The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-03-12
SELECT STORY.
LADY MARGARETS VALENTINE.

= LADY MARGARETS VALENTINE.
/ In our village of Kempton the 7
Tas only one opinion of Lady Ma
: garet-whether contemplated in tn
il past or the present, whether though
: Of as the wife or widow of Si
Geofry Caryll, she was alway
: spoken OF as "a perfect LADY, Peo
pie were not persuaded of anythin,
} more entirely than of the perfectio.
|. of Lady Margaret. Her excellenc,
. was an article of faith among us, S,
perfectly did our little world believ,
in her.
! This gracious lady was beautiful
in face, very graceful in movements
! gentle in manner. She was af1able
without impertinent condescension
and respectful to everybody. The
Igood Kempton people were very
proud of her title "a lady in her own
right they called her; dear, faithful,
friendly souls, and l had listened to
them in my childhood with much
solemn wonder in my swelling heart
as to what those words might mean.
Lady Margaret had stood much
alone in the world before her mar
riage. She had been an orphan she
had brought no grand relations to
look down on the hereditary devotion
of the Kempton neighbors and Miss
Smithers, the grocer's heiress, had
had larger fortune; but Lsdy
Margaret stood in no need of the re-
concentrations of money or friends,
she was such "a perfect ladyr
AS to myself, l worshired Lady
Margaret with truly devoted heart,
and my mother gave her the purest
admiration and very grateful love
suppose / may say that my faith
er, James Royds, had been the first
gentleman Of his family. The Royds
family had, in long succession, from
father to son, been in the place of
land stewards to the Caryll property;
but the late Sir Geoffrer, who had
been Lady Margaret's husband, and
my father, had been 'only sons and
as the boys grew into close friends,
it was agreed that they should not
be parted. They went to Oxford
together, where my father greatly
come a barrister, and he had married |
early then, in the same year, he and
Sir Geoffrey died-Sir Godfrey of
fall from his horse, my father in
consequence of fever caught in !
London. ] was ten years old at that
time, and Lady Margaret had been
only two years married.
The house in which we lived had
been prepared for my mothers re
ception when bride, by Sir Geoffrey.
1t stood within the park wall, which
was covered with ivy from the
ground to the coping; and it was
backed by great cedars, whose huge
cone-coveIe ed branches gave utsweet
odors as they lay struggling in great
feathery lengths across the turf
The Court Was about half mile of,
and we could get to it by pathway
straight scross the park, passing by
the spring called the 'Deer Pool,
which lay on the sunny side of a
dense thicket of evergreens; this
path was only used by the servants
of the Court, ourselves, and two
maid servants, and the privileged
feet of the village postman. MY
mother and / we're also allowed to
use the private drive,' and there
my little pony carriage wheels were
often heard merrily running over the
well-rolled, perfectly kept gravelled
road.
On the deaths which / have record
ed, the Kempton people added to
their every thoughts many specula
tions as to how my mother and Lady
Margaret would be left and on both
matters they were soon sufficiently
informed. My mother was left In
affluence and Lady Margaret had the
entire Caryll property bequeathed to
her; but if a certain Capt. CRANKY,
of whom no one had ever heard be-
fore, but who now turned out to be
some distant cousin of Sir Godfrey,
survived her, he was to be the future
owner of Kempton Court.
Nobody cared for Capt. CRANKY.
Nobody knew where he was. In In
dia, said somebody; so they took
that matter for granted. For all
practical purposes, Lady Margaret
was mistress Of the situation, and
more magnificent sympathy was Of
fered to her in consequence.
In the old times there had been
public days at Kempton Court, such
as the old Kings birthday, by which
George the Third was meant, when
flag waved from the porch tower,
and the place had been thrown open
to all who had an established right
to come. The accession of Queen
Victoria had been kept; and in my
time it had always been Lady Mar
garets wedding-day.
After Sir Geoffrey's death there
was much wondering about these
public days. For six years Kempton
Court was a house closed to all but
particular friends; and during all
that time the wondering as to the
possible tste days of the future was
every day renewed. During all this
time Lady Margaret had been the
angel of our house. She had won
my mother out of her desponding
grief for my fathers early death,
and she made me love her as could
not hope by any description to make
anybody understand. / quite wor
shipped Lady Margaret. The most
perfect lady! l could echo the vii
Iiage judgment now from my own
heart, and because of my own expe-
rlence; and generally Lady. Marga-
ret was even more delighted in as a
-; L. ., xkov, che Rod haop oe q Uifa-