he assume the guilt. Everybody would suspect him, she said frankly, because of his recklessness and improvidence. There Wwas a girl—Amy Nairn; she had looked favorably on the young man, and he had been wildly in love with her. But then John Charlton was never able to resist a woman'’s pleading. And his sister-in-law had taken him at a 3| Weak moment. ’_l'he upshot was that John went into exile. He had pleaded with Amy to ishare his lot, and she had laughed | first; then, when he told her that he was accused of forgery, her pretty | brows contracted and she had indig- nantly dismissed him. So John had settled down to farm- ing in Jamaica, with the small sum his father gave him. John often fancied the old baronet understood, but, if he did, he gave no sign. He shook hands with John; and so they parted in silence. That was four years ago, and at first John's heart had overflowed with anguish. Time and again he had been matters to her. But he refrained. And at last he ccased to think of the past, except in the desolate hours of mid- night. Then Haidee came into his life— Haidee, the only child of the rich Cre- ole plantation owner, with her soft ways and winning innocence. The old Va “And Now |'ve Said as Much as | Dare, John!” man would have been well content to have John for a son-inlaw without asking any questions. He knew that John was cold-shouldered by the King- ston aristocracy, that he was omitted from invitations to the governor's balls and dinners. But he did not care. John was a good manager, and Haidee loved him. So, four years after John's arrival, they became engaged. The marriage was to take place in a month’s time. Then it was that something hap- pened. John Charlton received an invitation to the ball at the government house. He stared incredulously at the en- graved invitation note, for it was the same governor who had always cold- shouldered him. However, he went. Perhaps it was because he wanted Haidee to take her rightful place in Jamalica society; perhaps it was mere- 1y his longing to look upon the faces of his own kind again. John went, and when he entered the baliroom and saw the men of his rank, and the women in evening dress, his heart leaped in his breast. Haldee suddenly geemed like somebody very distant and remote from him. And the governor shook him by the band. Afterward John danced. He danced with English girls, with the bloom of the moist English summer still on their cheeks. And then the governor's secretary drew him aside. “Charlton,” he sald—John knew the man officially—"there will be some more guests later in the evening. A 'pmy has just arrived by the late Eng- lish steamer. 1 want you to stay an?. meet them. The governor wants it. John assented. His thoughts were pack in his own country, and i his heart he saw the busy streets ol Lon- don, the Row, where he had ri_ddvn in boyhood, the placid countryside and smooth lawns of his father’s home. “The fact is,” continued the secre- tary, “I don’t know if you have heard l—you cannot have heard, because Do~ | body knew your address, and we were Inked to find and nlolm:‘ you. Your {8 dead, Charlton. t.?(;lrn listened, apparently unmoved, for his mind was still playing that curfous trick, and he was living over the past with his tather again. He 'ro- membered the old man's affection for ' him when he was & little boy, bow they ven him— "‘.'.'Afd your brother is, 1 am sorty tempted to write to Amy, explaining' | to say, dead also. He was killed by a fall in the hunting field. The shock killed your father.” ! John was quite unmoved at that news. He had never had much in: common with his elder brother. As | the younger son, John had always | ! been put aside in favor of the heir. I | “Your brother left no child, Charl-' ton,” the governor's secretary was saying. Would he never cease? John ‘looked at him in a daze. The thought of Haidee had gone from his mind. His father dead. His brother dead,' without leaving an heir. Then-—why he was the baronet. “Sir John, allow me to present you , to some of your old friends,” the sec- ! retary was saying. And John, still wandering in Lon- don in May, with his nostrils full of | the sweet scent of hyacinths in the: parks, was brought back to conscious- | ness of the dreary perfumes of the ballroom by seeing his sister-in-law and—Amy. He found himself bowing mechan- ically, just as though he had only left them the day before. He looked into ! Amy’s face. What had there ever been in that woman, to whom he had given all the passion of a first love? He had dreamed of her three years till Haidee came into his life, this red- cheeked English girl, with the faint smile and the worldly face. How far away his past life seemed all of a| sudden! i “John,” his sister-in-law was say- ! ing,” won't you come out with us upon | the veranda? I have something to . tell you.” | John followed the ladies outside. He was leaning against the veranda rail now, and his sister-in-law’s words were buzzing in his head. “You acted a very noble part, John,” she said. “We—the family—shall never cease to be grateful to you. Few men would have done as much for their brothers. But after poor Arthur's death the lawyer went through his papers. He was a dreadful man, Mr. Smeaton, one of those mutton-whis- ! kered Puritanical men who think that everything irregular is a crime. He found in your brother’s desk a writ- ten, signed confession and insisted that it should be made public to the | world.” { John remembered Mr. Smeaton, & } kindly old man who had always taken an interest in him. So Smeaton was the man who had come forward so un- expectedly to retrieve his honor. “We begged and pleaded, John, but nothing could move him,” his sister- inlaw continued. “We even offered him three thousand pounds to hush up the matter, but it wouldn’t do. The old wretch threatened to make the tale public himself unless we did. So it | had to be done, John.” She sighed. “Well, you can guess what a row there was in England, especlally as you are now the heir to the property. In fact, things got so hot that I found it best to take a holiday in some place where the rumors hadn't got busy yet. Amy promised to come with me, and she has kept her word. You know you and Amy were always good | friends, John. So now I shall leave you two together to talk over old , times.” | The woman was gone, and John stood unsteadily against the railing, , looking into the hard, worldly face of Amy Nairn. How could he ever have loved her? How could he? How could "he? He could not answer his own question. “John, I am so sorry,” sald Amy, putting out her hand. John took it and it felt cold and cat-like in his own. “John,” whispered Amy, “do you re- member what you asked me that night before you came away? I have never forgotten, John. And I am so sorry for our misunderstanding. I have often thought of you, John.” He would have liked to have thrust his fist into the woman’s face. What a deliverance his had been! But Amy was singularly obtuse. “I will admit,” she said, “that my motives in accompanying your sister- inlaw were not altogether altruistic, ‘John. In fact, I—I—I wanted to see | you agaln—" She looked down and shufied her feet in simulated con- fusfon. Amy had singularly pretty feet—almost as pretty as Haldee's— and she had always been aware of the fact. “And now I've said as much as ll dare, John,” she added, raising her | eyes to his. l “I am sorry,” sald John, bowing. “Sorry, John?” | “That you should have made this long journey for nothing. I cannot marry you—" | “How dare you!™ she exclaimed, ' with flaming cheeks. *“Has Jamaica made a brute of you, John?” “No, a man,” he answered. “When 1 go to England I shall take my wife ! with me. You see, we are to be mar ried before the end of the month, Amy.” His last picture of her was neelng: the sudden catlike cruelty flame into ber face and eyes as she stood, sphinx-, like, agalnst the rail. But the picture | faded within a moment. For the alr was full of the sweetness of a Jamalca night, and John was riding home to his bride-to-be—Haldee. i ———— No Harm Done. Her friends had asked their young hostess to play for them, and she was performing a difficult selection from Wagner. In the midst of it she sud- denly stopped in confusion. “What's the matter?” asked one of itors, m:I:i-: l't.ruck a false note,” faltered rformer. m'o'g;:ll. what of it?” cried another guest. “Go ahead. Nobody but Wag- per would ever know it and he's dead.”—Ladles’ Home Jourpal. Let your Taste Govern the Color of your house but | for the paint stick to Atlantic White Leal (Duteh Boy Palnter Trade Mark) and pure linseed oil. This pure lead and oil paint covers every crevice and grips into wood pores. It expands and contracts with the wood and does not crack. Save money by painting well and in time. Come in and let us’figure on your paint. Incidentally, see our Owner’s Paint Guide. It's full of color sugges- tions and paint facts. WILSON NARGWRE CO. A | New Arrivals Hecker’'s Oid Homestead Flap- Jac, Prepared Buckwheat, Cream farina, and Cream Oatmeal. Roxanc Graham, Whole-Wheat, Cake Flour, an1 Selfrising Flour. Richelieu Pancake and Buckwheat Flours and Oaimea!. 3 B e o e v e — - 3 My Line is as Fine as any in Town. My Store Clean, San- itary, Free from Rats and Roaches. FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES DAILY & — Yours to Serve in Groceries, Feed, Seed and Fertilizer. D. B. Dickson SHREFVBLHOELPOFOFOBOOQ HOHOT OO RIQEOOOFRFOIBCra-Cre 0*3-!)‘5‘9‘ s S =E g Jaldepiepattas Jal 0 U2 SRR PR RE B0 40 o P et et sa o uT Bt el 2ed L JhTed et et be e Lo e e ar e ] ST EEE—", | Don’t Talk War, But Talk Business, and Boost Your Town HE HUB is still selling Hart Schaffner & Marx good Clothing, and it is the best clothing ever brought to your city. Now, Old Mep and Young Men, come arourd and see what you can buy for $15 and $18 to $25 kv o TERAG D UM S e Have just received a new shipment of Arrow Shirts, Neckwear and Onyx Hose W ill appreciate showing them to everybody This Store is the Home of } Hart Schaffner and Marx Gaod Clothing