The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-03-07 00:00:00

"MY OWN GIPSY MAID."

One of the most romantic cases which have come
before the Divource Court for a long time has just
been heard by Sir James Hannen. It was that of.
Smith r. Smith (by her Guardian' and Groome. This
was a husband's petition for a dissolution of the
marriage on the ground of his wife's adultery with the
co respondent, from whom be claimed damages. The
petitioner, Mr. Hubert Smith, is a retired solicitor,
town clerk of Itrtibrnorth, and author of a well-known
work entitled " Tent Life in Norway." He married
the respondent, then Esmeralda Lock, a gipsy
now under age, in Norway : hut it was stated that she
afterward., committed adultery with Mr. Francis
Hindes lroome, the co-respondent (innerly of Morton
College, Oxford, a young gentleman of gissl oosition
bi lde. and in consequence the present suit was filed.
Mr. Hubert Smith his been for many years inter.
ested in the ( apsies. Ile ha- la+ tbeir lamruive :
has been among them ; he has written about them.
, studied the literature --a whole library in Itself—of
their history and ori in ; and has allowc.l them to
undisturlwd upon hi..,wn 'states. Descending
from the general to the partienlar, he attneiw,l

self particiilary to a family wh name, as ;,tiven to
the tionrios (as the eall tip.. who are not .4
their race), is Locke. There were thirteen in the tent
bold of the Lockes. and anion; them were three 5..114
named respeetively Noah. Zaehariab, and %Anion.
and a dau:hter called, perhaps by Mr. Hubert Smith
himself, after Victor II te.co's wayward hero'',
Esmeralda. In 1870, Esmeralda Vrtl•l sixteen years of
a.re, and in the summer of that year, Mr. Hubert
Smith made up a little party of four. u.n.iAtint;
Esmerabh, himself, No .h. and Zaehariah, to visit
Norway, and live in tent, after the fashi,e, of Romany.
Three years later he publiOted a look called. "Tent
Life in " Norway,- containiwz his notes and .Itetches
of that journey. The work, we believe, wa-. ;
it found many readers, not so much from the &seri:,
tions of Norway, whir', ha I been done before, and
, perhaps better done, as from the inter,st attachin4 to
the central &zits, of the 1, .ok, the intere-tin, niaiden,
round whom the author ;:renped his is.rsote:, lii
behind whom he painted his semery. Landscape and
ll.fures alike were artistieally ale,knel to .et off
Eonerabla. The ;:irl of sixteen, with the " dark blir
alla eyes full of fathomless tin.," was ',resent in every
nre. All thrott4l, the book she played her tun,-
lourine. tinneed her danees,l43ll:: her song's, Hashed her

black eye, doffed and donned- her rol:l,with ilv'r
buttons, and plahl braid, cooked the dinners for the
party of four, awl exhibited her little tempers when
the weather did not altogether go as she wilted.
These occasional storms, the author explained, were
due to no defect in Emu-rabbis nature, but .0 deb: to
the superabundant energy of her constitutimi. NVI.IIOI
WIN bound to find an outlet somewhere. In brief,
Esmeralda was chanuin4, awl when, a year after the
appearance of the hook, it WWI announced that Hubert
smith had married Esmeralda Locke, it seenie.l to all,
thou) who know the race, as if the one right
thing had been done, the one fittin: end found to the
:raceful Norwegian pastoral. They were wedded :
for a time the marriage, in spite of trial.; and tempe.ts,
in which eandlestieks were brandished and ear., were
is,xed:_is A4l to have 'wen happy. Threateniums with

a canillestiek —4onerally a heavy article -•anil iuc
of ears au not ottem to u, to comtitute th, highc-t
ed of happy we,l,lel Ilk; hut it i4in ovidonco that
the marriage saa at
.firot haonr:
.Not for Ion! :
... •

;1;e:illy the events followe,l
~f yesterday',l procee,lin;x. Poor Ennerahla wns
ntrible to appreehite the olutieg, :IA well as the
t.ledntaged, of virilize.l life, and hn,. sue back tO. her
an
'rown Clerk of Ttrhlotorth ea4e.l his will
lint did not know how t,t:une_her:_nn.l.when there

ainwared on the ise.me a Mr. Francis Ilitie I :room.
rich. young, awl better vermeil even than Mr. Smith
in Romany lore, the fancy of the false Egyptain "fell
a-turning. ' Introcueed to the bride, her "eyes of Asia"
flashed away what virtue and eel( respect may have
been resident in the bosom of Mr Groome. They
were more than once found secretly conversing in
Romany. Mr* Smith informed her husband that
"they were both bewitched," and that she must go
alone to Cardiff to consult an astrologer, who would
break the spell She went, and soon a letter came
back purporting to be from the "wise man:" but the
tics easy husband by awl by found out that the rubbish
put down to "the stars" was complied by Groome,
and that he, and no other, was the astrologer consulted
by the deceitful wife.
The facts ascertained admitted little doubt MI M the
impropriety of her conduct ; but Mr. Smith was too
fond of his had bargain to make an open scandal, and
sent her to her people's camp at Newport. Glitsies
are in their own way a strict and moral folk, and it
seems that the Romany father and mother tried their
best to make Emend& ashamed of herself. But the
wild blood broke out again • she ran away to the
liaramour who could make again;
love in Zingari tim
her, and being caught in his company a divorce suit
was instituted. The victim of her treachery fell ill
with grief and was sent to Spain to recever, but while
there a pretended letter of contrition came to him from
Bremerhaven, where tide gipsy-witch was then staying.
She wrote, "I am MI unhappy. I have no doubt you
are so too. lam here alone by myself, and scarce
know what to do for the best. Oh, what a stupid
girl I've been !" She further asked forgiveness,
sayinir how sorry she wall for her luet, and
promising to atone if her husband would take her baek.
"I have been singing in this place." she sail, "butt
have no money, isnil (10111:111111.41, " Oh, what would I
give, my dearest Hubert, if I could place my acme
ri 11111 l I you again !" After the receipt ui this letter the
foolish husband inuntsliately started for Bremerhaven,
limit arrived too late, the wife having left for England.
Guided by infonwit he went to Edinburgh, alai
there found her living with the gentleman impostor.
Even then the infatuated petitioner forgave all, at her
widows tears and pleas awl promises, which were
worth lees than twelve hour's purchase, for she told
him next morning she knew by a dream that firoome
was about to kill himself, and that she t go back
for two hours only to save his life. Bee Relied and
Minded, in spite of all he knew and had learned of
gipey arts, the doting v:etim cons-nted, and gave her
the following letter 10 the young Mall Grate: "
have taken my poor broken-down wife from hen'.
For her sake and that of your family I give you .ine
more chance, and cancel the proceedings"( the divorce.
No one can tel the injury you have inflicted on 1114
both. I leave your pmusbnieut in the h nebi of God
Don't cross my path again I would rather be the
poorest in the land than such an infamu os, degraded,
contemptible wretch." Of course he might as wisely
have sent tire with a meieutge to gunpowder ; his faith-
less wife never returned at all --the will bird wail gone
for ever.
At this stage of the swl little story conies in the one
touch of pleasant manhood and refreshing just;ce
which can alone lie found in it. The gipsy parents
and brother', were sincerely aehame.l, it is clear, of
their kinswoman ; and the brothers persuaded Mr.
Smith to seek out the truant Esmeralda for the last
time. She was found living with the co-respondent
G 'thee for all to quit him ; lint
wren'mthei ansfat refa
efd.leni
made sonic tbservat ions ulefil the
subject personally offenxive to Zechariah, the younger
brother, that brown child of the wilderness then and
there took off his velveteen jacket, rolled up his sleeves,
and administered to the seducer snch a "rubbing
down," to use his own phrase, MI left the gay Lotherio
speechless and liba-k awl blue under his own table.
The rest was matter for Sir James Ifannen and the
Divorce Court jury, wile pronounced the inevitable
verdict and cut the already shattered matrimonial
' tie.