The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1864-05-20
aftiseelalleous.
THREE WIVES.
FROM HOUSEHOLD WORDS.

have besides my town residence In Cecil
street which is confined to suite OF two
apartments on the second foor-a very pleasant
country-house belonging to friend OF mine In
Devonshire; this latter is my hvoritc seat, and
the abode which prefer to call my home.
like il well when its enoircling glens arc loud
with rocks, and their great nests are being set
up high in the rocking branches; like i.when
the butterflies, those courtly ushers Of the sum-
mer, arc doing their noiseless mission In its
southern garden, or on the shavcn lawn before
its front: like II when its balustraded roof
looks down upon sea of golden corn and
islands of green orchards flushed with fruit;
but most II pleascs me when logs arc roaring In
in its mighty chimncys, aud Christmas time is
come. Six abreast the witches might ride up
them, let their broomsticks prance and curyet
rs they would. II you entered the hall by the
great doors while Robert Chetwood and myself
were at our game Of billiards ut its further end,
you could not recognize our features.
The galleries are studies Of perspective, and
the bare, shining staircases rs broad as car
riagc ways. The library, set round from the
thick carpet to the sculptured ceiling with an
cient books. with bralen clasps, and old.world
types, and worm-drillcd bindings. The chap
cl, with its blazoned saints on the dim windows,
and the mighty corridors with floors of oak
and sides of tapestry, arc pictures of the past,
and teach whole chapters Of the book Of his
tory; Red Rose and White Rose, Cavalier and
Roundhcad, Papist and Protestant, Orange
man and Jacobte have each had their day in
Old Trcmadyn House. When the great doors
slam together, as they sometimes will, to the
incxpressiblc terror of tho London butler, they
awake series Of thunderclaps which roll from
the basement to garret; many warning have
they given. in the good old times, t9 Trcma-
dyns hiding for their lives, and many an arras
has been raised and mirror slipped to right or
left at that menacing sound. To this day,
Robert Chetwood often comes anew upon some
hold in which those who ruled before him have
skulkcd-somctimcs in his own reception rooms,
but more commonly in the great chambers
where he puts his guests. These chambers are
colossal, with hugo carved pillars, bearing up
n armament of needlcwork, and dressing-clos
cts large enough for dining rooms. Every
person Of note who could or could not by pos.
sibilty, or date, or circumstance, hayo slept
therein, have had the credit Of passing night
within Trcmadyn House, from the Wandering
Jew, Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth, down to
Charles the First. Peter the Great, and tho late
Emperor Nicholas. There has been moro than
one murder in the Red room, several suicides in
the Blue, aud one ghost still haunts those spots
in cxpiation. Tremadyns in lace cuffs and
wigs; in scarlet and ermine; IN armor from
top to toe, line both the galleries by tho
last Charles Surface of o dissolute race, for ten
pounds ten shilling head.
One great Tremadyn dynasty has passed
away; Robert Chetwood, late banker in the
city of London, not so long ago bankers clerk,
now reigneth in their stead. The Tremadyns
came in at the time Of the siege of Jericho,
or thcreabouts, and the Chetwoods about ten
years before the siege of Sebastopol; but there
the advantage ceases. There Is no man kinder
TO the poor, no man more courteous to oil men,
no man, whatever his quarterings, in oil Dew.
onshirc with better heart than Robert Chet-
weed. Trcmalyn House is open to the country,
MS il ever was, and his old London friends are
not forgotten; hale and hearty gentleman,
indeed, he is, but he has had many troubles;
he is as happy rs any man bcrcavcd OF children
can be, and II was the loss of them that made
him buy the house aud give up his old haunts
and busy ways
lie saw the nursery windows wide open to the air.
But the faces of tho children they were no longer
there; r..H...."
and that, whatever it may be, is too sad sight
to look upon. @
But what wife the old man had, to mako up,
as il seemed even to me, forall! say to mc,for
one Of those lost children, q maiden of seven
teen, was my bcthrothed bride-the gentlest
and most gracious creature eyes ever looked
upon; think il could write my thoughts of
her, should movo those to tears who never
saw her face, when they read Gertrude died.
She gave hcrsslf to me; the old man could never
have given her. I say no moro.
This is why Trcmadyn House has become to
me home 1t pleases Robert Chetwood to
have his friends son with him, above all because
he was his daughters plighted husband, and
my fathers friend is trebly dear to me as Cert
rude's father When tho Christmas party has
dispersed, and the great house Is quite cmptied
Of ITS score Of guests, still remain with the
old couple over the new year. They call me
son, as though were their son, and call them
my parents. IL Heaven had wiled II so, dear
Gertrude and myself could not have hoped for
greater welded happiness, more between US,
than is between those two. Perhaps" he
says, with smilo never saw young man
wear. "pcrhaps II is that my old eyes arc get
ting dim and untrustworthy, but Charlotte
seems to me the dearest aud most plcasant-
looking dame In the world" And his wifc
makes answer that her sight also is just as little
to be depended on. To each Of them has come
the silver hair. and the reverence with It that
alone makes il beautiful; and II their steps arc
slower than in youth, II Is not because their
hearts are heavier; they are indeed Of those,
80 rare ones, who make us in love with life
down even to It's close. They always seemed
to me as having climbed the hill together their
whole lives long. and never was moro aston
ished than upon this new years eve. when.
Mrs. Chetwood being with US two in atter din
ner talk, rs custom Was. when all her guests