The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1852-09-15

one oi TIE cIerks notIced that ms atten-
ton was suddenly an keenly aroused,
and that he eagerly devoured every word
that passed between the new conner and
Mr.. Winstanley. At length the lawyer,
as it to terminate the interview, said, as
he replaced a newspaper-The Public
Adrerf'ser-an underlined notice in which
had f.rmed the subject of his coliloquy,
with the stranger, upon side table, by
which sat Mark Bridgman. You desire
us, then, Mr.. Evans, to continue this ad-
vertisement for some time longer!o Mr..
Evans replied, Certainly, six months long
er, it necessary" He then babe the law
yers "good day." and left the Office.
well, what do you say, Mr.. Bridg-
mani" asked Mr.. Winstanley, as soon as
the door had closed. "Are you ready
to accept his Lordship's very lenient pro-
posall"
"Yes," was the quick reply. "Let the
document be prepared at once, and will
execute it before | leave" This was done,
and Mark Bridgman hurried off, evident
ly, it was afterwards remembered, in
high state of furry and excitement. He
had also, they found, taken the newspa-
per with him,-bv inadvcrtance, the soil
citor supposed, of course.
Within week Of this time, the good
folk OF specially its woman
kind,-were thrown into fcrment of won
der, Indignation, and bewiIdermcnt!-
Rachel Merton, the orphan drcS>making
girl, who had been engaged to, and about
to marry Richard Green, the farrer all
blacksmith hand that II match far hc,
yond what she had any right to expect
for all her pretty face and pert airs, WAS
positively being courtcd 10y Brilgman,
young, handsome, rich, Mark Bridgmau
OF Red Lodge the embarrassed state of
the gentleman-farmers affairs was entirely
unsuspectcd in Lavenham) ay, and by
way of marriage, too.-openly, ,-respect-
fully,-deferentially,- il he, not Rachel
Merton, were the favored and honoured
party! What on earth, everybody Asked,
was the world coming tol-a question
most difficult Of solution; but ali doubt
with respect to the bona tide nature of
Mark Bridgman's intentions towards the
fortunate dressmaker, was soon at an end:
he and Rachel being duly pronounced
man and wife at the parish church within
little more than a fortnight of the COM
mencement of his strange and hasty WOO
ing! All Lavenham agreed that Rachel
Merton had shamefully Tilted poor Green,
and yet it may be doubted it there were
many of them that, similarly tempted,
would not have done the same A pref
ty orphan, hitherto barely earning sub
| sistence by her needle, and about To t'row
herself away upon coarse, repulsivc per-
son, but one degree higher than herself in
the social scale-entreated by the hand
soonest young man about Lavenham to
be his wife, and the mistress of Red Lodge,
with nobody knows how many servants,
dependants, laborers!-thc offer was ire
sistibe! 1t was also quite natural that
the Tilted blacksmith should ferccly resent
AS he did-his sweethea rt's faithless
conduct; and the assault which his angry
excitemeIR induced him to commit upon
his successful rival II few days previous to
the wedding, was far too severely punish
ed, every-bod.' admitted, by the chastise-
ment inflicted by Mark Bridgman upon
his comparatively weak and powerIess as
saiant.
The morning after the return of the
new Unmarried couple to Red Lodge from
brief wedding-trip, a newspaper which
the bridegroom had recently ordered TO
be regularly supplied, was placed upon the
table. He himself was busy with break
fast; and his wife, after u while, opened it,
and ran her eye careIessly over It's columns.
Suddenly an exclamation of extreme sur
Prise escaped her, followed by
Goodness gracious, my dear Mark, do
look here"
Mark did look, and read an advertise.
ment aloud to the effect that, "If Rachel
Edwards, formerly of Bath, who, in 1852,
married John Merton, bandmaster of the
29th Regiment Of Infantry, and after
wards kept a school in Manchester, or any
lineal descendant Of hers, would apply to
Messrs. Winstanley, solicitors, Lincoin's-
lnn-Fields, they would hear of something
greatly to their advantage"
"Why, dear Mark" said the pretty
bride, as her husband ceased readiud, "my
mothers maiden name WAS Rachel Ed
wards, and am, rs you know, her only
surviving child"
God bless me, to be sure! rcmem-
Der now hearing your father speak of it.
What can this great advantage be, |
wonderi | tell you what well do, love"
the husband added, "you will like to see
London, know. Wen start by coach
to night, and I'll call upon these lawyers,
and find out what il all means"
This proposition was, of course, gladly
| acceded to. They were gone about a fort