The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1873-12-26
HORRID MISS LEIGH.

Tom LuttrelI, aged twenty-f four, wa
a thoroughly good fellow, good-tem
pered, good-looking, and heir to a good
| property, but he had one sorrow-h,
was engaged to a girl he had neve1
! seen.
Some ten years before a dispute hat
| arisen about a certain Hillingdon es
! tate, in Leicestershire, to which Mr.
Luttrell-Tom's father-and certain
Carnworth Leigh both laid claim. Lit
igatisn seemed inevitable, and the lega,
fraternity began to prick up its ears
| when one morning Mr.. Luttrell received
the following note;
"Dear Luttrell You and I have
| been good friends all our lives, anG
there is no man living for whom I have
greater esteem than for yourself. Can.
not we, then, settle this wretched bust
ness without troubling these internal
lawyers? Ny uncle, Haughton Leigh,
had suit that lasted him twenty years
and killed him in the end. Now, listen
to me; my daughter Nellie will have
all I've got at my death, except Bar
field, which goes to Jacks boy. Why
shouldn't she marry your boy Tom
Let the property alone for the next
ten years then Nellie will be eighteen
and Tom four-and-twenty-i they like
to marry then, well and good if either
should decline to carry out the arrange
ment, let the property go to the other.
"This is rough idea of my plan,
which Jackson, your lawyer, could soon
put into shape. What do you say
Yours ETC., Carnworth Leigh, Barfeld. -
To this proposition Mr.. Luttrell
agred, and Tom found himself an en-
gagged man at fourteen. Soon after
this Mr.. Leigh was obliged to leave
England for his health and for many
years he resided on the continent. So
it happened that Tom and his future
bride had never met.
About month before the time fixed
for the decision Tom betook himself to
small inn in the villageo of Settlebourn,
near Stockford. nominallv to fish, but
in reality to escape from his father S
arguments and to get a little time to
himself for quiet reflection, while he
solaced his wretched soul with tobacco.
One day as he LAY smoking by the sill
yer Beck something fell from the bank
above him and dropped lightly on the
water, while a girls voice exclaimed
"Oh, my gracious, my hat !"
Tom looked and saw very neat little
hat floating, boat-Iike, down the stream.
"Bother the young woman, hegrum-
bled; "I suppose, now, she'll expect me
to fetch it %
As he rose he looked up t. the spot
from which the voice had proceeded,
and saw girl who's beauty surprised
him. She stood barebeaded on the
bank, gazing with a look of comic dis
may after the fast receding hat, and
Tom had an opportunity of examining her
critically, from the little head, with its
crisp, brown hair, disordered by the
wind, to the slim ankles which her posi-
ton revealed as she stood above him.
Running some yards down the bank,
he stepped out upon an old willow,
which protruded over the stream, and
waited in the hope that the current
would bring the hat within his reach.
He was not disappointed, and in few
minutes more he was again on terra
frne0 with his prize.
81 must make friends with this young
person." he thought, as he carefully
dried the dripping feather with his
handkerchief.
The fair stranger had watched his
efforts from her elevated post, and
smiled sweetly on him as he climbed
the bank with his recovered treasure.
She had evidently been sketching, for
her materials were scattered in pictur-
esque confusion around her.
"I hope it's not much damaged" !"
said Tom, as he looked rather ruefully
at the result of his manipulations.
d" I'm afraid the feathers in bad way"
"Oh, it doesn't matter in the least,
thanks. How kind of you to take SO
much trouble. But for you I must
have walked home bareheaded."
81 wouldn't put it on just yet" Tom
said. "Let it lie in the sun little and
dry, while you go on with your work" y"
"But suppose it starts off again
when there's no one to recover it for
me?" she suggested.
"Let me guard it, then, and you can
work in peace. You are sketching,
see may I look?"
"Oh, yes; but it's miserable failure,
I'm afraid,' she said, laughing, as she
handed it to him for inspection.
Tom examined it, and, being a bit of
IN amateur himself, proceeded to criti-
Else, and, finally, to instruct. He found
his girl very charming she seemed SO
free from all conventionali-
y, without at all resembling his 6ete
3otr, the 60 fast girl"
They grew quite confidential as the
esson proceeded, and were amazed
when, on consulting their watches,
hey discovered that it was half-past six.
"I must fly" she said, cor I shall be |
ate for dinner, and Sir John can't |
stand that"
"Have you far to go?" asked Tom,
,raftily.
"About a mile. I'm staying at New
ands. Good-by. No, I can carry |
hem, thanks; I couldn't think Of |
you any more. Good-by,"
md she was off.
Tom went to his room, thinking a |
treat deal about his new friend, wonder
ng where the charms lay which, even
more than her beauty, had fascinated
lin. Perhaps it's her DRESS" he |
hought; "she dresses better than any
woman I ever saw; and then her boots!'
Here he lit cigar and fell into a dream
bout the said boots and about the little
White hand which had worked so indus
riously and confdingly under the di-
ection of his big brown paw. All the
lext day he wandered by the river, but
he came not. That evening he was
estless and ill-tempered with his host
IS and every one who approached him.
The day after he was more fortunate.
The was sitting in the old spot, and
reeted him smiEngly.
you're just in time" she said.
Look at my tree isn't it like those
right green cauli flowers you see in
he pickle bottles?"
Tom sat down and set to work on the
efractory tree, while she watched him.
81 say" said she at last, "isn't this
improper
Which ?" asked Tom, working away
igorously. !