American fiction -- 19th century; California -- Fiction; Short stories
Nevertheless, within a year, Lord Algernon was happily married to the
daughter of a South African millionaire, whose bridal offerings alone
touched the sum of half a million. It was also said that the mother
was “impossible” and the father “unspeakable,” the relations
“inextinguishable;” but the wedding was an “occasion,” and in the
succeeding year of festivity it is presumed that the names of “Debs” and
“Desborough” were alike forgotten.
But they existed still in a little hamlet near the edge of a bleak
northern moor, where they were singularly exalted on a soaring shaft of
pure marble above the submerged and moss-grown tombstones of a simple
country churchyard. So great was the contrast between the modern and
pretentious monument and the graves of the humbler forefathers of the
village, that even the Americans who chanced to visit it were shocked at
what they believed was the ostentatious and vulgar pride of one of their
own countrywomen. For on its pedestal was inscribed:--
Sacred to the Memory
of
JOHN DEBS DESBOROUGH,
Formerly of this parish,
Who departed this life October 20th, 1892,
At Scrooby Priory,
At the age of eighty-two years.
This monument was erected as a loving testimony
by his granddaughter,
Sadie Desborough, of New York, U. S. A.
“And evening brings us home.”
SALOMY JANE'S KISS
Only one shot had been fired. It had gone wide of its mark,--the
ringleader of the Vigilantes,--and had left Red Pete, who had fired
it, covered by their rifles and at their mercy. For his hand had been
cramped by hard riding, and his eye distracted by their sudden onset,
and so the inevitable end had come. He submitted sullenly to his
captors; his companion fugitive and horse-thief gave up the protracted
struggle with a feeling not unlike relief. Even the hot and revengeful
victors were content. They had taken their men alive. At any time during
the long chase they could have brought them down by a rifle shot, but it
would have been unsportsmanlike, and have ended in a free fight, instead
of an example. And, for the matter of that, their doom was already
sealed. Their end, by a rope and a tree, although not sanctified by law,
would have at least the deliberation of justice. It was the tribute paid
by the Vigilantes to that order which they had themselves disregarded in
the pursuit and capture. Yet this strange logic of the frontier sufficed
them, and gave a certain dignity to the climax.
“Ef you've got anything to say to your folks, say it NOW, and say it
quick,” said the ringleader.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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