sprang forward and caught the uplifted whip, expressing his indignation. "Shame on you for beating a girl in that way!" The man turned upon him like an enraged brute, and with a torrent of oaths roared: "I'll larn ye, ye young impudence, to interfere with me." Richard stepped quickly to one side as the man lunged at him. The gipsy, drunk with anger and liquor, tripped and went sprawling upon the ground. His hands had fallen upon a neck-yoke and he arose with it in his hands and rushed upon the lad. Just as the yoke was about to crash upon Richard's head, his right arm shot out from his body and his left followed like a flash and the brutal gipsy lay in a dazed heap upon the ground. The other members of the band had gathered around and looked at the lad with lowering faces. Without saying a word, Richard turned and walked away, but he never forgot the look of gratitude the young girl gave him. There are two sculptors, who, with chisels fine, Without the master touch of Faith and Pain. A look exalted, which the spirit gives When soul has conquered, and the body lives -Ella Wheeler Wilcox. CHAPTER III. A DESOLATE HOME. Eight years before the time about which I have been writing, the costly home of Mr. and Mrs. Warren, in the city of Forestburg, was one of the social and intellectual centers of this growing manufacturing town. They had lived for several years in a small village where the foundation of their fortune was laid. The opportunity had opened a few years before to purchase a half interest in one of the leading mercantile establishments of Forestburg and by the natural growth of the city and the sagacity of Mr. Warren the business had grown to immense proportions. He had as time went by invested considerable money in real estate, the profits from which were an independent fortune. He had little time for anything except business. His days were spent in the conduct of his undertakings and his evenings often found him at his office, with an occasional night given to some social function. |