Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1891 — THE MASTER OF THE MINE. [ARTICLE]

THE MASTER OF THE MINE.

By Robert Buchanan,

CHAPTER XiXXVli—Concluded. “Ay, happy wf God." sobbed m 3 aunt. “Forty year we ha' dwelt together i’ this house, and he nevei give me angry look or crass word e be gawn, where I’ll soon gang: too. Wait for me, my bonnieraan wait for me —wait for her that love; ’ee, and is coming to ee soon!" Why should I linger ovei this scene of sorrow, wht should I turn to other scenes whiel followed it? Time and Death hav< healed all those wounds; to speak 0: them is to open them again. CHAPTER XXXVIII. CONCLUSION.

A year after the flooding of tht mine and the death of John Pendra gon, I married Madeline Graham The ceremony took place quietly ic London, whither we had gone to gether, and when it was over we spent a brief honeymoon abroad. One spring morning, as I sat with ray bride in a hotel by the lake o! Geneva, I read in the Times an announcement that filled my heart with surprise and pain. It was an advertisement of the approaching sale by auction es Redruth House, St. Gurlott's, Cornwall.

A short time before this the mining company had passed into liquidation, and! knew that George Redruth was a ruined man. Little or no communication had passed between the cousins, but when the crash came, Madeline, with my full consent and sympathy, had written to her aunt, offering a considerable portion of hex fortune for George Redruth’s use and benefit. This offer had been refused. The next thing we had heard was that mother and son were living together InLondon, and closely following on that had come the news of the mothers death, an event which filled my darling with no little distress. To the last Mrs. Redx uth had ref used to forgive her niece, whom she urn justly held responsible for all the misfortunes which had fallen upon her aon

I showed my darling the newspai per, and we forthwith determined tq journey down to Cornwall. Thus it happened that, about a week later, we arrived in St. Gurlott’s, wher« we found Annie and my aunt readv to receive us at the old cottage. 1 then ascertained that George Red. ruth had ieft England for America, where he intended to remain. An, nie, who was my informant, told ma that before leaving the village he had sought her out to say farewell. “And oh, Hugh," she cried, “h< asked for my forgiveness, and I forgave him with all my heart. I think, if I had wished it, he would hav« taken me with him as his wife.” “You did not wish it?”

She shook her head sadly. “No, Hugh. After what has happened it was impossible, and I know it was more in despair and pity than in love that he spoke. I scarcely knew him; no one would know him—he was like the ghost of his old self so worn, so broken with the trouble and shame which have come upon him, that my heart bled for him.’ ‘He is punished,’ I said sadly. ‘An nie, you aid wclL lam glad that he is penitent, but never in the worlq eould you two have come together.’ The reader already knows that, through myr darlings goodness, j was a rich man. Now, of all men living, perchance, I best knew th« capabilities of St. Gurlott s mine. Reckless neglect _ and ignorance had wrecked it, and rfc was still to somq extent at the mercy of the sea; but I had my own. theory that more than ,one fortune was yet to be discovered there. I spoke to Madeline about it; we went into the matter eon arnore; and the result was an offer was made by me for the old. claim to the official liquidator of the company- Things looked despairing, and as my offer was a liberal erne, it was accepted. Within another year a fresh company was formed with Hugh Trelawney, Esq., as projector, vendor and chief owner;, large sums were expended in the improvements, which, if carried out, would long be fore have saved the concern, tie sea was gently persuaded to yield up possession; and before long the old mine was flourishing prosperously, a source of prosperity to all concerned in it, and of blessing: to the whole population. Another fact remains to be chronicled. We bought Redruth House, an<J it became Our home. There my aunt and Annie joined us, dwelling happily with us, till in due season my aunt died. Annie lived on, and still lives, apensivevgraeicos woman, full of one overshadowing memory, and devoted to our children. The last time she heard of George Redruth, he was a well-to-do merchant, living in the far-away West. Thus, through the ‘goodness o! God, I remained in the bid home, able to help those who in time oi ne«i had helped me. St. Gurlott’s is now a happy, thriving place; mj dear wife is idolized by the simph people; and I, in the fulness of mj fortunate days, am the Master of tht Mine. the bnd.