The Shasta courier., 1861-10-05
The Way Of the World.
THE STOLEN VILLA sTEP-N0THFR oUTwITs
HERSELF.


ours gives us the particulars of one of the
most remarkable domestic romances we have
heard of in many years. Several of the par
ties figuring in it are relatives of his and &C.
quaintances of ours; and as he gives US the
full names, and refers to family antecedents,
that would not be understood by strangers
without long and tedious explanations, we
are compelled to forego our original purpose
of giving the story in his own words, but will
endeavor to present its most interesting fea-
lures in regular newspaper version. Before
so doing, however, let US state, for the infor-
nation of the general reader, that the affair
has been kept profound secret in England
| "a most curious and fortunate accident hav-
ing served to settle it properly, without the
necessity of legal interference, and the par
ties interested having special reasons for
keeping all the particulars hidden from the
press. Our correspondent is one of these in
terested parties; and upon the condition of
our suppressing all names, and giving only
the generalities of the case, we take the liber-
ty Of anticipating his consent to our publica-
ton of the story.
In town in Yorkshire, which shall be
nameless at present, there had long resided
a wealthy family, consisting of landed pro-
prietor, son, daughter and a number of
servants. The head Of the family was wild
over. His son had commission in the Brit.
ish army. At the breaking out of the Cri.
mean war, this son was ordered away with
his regiment, leaving to his fathers care the
orphan daughter of deceased clergyman
who held the position of governess in a Lon
don family, and was his (the young oficer's)
affancied bride. In accordance with a re-
quest made by the youth before going to the
war, the young lady was induced to leave her
situation in the metropolis, and take up her
abode with the father and sister of her inten.
ded husband in Yorkshire; and it was under
the paternal roof that the soldier took leave
of her. They were fated to meet no more
Scarcely had eight months rolled by, when
letter from the Colonel of the -th regiment
informed his father that he had been killed
in a skirmish with body of the enemy. Of
course this melancholy news plunged the
whole household into mourning, and father,
sister and bride elect were for time incon-
solable; but it was observed, at that time
that the latter bore her loss with more "Chris-
tain fortitude" than either Of the others, and
even attempted to console the old gentleman
with pious remarks concerning the propriety
of resignation to the will of heaven under all
calamities. In fact this Christian young Ia
the stricken father began to address her as
his ''more than daughter :" and in less than
year from the date of his sons death, he
capped the climax of his gratitude by intro
dacing her to his daughter as her second
mother!
From the time when this designing woman
had commenced to play the part of spiritual
adviser to her father, the daughter contract
ed an intense dislike for her, which was re-
turned with compound interest; and when
she assumed the duties of step-mother, this
mutual dislike deepened into silent disdain
on the one side and open animosity on the
other. Under the influence of his new wife,
the old gentleman was gradually turned
against his only child and though she was
permitted to live in the same house with her
scheming step-mother for a while, the latter
soon contrived to have her sent to the house
of an aunt in London. for the ostensible pur-
pose of " finishing her education" During
the absence Of the poor girl, her unnatural
enemy spared no pains to make the aliena.
tion of her weak fathers affection thorough.
and succeeded SO we'll, that when the Young
| lady applied for permition to return home
for month in the summer, it was refused to
her.
In February last, the old man, who had al
ways been a high liver, was attacked with
gout in the stomach, and upon finding that
his end was near, appeared to be suddenly
seized with compunction for the treatment of
his child. Alarmed at his symptom. his de-
signing companion did not scruple to assure
him that his daughter had not only hated
him, but had positively refused to come near
him in his last moments, and under the in.
tiuende Of the feelings aroused by this seem
ingly unnatural couduct of his only child,
the old man executed will, wherein he
"cut his daughter of with shilling"
and left his entire property to his faithful
wife. Eliza. Now it happened that the law
yer who drew up this will had his suspicious
that some treachery had been practiced and
took convenient opportunity to warn the
dying man against acting unjustly on his
death-bed. He also took the responsibility
of writing to the absent daughter on the sub
Ject. The latter was very i'll herself at the
time, and unable to leave her bed but she
sent letter to her father, under cover to the
lawyer, assuring him that her love for him
had never known q change, and imploring
him, child like, not to die before she could
come to him. On hearing this touching epis-
tie read, the old man was overwhelmed with
remorse for himself, horror of his wife, and
tenderness for his in-used child, and spent
his dying breath in making a new will,
whereby all former testaments were revoked.
and his entire property left to his only daugh-
ter.
The modification and rage of the step.
mother and widow, when she discovered this
event, may more easily be imagined than de-
scribed, but she artfully cloaked ner real
feelings under the mask Of the heart stricken
mourner while still connecting a desperate
scheme for winning her game yet.
By some strange oversight, the kind law
yer had neglected to burn the first will when
the second will was made out and the two
were temporarily placed in the drawer of
table together for safe keeping. The ever
watchful woman saw where they were con.
cealed; and even while her husband was
gasping In the last agonies of death, she man.
aged by a skillful movement to abstract one
Of the ,cilts from the dra,cer and cast ii into
The fire
All the persons in the room being cluster.
ed anxiously about the bed of death at the
time, her base act was undiscovered: and
when she few suddenly to the couch Of the
dying man with loud shrek and tainted IN
upon the bed beside her husbands body, the
lawyer, even, was half inclined to believe
that his suspicious had wronged her.
When the last scene of all'' was over.
however, and he took from the drawer the
triH, and opened it for a moment, the look he