The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1865-08-07


9neither;. but with born lords and
ladies. With the very first nobility
in: the land, though Il say it, that
shouldn &; & ss:j ssSs 8, Il sss
.'Indeed, ma 'am!''sI interposed in
as respectful a tone as I could com.
mand, wishing to conciliate the wor-'
thy but somewhat irascible old lady.
S eyes, indeed," pursued the house
keeper. s'It isn't for nothing, pert
and hppant as you are, that I lived
seven years and three months in the
service of my Lord Millamant. {"
81 knew his lordship well," I OBJ
served gravely; 'tthat is, I have seen
his portrait in the print shops and
read of his achievements in the news
papers when I was a boy. He ran
away with and married Miss Jaghire,
the great Indian heiress, didn't hep
Eyes, sir, he did"
s'He killed Sir Hargreaves Grim
wood, the West country baronet, in q
duel about Lady Grimwood, didn' t he?
I remember his trial and acq,littal as
though they had occurred yesterday" :"
eyes, sir, he did; but he was badly
provoked. Sir Hargreaves was q sad
man-ived at the Birthstone Coffee
House, and always drank q pint of
Schiedam before breakfast He wasn't
the first tall gentleman who had been
shot about Lady Grimwood.'
'sAnd he died ambassador at Ma
drid, did hep"
eyes, sir; but that was long after I
left his service. It is full forty years
ago that I was housekecper to the
Right Honorable the Earl of A1illa-
mant, Lord Lieutenant of Darkshire,
and Colonel of the Darkshire Yeo-
manry Cavalry, at Cartfoil House, Hay
Hill, Berkeley Square
"And was it there you became ac
q,lainted with any strange tale?''
The housekeeper nodded signifi-
cantly.
"What may it have been about,
now, love?''
"Not bit of it, replied the house
keeper II could never abide love,
and wouldn't trouble my head about
such nonsense. No, it wasn't the
least in the world about love-"
'.Murder. now," I limited.
"Worse!" said the housekeeper,
emphatically.
"Worsc!" I repeated. "What can
be worse?" I might have suggested
fire, thieves, suicide, elopement; but I
thought murder would cover a multi
tude of crimes. ''Now what was it,
my dear, good soul?''
"Ehere," resumed the housekeeper.
now thoroughly appeased, II see
you're all dying of curiosity to know
about it, and 1. won't keep you any
longer in suspense. Besides, the
story's a very short one. 1t was
hushed up at the time, and it would
have been much more than my place
was worth to breathe Il word of tito
q living soul. But the chief people
concerned in it are all dead. The
very dog was poisoned with two
ounces of poisoned paunch by the
butcher the day afterwards, as if, poor
dumb creature, he could have wagged
tail to compromise anybody" /.
"But we haven't heard who the dog
was, or the butcher either" broke in,
I am afraid, somewhat impaticntly.
''Pray begin at the beginning, my
dear madam, we're all impatience to
hear"
"Well then,' commenced the house
keeper, settling herself comfortably
in her armchair. "You shall hear all
about it. just draw your chairs
closer round me, for I'm not very long
of BREATH
We did as the old lady desired, and
she went on thus:
''In the year eighteen hundred and
nineteen, I was, as I haXe told you
housekeeper to my LORD Millamant
The story [ am telling you has to dc
with the winter of that same year. A
bitter winter it was. Frosts three
weeks long, and u deluge of mud
whenever there was IL thaw. Goals
bread and meat frightfully dear. The
poor crying out fit to make you
heart break, and the taxes as heavy q,
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