TWO KEYS: OR Margaret Houghton's Heroism CHAPTER XLVIII.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 199, 16 April 1887, Page 7

TWO KEYS : OR Margaret Houghton's Heroism

CHAPTER XLVIII.

By MRS GBORGIE SHELDON, Author of *• Brownie's Triumph," "Tlw Forsaken Bride." * 4 Audrey's Recompense" &o.

A SOUL SAVED. Back to hia, native land T&v Forest had determine^ to come ; and grand old Boston, although greatly changed since he first left it, had much in it still that was familiar and dear to him. In the hewer portion of the city he purchased a fine residence, which he presented to Louis for his future Home, and where the young husband and wife made him fee very welcome and Happy as a permanent member of their family. , Hia next work was to establish himself and soniina business calculated to, give emplovmeiit, to', a large number ' of people, many of whom wero boy's-— drpha&s and dons of, widows, who w^e gathered from the, highways anc^bywayß—fjft th^ 'purpose of , helping (them up from 'their miserable condition and. teaching theh'i how to depend, upon thbniselvbs in: the' future, and^o lead' honourably and Useful 1 liVes.; u Wj J , Mr Forest aeVe'r' t*iM\ o deif ear to 'the 1 tale of borrow or 5 want : the ' thought' '6f ,liis ipiyn yonorwife; u^ith f h^ little b|abe l , sUffe^- 11 ,ing ;for m "nece'siaribf ibf'lifd, 1 fas.^verpresent,with him, au'd'made him kiixidua'to relieve itf troubles o<! v! n ; Many) a- widow had i ©duse I to. bleae' : him,^ and( 'bany a businesH mani, r .in:af ter (life;»?wa^ heard' -to ponfeei that tatheißenierosity and 1 kindrilesß oflForeßt-ahdrSo.n^hey owed' tb'e: Buccees jthpyihad achieved, whl <J • Ml >\"\ . Mr aridiMrsfHotiffhtori resided in theioity near their -children during fhewihterj' while

' tney insisted upon their spending their \, euwner wjth them.at tKeinbeautiful fcome; > oa^thja Brookline road— a place' that would ,alwAyj3 bfij dear to I>ouia> for there, he had !/ tfirßthsee'n. -the lovely child. who had exerted i . auch; a ;powerful influence upon Kfe' whole H l\H& r>il r >i1 j !'<• > i l! .-i . •'< ',', l' ..' <! s' Earwjeri Brown and his gocd wife were , almost |ta proud of Louis as if ha were their own aop, and rejoiced most heartily with him' over the good fortune that had come to him ; whije Mr Forest formed a deep and lasting friendship for the good man who had befriended his son in his youth. Mr Allen, too, was Bought, and found, and' claimed as an old friend. He had married a lovely woman during Louis's absence, and was prospering in his profession ; and now, being introduced to the circle in which the Houghtons were accustomed to move, be began to be appealed to by a different class of clients, and to rise in proportion to his businoes. Mary Jcmeß was now a widow, her husband having died during the winter, but her three boys were all doing well, and gavo promise of a far more thrifty manhood than their father had ever known. Louis purchased an airy roomy house, shortly alter hia return, furnished ifc throughout, and presented it to her, and Mrs Jones's lodging house was noted for its comfort and cleanliness, and was patronised accordingly, thus returning a handsome income to its owner. Louis's would-be father had made his appearance only once after his release from his imprisonment in Paris. He had entered hie office ono day, when Louis happened to be there for a few moments alone, and demanded money of him in a somewhat overbearing manne". Louis took no notice at first of it ; he was considering what was beßt for him to do. Finally he handed him three hundred dollars. The man had been falsely accused and imprisoned, and he felt that some recompense was due him. But the man looked dissatisfied with the amount. " Well, what is the matter 1 Louis ques tioned, observing it. "I should think a man would feel rather moan to send his own father back to America on a paltry three hundred, especially when ha is about to pocket a handsome fortune with the girl he mariies," returned the man, with a disagreeable but knowing leer. Louis regarded him a moment in silence, marvelling within himself at the different natures there were in the world. At last he arose, and looking the man straight in the eye, said quietly : "John JHicks, you can return to America, or you can go to any other country you choose, but i warn you that ib will b9 wise in you never to chow your face to me again. Your history is known to me, and if you ever come to me again demanding anything of me upon that old bogus claim, you will find youreelf handed over to tne authorities without ceremony." The man stood staring blankly at Louia for a full minute ; then, without a word, he turned away and slunk out of his eight, and Louis never saw him again. Six months after our friends' return from ahroad, Ada Parker came to Margaret on 9 morning, her fair face covered with blushes, and a new tenderness Binning 1 through it. She tossed a letter bearing a foreign postmark into her lap, saying, with a shy smile : " Read that, you blessed little woman, and tell me what you think of it." It was a manly, earnest epistle from the young Marquia De Perrine, telling her of the love he had entertained for her ever since forming her acquaintance in Paris, and making her a formal offer of hia heart, hand, and fortune. At the same time he made a full confession of his unmanly treatment of Margaret and her rnard upon a certain occasion, and his deep repentance for having been guilty of so mean an act. He related all that occurred, and how humiliated he had been by Margaret's wellmerited reproof and scorn. "It was the beginning of a new life to me,' he wrote, ''and if all women were as true to their Bex and their duty aa Miss Houghton proved herself to be, there would be fewer bad men in the world." He closed with an earnest appeal that be might be allowed to come to America to claim the love he sought. " Are you going to let him come ?' Margie asked, regarding her friend earnestly. " Yea : we have been corresponding for some time ; but 1 cannot resist this appeal," Ada responded, with a deeper flush. *\I thought," Margaret began, then stopped. " You thought that I loved my cousin Arthur," Ada ejiid, completing the eentence for her, "and so did I for a time," she went on, "until I came home whore I could think quietly by myself. Then I realised what a shallow, pleasure-loving nature he had ; I knew he did not care for me, and I gradually found myself forgetting him." '• You are Bure that it is not the glitter of a coronet that attracts you now, Ada," Margaret asked. She was so happy in her husband's love, and the deep affection she bore him, she could not endure the thought of her friend giving her hand without her heart. " Mo, Margie, I feel sure I should have told August to come if he had still been simply Monsieur Perrine. I admired him wfien we were in Paris, though I am afraid his Buit would have been ruined if I had not known of his treatment of you. But hia letters indicate that there is much that is noble and good in him, and I am sure he has truly repented of his errors." " I am, too," Margaret replied, and then she told her of his sieter coming to her the evening before her marriage, of the message be had sent her, together with her beautiful gift. 11 If you love him I am glad for you, Ada," she said ; " it ie a brilliant prospect for you, and it will be j bo much better for him to marry a good, ,true American girl than some pleasure-loving French lady." So there was a quiet wedding one morning not long after, in Mrs Parker's stately mansion, when Ada became the Marquise De Perrine. , When Margaret, who was one of the> guests, went forward to offer her congratulations, the young marquis caught her hand, and lifting it to his lips, said : " Madam, I thank you for so much, but most of all for my wife ; but for you I should never have won her." " How so ?" Margaret asked, smiling, yet astonished. ' , " Because I never 'could have been worthy j 'ah, pardon !" he added, with a fond glance" into' his bride's flushed face: '•I ami noteworthy' even' now, but you taught Irae^ to VegaM' life very differently from i? hat T EM .ever" done befdre,' a'nd 'aaved me 'ftjonaPdisiionouriog' the name' l 'bear."' . \J'-->> -■■;."■• • •; '-. , , . , .;mi,j,j .....», ;,.„• i.. A- t . '<, , <.. ' Margaret F 3 re^s ; beautiful home rang, a peal. > , ! ' -" The BBrvanjb, upon answering it, found a ! -Atoiit, fihfeild6Wfri^'man'BMn'ding6ut»id^ttie'daoi?, who Urtjuired'lort^ Albert Foresfc - i HegftvWwifltaKflf fim 'said'he ■' KM cdme' i upoh'o matte^ofc -bVisln^e'/and Wished to ace , 'thri'gehtlcTttan^n*'' - w '•"■• ! "> v '' s i H6 was ' enbwtif irittf t&e-library| ( m$ x tk ho' .tsafr there tttftipjflr,' thtf Sound of ha pt>s «bi!d T- ■ i8H s v6ioes;cStti^fldati»^^dWn'frdm J §tfe^irB,' ' I

and the map's face kindled with a strange ' tendernesa ai}d loife as He hear&lt. A T A • Presently -Mr Forest -entered* the 'rporat, 'and' he did not seem a day older than ;wh©.**he had Returned from ' abroad beveral yeiura; before. | : He bowed to hie visitor, but; regarded him curiously, as if wondering' if he, had ever seen him before. Tne stranger aroee and advanced to meet} him. " Uncle Albert," be said in a low, moved tone, "I do not deserve a welcome from you, but, nevertheless,' I ye^rn for it." " Arthur !" cried Mr Forest springing* toward him and grasping him warmly by the hand, while something in the open manly face before him moved him strangely, '•Yes, it is Arthur— the prodigal returned," the man replied sadly, yet with * touch of bitterness in his tone. " You know bow the father received th,ei prodigal, Arthur," said Mr Forest, with % tremble in his voice, " and so I give y<H* the warmest welcome of which I am capable." "Thank you, Uncle Albert— l did nofc quite expect that, but I am grateful ; and now I will tell you that my chief errand here was to pay you the debt I owe you." v He took a paper from his pocket-book. as he spoke, and handed it to MrForest. It wa3 a cheque on a New York bank for fifteen thousand dollars, which included that gum Mr Forest had paid in settlement of Arthur's debts. "Arthur, you know, I did not expectifc this," said bis uncle, regarding it gravely. "No, but it is right, for all that; and I know you will not refuse me tho satisfaction that I experience in doing it,'* Arthur replied earnestly : and then at hia uncle's invitation he sat down and told him how he had spent his life during the last six years. After leaving Paris, he said he had come* directly to New York with the intention of making amends, as far as possible, fop the mistakes of his early life. Here, he> had fallen in with a man who had. just returned from the South, and whose) health wa3 such that he could not return to that enervating climate. He was the owner of a fine orange plantation, the) fruit of which was nearly ready to be) gathered. He was desirous of celling and would take a moderate price, provided hot could find some reliable purchaser, who would pay part down and give him eecurity for the rest. Arthur at once said he would go and look: at the property, and if he found it aa reprosented he would purchase it. The result* was, he became the owner, and the yield of that year alone, with the ten thousand dollars received from his uncle, enabled him, to pay for tho plantation entire, and to make some improvements besides. " I have attended strictly to business,'* he said, in conclusion, " aad I have reaped my reward. I have become a successful fruitgrower, and I am in a fair way to ba-. come a rich man myself in a few years; and so you see, Uncle Albert, I could not* feel a proper re?pect for myself until I had paid this debt, and expressed my apprecia.-* tion of your kindness to me." "It was really no debt, Arthur; you were welcome to it," returned Mr Forest, heartily, yet he wag glad ho had paid it, for it raised him greatly in his estimation, " I know — but of course you can imagine; how I would feel about it," Arthur res^ ponded, and there the matter was dropped. '♦Where are you stopping?" his uncle; asked him a few moments later. " We are at Parker's ?" "We?' repeated Mr Forest, inquir> ingty- " Yes," with a laugb, and a tender light? illumining his face, " I have married a nice; little Southern lady, and we have a fine boy three years old." "Well, well ; that is good news truly* end lam glad with you, Arthur. I shall pay my respectß to that same little lady tomorrow, and then you mu3t bring her: here," said Mr Forest, cordially, and looking very much pleased over the news. "I — I don't know about that '* Arthur began, but was cut short by the en*, trance of Louis. The meeting was somewhat awkward or* Arthur's part, but Louis was very cordial j there was nothing in his manner to remind! him of tho past, and he seemed to b& heartily glad to learn of his prosperity. Margaret went with Mr Forest the nextt day, to call upon the A spin walls at th.Q Parker House, and Arthur voted her the noblest woman in the universe for the act* She found Mrs Aspiowall a refined and ladylike little body, devotedly attached to* her husband and possessing an unbounded influence over him. Their boy was a promising little fettow fc the image of his father, who evidently worshipped his son, although it was patent tot his visitors that he did not intend to spoil him by indulgence. "If I can train him to be anything like, you, I shall feel that I have not lived in. vain," Arthur remarked to Louis, when* after a month of pleasant intercourse bo* tween the families, the Appinwalls were; about to leave for their Southern home. "The meirory of your kindness and generosity," he added," has never left me foe a moment ; they have helped to make me Cfc better man ; and at laßt I began to feel as, if I had earned the right to come and ask you to forgive me." | It was a hard thins for a proud, high--spirited man to cay ; but it was a nobler thing to do -it was the one thing needful to crown his manhood. "Gladly," Louis said, grasping his hand warmly. " Let us remember the past no more ; let us befriend* henceforth." Margaret Houghton's keys, added by her heroism and courage, unlocked ther doore of her lover's priaon and conquered I the enemy that had so nearly destroyed hex happiness. But a nobler victory was won when th« keys of kindness and nobility unlocked ft well-nigh impenetrable heart, while the; demons of enmity and jealousy fled, angeia. of peace and goodwill entering in theic place, and a human soul was Bayed, a life o£ usefulness preserved. THE END.)