Litchfield enquirer., 1872-01-18

khe lady and her son departed, and l ssEnea ngain to the almost forgotten lease"
 Three weeks had nearly glided by, and still no tidings of Mir. Ferret. Mrs. Grainger, and her sister Emily Dalston, a very charming person, had called repeated ly; but as I of course had nothing to com they weresstill condemned to languish under the heart-sickness caused by hope deferred At last our emmissary made his wished for appearance.
 "Weil, Mr. Ferret, said I, on entering my library, where found him composed ly awaiting my arrival, ''what success?"
 ssWhy, nothing of much consequence as yet, replied he; 's1 am, you know, only, as it were, just commencing the investiga- hcn. The Leeds parson that married them IS dead, and the old clerk is paraly- tic, and has lost his memory If, howey- CT, they were both alive. and in sound health of mind and body, they could, I fancy, help us Lu5 little, as Bilston tells me, neither the Dalstons nor Grainger had ever entered the church till the morning of the wedding; and they soon afterwards to Cumberland, so that it is scarcely possible either parson or clerk could prove that Violet Dalston was mar ried to Sir Harry Compton. A very in telligent fellow IS Bilston: he was present at the marriage, you remember; and glo- nous witness, If he had only something of to depose to; powdered hair and pig-tail, double chin, and six feet girth at least; highly respectable-ca capital witness, very-only, unfortunately, he can only testify that person calling him. self Grainger married Violet Dalston; not much in thatp'
 ''So, then, your three weeks labor has been entirely thrown awayp' ..r
 Mot so fast-nOt so fast-you jump too hastily at conclusions. The Cumberland fellow that sold Grainger the house-only the equity of redemption of it, by the way-there's large mortgage on it-can prove nothing. Nobody about there can, except the surgeon; he can prove Mrs. Grainger's 0ccouchenaent- that's some thing. I have been killing myself every evening this last week with grog and to- baco smoke at the Compton Arms" i'll the company of the castle servants, and If the calves heads had known anything es- sential, fancy I should have Wormed it out of them. They have, however, kind ly furnished me with scrawl of introduc- IL, some of whom I shall have the honor to meet, ill the character of an out-and-out liberal sporting gentleman, at the '''Albe- marie Arms" this evening. I want to get hold of his confidential valet, if he had one-those go-a-hoed fellows generally haye-a Swiss, or some other foreign an imal
 ''Is this all?"
 Nhx- sharp twinkle of his sharp gray eye, amounting almost to wink; ''There is one circumstance which I cannot help thinking, though I scarcely know why, will put us, by the help of patience and perseverance, on the right track In cor her of the registry of marriage there is written z. z. in bold letters. In no other part of the book does this occur What may that mean?"
 ''Had the incumbent of the living cu- rate at the time?''
 ''No. On that part am unfortunately too well satisfied. Neither are there any names with such initials ill any of the Leeds churchyards. Still this z. z. may be of importance, If we could but discover who he is But how?-that is the ques- tion. Advertise? Show our hands to the ~. Zl. ly an entity, and likely to be of service, half way to America. No, no; that would never do."
 MT. Ferret I saw was getting into a brown study; and as I had pressing busi- ness to despatch, I got rid of him as speedily as l could, quite satisfied, spite of z. Z:, that Mrs. Grainger's chance of becoming Lady Compton was about equal to mine of ascending the British throne some fine day.
 Two days afterwards I received the fol lowing note:-
 'DEAR SIR-Z. z. is the mani I'm off to Shropshire. Back, if possible, the day after tomorrow Not a word even to the ladies. Huzza! In haste,
 SAMUEL FERRET"
 What could this mean? Spite of Mir. Ferret's injunction, l could not help in forming the sisters, who called soon after I received the note, that a discovery, es- teemed of importance by our emissary, had been made; and they returned home with frightened hearts, after agreeing to repeat their visit on the day MT. Ferret had named for his return.
 On reaching my chambers about four o'clock in the afternoon of that day, 1 found the ladies there, and in a state of great excitement. MT. Ferret, my clerk had informed them, had called twice, and seemed in the highest spirits. We had wasted but few minutes in coniectures when MT. Ferret, having ascended the stairs two or three at time, burst, sans ceren0saie, into the apartment
 ''Good-day, sir. Lady Compton, your most Obedient servant; madam, yours! All right! Only just in time to get the writ sealed; served it myself quarter of an hour ago, just as his lordship was getting into his carriage. Not day to lose; just in time. Capital Gloriousr'
 s'What do you mean, MT. Ferret?'' too claimed Emily Dalston: her sister was ex- agitated to speak.
 "What do mean? Let us all four step, sir, into your inner sanctum, and I'll soon tell you what mean"
 We adjourned, accordingly, to an inne, and more private room. Our conference lasted about half an hour, at the end ot which the ladies took their leave: Lady Compton, her beautiful features alternate ly irradiated and clouded by smiles and tears, murmuring in a broken, agitated voice, as she shook hands with me, ''You see, sir, he intended at last to do us jus tice."
 The notice that an action had been brought OF. behalf of an infant son of the late Sir Harry Compton against the Earl of Emsdale, for the recovery of the estates in the possession of that nobleman, pro- duced the greatest excitement in the part of the county where the property was sit uated. The assize town was crowded, on the day the trial was expected to come on, by the tenantry of the late baronei and their families, with whom the present landlord was by no means popular. As passed up the principal street, towards the court house, accompanied by my junior, ] was received with loud hurraings and waving of handkerchiefs, something af ter the manner, suppose, in which chiv. alfous steel-clad knights, about to do bat tie in behalf of distressed damsels, were formerly received by the miscellaneous spectators of the list. Numerous favors eockades, streamers, of the Compton col ors, used in election contests, purple an6 orange, were also slyfy exhibited, to bt