Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1873-11-27
THAT HORRID MISS LEIGH.

thoroughly gOou iclloW, sOou-ttInpereu,
GOOD. looking, and heir to good property
but he had one sorrow, he was engaged
% girl he had never seen.
Some ten years before dispute had
arisen about certain Hillingdon estate,
in Leicestershire, in which Mr.. Luttrell-
Toms father-and certain Carnworth
Leigh. both laid claim. Litigation seemed
inevitable, and the legal fraternity began
. prick up its ears, when one morning
Mr.. Luttrell received the following note:
.pEAR LUTrRELL: You and have been good
friends all our lives, and there is man living for
Cannot we, then, settle this wretched business
~iIhout troubling these internal lawyers? My I'M
sle Haughton Leigh, had a suit that lasted him
twenty years, and killed MN ID the END. NOW rs
rot at my death. except Barfeld, which goes to
Jacks boy. Why shouldn't she marry your boy
Toms Let the properly alone for the :, next ten
and twenty-if they like to marry then. well and
rood il either should decline to carry out the ar
fangement, let the property go to the other.
.This is a rough idea of my plan, which Jack
son and your lawyer could soon put into shape.
What do you sayy Yours, ETC., Carnworth Leigh,
Barfeld."
To this proposition Mr.. Luttrell agreed,
and Tom found himself an engaged man
At fourteen Soon after this, Mr.. Leigh
was obliged TO leave England for his
health, and for many years he resided en-
tirely on the continent. So it happened
that Tom and his future bride had never
met
About month before the time fixed
for his departure, Tom betook himself to
. small inn in the village of Settle
bourne, near Stockford, nominally to fish,
bur in really to escape from his fathers
arguments, and to get little time to him.
self for quiet reflection, while he solaced
his wretched soul with tobacco.
One day as he lay lazily smoking by the
silver Beck something fell from a high
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, boatlike, down the stream.
"Bother the young woman" he grum-
bled; II suppose now she'll expect me to
fetch it,"
As he rose he looked up to the spot
from which the voice had proceeded, and
saw girl whose beauty surprised him
She stood bareheaded on the bank, gazing
with a look of comic dismay after the
fast receding hat. and Tom had an oppor-
tunity of examining her critically, Fl ON
the little head with its crisp brown hair,
disordered by the wind, to the slim ankles
which her position revealed as she stood
above him.
Running some yards down the bank he
stepped out on an old willow, which pro-
truded over the stream, and waited in the
hope that the current would bring the hat
within his reach. He was not disappoint
ed, and in few minutes more he was
again on terra firma with his prize.
81 must make friends with this young
person." he thought, as he carefully dried
the dripping feather with his handker-
chief
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 picturesque confusion
around her.
u hope it's not much damaged" said
Tom, as he looked rather ruefully at the
result of his manipulations "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, must have
walked home bare headed"
81 wouldn't put it on just yet" said
Tom. "Let it lie in the sun little and
dry, while you go on with your work I"
But suppose it starts off again, and
there's no one to recover it for me? 2" she
suggested
LET me guard it, then, and you can
work in peace. You are sketching, see,
may looks"
"Oh, yes; but it's a miserable failure,
Pm afraid" she said, laughing, as she
handed it to him. Tom examined it, and,
being bit of AN amateur himself, pro-
ceeded to criticise and, finally, to instruct.
He found his girl very charming; she
seemed so delightfully."- free from all con-
ventionality, without at all resembling
his bette noir, the fast girl'
They grew quite confidential as the
lesson proceeded, and were amazed when,
on consulting their watches, that it was
$50 o'clock.
II must fly" she said, cor / shall be
late for dinner, and Sir John can't stand
that"
Have you far to go?" asked Tom,
craftily.
about mile. I'm staying at New
lands. Good bye. No, can carry them,
thanks; | couldn't think Of troubling you
any more. Good bye" and she went off.
Tom went to his room thinking a great
deal about his new friend, wondering
where the charms lay which, even more
than her beauty, had fascinated him.
Perhaps it's her dress" he thought;
"she dresses better than any woman lever
saw; and then her bootsp' Here he lit a
cigar, and fell into dream about the said
boots, and about the little white hand that
had worked SO industriously and confid-
ingiy under the direction Of his big, brown
paw. All the next day he wandered by
the river, but she came not. That evening
ne was restless and ill-tempered with his
hostess and every one who approached
him.
The day after was more fortunate. She
was sitting in the old spot, and greeted
him smilingly.
!" You're just in time" she said. "Look
al my tree; isn't it like those bright green
tlessn
Tom sat down and set to work on the
refractory tree, while she watched him.
Il say" she said at last, isn't this
dreadfully improper"
"Whichf" asked Tom, working away