The Portland daily press., 1867-05-04


Iadv norotbv peacham was the ouly sur
yiying daughter of the late Lord BiossomVlile,
and had iorty thousand Pouhus oi her own.
She was eood-looking woman OF ABOUT eight
an1-thirty az a liberal Calculation; ana the
oniv wonder is that none of the penniless
To,aion Office clerks, or medieval majors of
her own rank in life, had carried her off long
Lefnre. However there she was ;sand when Dick
Whistler reached his hosts h.spitable roof
Lady Dorothy was very far from the least i'm
pOrtant person under it.
They uId some huatng on "Wednesday and
Thursday. Dick got a fall from a not yery
tractabie young 'un 10 which my lords groom
had treated him for first horse; and Lord
Swansdown was nearly drowned in the river
which had overlooked its banks. Lady Doro-
thy did not hunt, but Cicely Provost the baro-
nets daughter, did; and engaged the attention
oI Malol Ihrustham, of the Guards, to his m
tense disgust, who lost the best twenty MN
utes OF the season in shortening the lady $ SUIT
rup.
at really looks rs if the frost was gone" sad
his lordship, coming home on the Ihursuay
evening in "a warm fog, with southwestefiy
breeze; what do you think, SwahsdoWh:
"Devilish cold, said Lord Swansdown: any
how I'm shivering.
taeI cnld: but look at the sky. SO they all
iook ed at the sky, which gave cheerful prom
ise os a fall on the morrow. Il wish it mayn't
he Sow" said Dick, than which, however, he
desired nothing more earnestly.
Fortune favors those who live by their wits,
and in the present case she did so pre-eminent-
ly. She postponed the pleasures of at least a
dozen people i'll one house, and thousands in
other houses, to make an opportunity for "a
well-a fortune hunter, which may account
for the preference; The impossibility of MAX
ing love in a six-days -a-week country is obyi-
Gus. The morning absorbs an elaborate toilet
hurried breakfast, much comforter and pea
jacket preparation, anu drive. The after
noon, II you return soon enough, baths, Slip
pers, dressing-room fire, letters to answer,
and less elaborate but equally needul toilet.
Dinner, absorption of vands and conversation;
and who was Dick Whistler that he should ex-
pect to take in Lady Dorothy Peacham, while
Pantagenets of the Foreign office, and Tu
doris of the Household Brigade, were there be-
fore him? He envied them their opportunities
and despised their apathy.
As he lay in bed ON the Friday morning he
was cursing the thaw, and looking at his boots
with savage animosity, when the servant APP
pointed to look alter his welfare, knocked at
his door aid opened his shutters
IL should like those brown tops, if YOU
please, and mind the shaving-water bois."
Certainly, sir; but don't think therell be
any hunting to-day"
"No nunting?" inquired Mr. Whistler, sitting
bolt upright in bed, and running his fingers
through his dishevelled locks. mo hunting?
Why not?"
"Cos IT'S frnze hard all night, and don't seem
like giving. My lords man says he'll wait till
eleven, and then beat couple of outlying GOV
ers, if the gentleman would like to shoot; and
away went the mercurial valet to tell the
same tale to his next master.
True enough, it was a hard frost; and as by
eleven o'clock it had not began to give, nor for
twelve days after, the men who chose to stop
buckled ON their CATERS and thick boots, Dor
rowing my lords guns and my lords leaders,
and had very pretty battue in an outlying
hattr n,1y, lnctr
elected the abuse of the sporting writer's, who
so in for the bob-tailed pointer and the stub
bic held, to the determination of the barn door
fowl and Leadenhall Market system, and to
the Qualification of "real SPORT sir, and health
tul exercise" How little they know ofthe busin-
ess!
The frost continued, and some men went to
shoot their own covers or other peoples Dick
sent for his skates by Lord Woodcrafts desire
and SO did one or two more. The lad es were
already provided, and it was clear that Dicks
chance was better at torchlight pcnics and
luncheons ON the lake than it had been hither-
to. Still, Lady Dorothy did not thaw much
and she was lady we'll calculated to hold her
own, unless she meant to rehnqush it volun-
tarily.
Lazy Woodcraft was cheerful woman, and
having still detrimental or two from the
Household Brigade with Miss. Cicely Preovst
left behind, was bent upon doing something
to amuse her friends; so she organized a tent
on the lake, with f1ambeaux and torchlioht
I pr&ses''o on he to come Oft when The
be assured by the thickness of the ice
The tenants were to'be here, and all the inhab-
iGants OF the neighborhood who liked to come:
and there were TO be cakes and tea, and wine
and cherry brandy, and as much strong beer
as Hodge could dispose of to his satisfaction.
And IN a weeks time it did come off; it
was just the sort OF winter for thing of the
kind to come of,-what people call "old-
fashioned. L hope they remain so, or better
still. go out altogether. Their severity is, how
ever, relieved by AN exceptional loneliness, as
on the night in question, when Lady Wood
craft and Lady Dorothy Peacham, and Cicely
Provost made their way to the lake, with Lord
Woodcrott, Major Thrustham, and half doz-
en- Guardsmen and couDtry-house oilers, the
busiest Of whom was Dick Whistler; for it was
he who arranged,-what nobody else would
arrange,-the quadrille, the tent the bonfire
the procession, and tie chorus of school chill
dren and choristers; and, considering he was
a nobody, hi really got as much attention and
obedience as could be expected. Nobody
knows how hard it is for a nobody TO make
himself anybody among the somebodies He
would have had charade but that was aplunge
even beyond Dicks Impotence, and he left il
to somebody, who thought it too cold. How
ever, there were the lovely trees, extending
round two thirds of the lake to the very edge
Of the water, with their myriads of silver
frosted twigs, gistening (tor there had been no
wind in the late frost), like natures tretted
Gothic, against the clear sky. Here and
there the fr-trees bent their branches
to the ice, weighted with the undIsturbed snow
and the icicles hung pendent from the pictures
que old boat-house nearly in the form and size
OF stalactites. All was lit up by the blaze of
pine-wOOd torches; and if the furs and bright
colored ribbons and velvets Of the ladies of the
house threw warm and cheerful glow over the
lake. az they glided smoothly along on their
IL, Ia dan oht ars md
girls, with their bright red petticOats, helped
the animation of the scene, as they spread
about in groups with their compan-
ions. The sharp night air was cut by their
cheerful voices, and the business of the scene
and the warmth of the welcome had Obliterated
the recollection that there were ten degrees of
frost in the air.
"In the midst of life" no, rather let me saw.
mo man, fortunately, knows how closely al
lied our happiest moments to great calami-
ty"; few even suspect 1t. Cows must be wat
cred, even in a frost, and to the detrment of
good ice; and for this purpose, on the farther
side of the lake, and in one OF the most beauti-
full spots, overhnng by the crystalized trees, it
had been found necessary to break the ice some
little distance round. Many of the skaters had
gone home; some were preparing for start
even now; most of those from the big house"
were trudging up the steep hill which led to
Ihe garden-gate and terrace which looked down
upon the lake. Two or three of the men still
and with them Dick Whistler. Lady
Dorothy, devoted to skating, was obivious of
Lady Woodcrait, and was prolonging her en-
oyment. They were under the trees still, near
the watering-place, and ignorant ESPECIALLY by
Lorchlight) of the danger at hand. A few spec
tators were there, watching Lady Dorothy and
MIR. Whistler, who was doing his best. At once,
without a moments notice, the ice broke, and
Lady Dorothy fell in. Such an accident, at
night, even by torchlght, is calculated to arouse
ALARM The extent of the danger was unknown,