A Child of the Age.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 422, 19 May 1904, Page 2

A Child of the Age.

By HJALMAR H. BOYESEN.

(Continued.)

With a vigorous thrust rf the oar the boat flew out into the water. With an aching head he stood gazing at her, as the distance between them slowly widened. Then he seated himself, and the thud of his measured oar-strokea fell heavily upon Hilda's ears, A terrible sense of desolation stole over her. She wished she had followed him. But something still restrained her from calling him back. As a last wild hope she sprang up the steps, and from tbe end of the pier held the child out over the water in her outstretched arms. 'Harold!' she called with a loud voice of anguish,' Harold!'

The oar-strokes ceased for a moment, but there came no answer. The figure in the beat grew dimmer and dimmer, and faded away in the twilight. The black hull of the steamer hove into view, paused in the middle of the fiord, shrieked dismally once, twice, and again broke a path of foam through the calm. Hilda hugged her child tightly to her breast, and gazed out into the thickening twilight. An empty boat came drifting eeawaid with the tide. She knew what that meant.

A year had passed since Harold's flight. It was agrin summer; the thrashes sang through the long light nights in the birchgroves } the lilies of the valley grew in sodding clusters, filling the mountain glens with their faint fragrance; asd the meadows were bright with paneies and violets. Daring all this time Harold's name had rarely been mentioned in his father's house. It was understood that the Judge had forbidden it. Sinca his defeat for the Storthing by afewdczen votes, ho felt more bitterly toward his son than ever before, It was he who had encouraged rebellion among the dependents of the estate, and blasted his father's hopes of political distinction. Such unnatural crimes could not be too severely punished. It cost a considerable effort on the old gentleman's part, however, to persevere in this attitude. Once or twice, when letters came to Hilda bearing American stamps, he was sorely tempted to break his resolution. He walked nervously np and down the floor, fidgeted with his watch- chain, and cast uneasy

glances toward the letter. As for the ', ladies, they preserved a well-studied indifference in the parlor, but the moment Hilda had retired to her own rooms Mies Catherine was seßt by her mother to ascertain how the prodigal fared. And ' when the heard what a hard time he was having (tbough this could only be read between the lines), they melted toward him, and kissed the baby and cried over it. It wan evident that Harold's letters concealed more than they told; but in a half.humorous way which had the singular effect of making the three women cry, he related that he had acquired a number of new accomplishments—tha l- , in fact, since his arrival in America he had been a coalheaver, a brakeman on a railroad, a supernumerary in a negro minstrel show, and that now he had advanced to the position of a miner. He owned a claim in a

Colorado mining camp, which might, for aught he knew, some day make him a millionaire. It was the wide range of possibility in the thing which fascinated him. He gave descriptions of the life in the camp, full of a kind of lugubrious humor with which it was his wont to cloak his wretchedness. The ladies suspected as mucb, but each, for fear of dietressing the others, refrained from s*yisg what she thought, Eich pretended to be delighted at Harold's cheerfulness, his excellent prospects, and his ' interesting mode of life/ and their sham hilarity was patbetic to observe. Haidly had they separated before each burst into tears; for everybody's heart had been wondronsly Eoftened towards the prodigal since he had gone so far away., and seemed lost to them: They reproached themselves in secret for tbeir harsh treatment of him; and the little wife, who had no harsh treatment to reproach herself with, upbraided, herself bitterly for having failed him in the hour of his need, for having broken her vow made at the altar. Mrs Gambork, who had been one of the foremost believers in his depravity, found herself contemplating his errors in a more lenient spirit, and there were even moments in whicn she censured her husband for his inconsiderate severity. Of course, she would not for the world have the Judge suspect that she disapproved of his conduct; but really, that blow had opened her eyes and set her thinking. It was, after all, but the father's spirit which was revealing itself in the son, and how could it be that the same line of conduct could be laudable in the one and criminal in the other P Miss Catherine, too, began to make revelations of a similar sort, though, of course, uhe was too wise to let any one euepact that she was uadutiful enough to disapprove ofo her father, Even the parson, who bad preached the celebrated political sermons, began to look askance at the Judge, when he saw his daughter's pale cheeks and hushed disspirited manner, so d fferent from her joyous energy and lightheadedness in former days. ' The line must be drawn somewhere/ he remarked to his wife, who always cord ally agreed with him; 'parental authority is no longer unlimited; and to strike a grswnup aon on account of a political disagreement is brut J and barbaric J doubt if we ought to allow our daughter to remain under the toot of a man who is capable of such conduct.'

Trie wife, who cherished a similar doubt, was not slow to second this sentiment, and the result was that Hilda and her child took up their abode at the pataanage. The Judge, strange to say, offend no strenuous opposition, although he knew that the large, empty house would be doubly desolate without Hilda and his grandchild. He had aged terribly within the last months. His combative temper seemed to have deserted him; he was a vain man, aßd with all hiß pride very dependent upon the admiration of hiß fellow-men. His loud self-assertion was not an indication of strength of character, but rather of an exaggerated conceit, nourished by the constant adulation of his fanrly and dependents. (To be continued)