Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-01-08
THAT HORRID MISS LEIGH

Some ten years before dispute had
arisen about certain Hillingdon estate
in Leicestershire, i'll which Mr.. Luttrel
TOMS father-and. q certain earn.
worth Leigh, both laid claim. Litiga
ton seemed inevitable. and the legal
fraternity began 10 prick up its ears
when one morning Mr.. Luttrell receiv-
ed the following note:
"DEAR LUTTREL: You aud | have
been good friends all our lives, and
there is no man living for whom l have
greater esteem than for yourself. Can
not we, then settle this wretched bust
ness without troubling these internal
lawyers? My 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 Barfield,
which goes to Jacks boy. Why should
she not marry your boy Tom? Let the
property alone for the next ten years
then Nellie will be eighteen and Tom
four and twenty-if they like to marry
then, we'll and good; if either should
decline to carry out the arrangement,
let the property go TO the other.
"This is rough idea OF my plan,
which Jackson and your lawyer could
soon put iuto shape. What do you say ?
Yours, etc, Carnworth Leigh, Bar
field
To this proposition Mr.. Luttrel.
agreed, and Tom found himself an en-
gagged man at fourteen. Soon after this,
Mr.. Leigh was obliged TO leave Eng
land for his health, and for mary years
bn l.I tho
So il happened that Tom and his future
bride had never met.
About a 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, but in reality to escape from his
fathers arguments, and TO get little
time 10 himself 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 girls
voice exclaimed:
"Oh, my gracious, my hat!'
Tom looked and saw very neat lit
tie hat doaling, boat-like, down the
stream.
"Bother the young woman," he grum-
bled suppose now she'll expect me to
fetch it."
AS he rose he looked up to the spot
from which the voice bad proceeded,
and saw girl whose beauty surprised
him. She stood bareheaded on the
bank, gazing with look of comic dis
foe racaHinn hat and
Tom had all opportunity of examining
her critically, from 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
protruded over the stream, and waited
in the hope that the current would
bring the hat within his reach. lie
was not disappointed, and in few min
utes more he was on terra tirma 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 ef-
forts from her elevated post, and smil-
ed sweetty 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.
II 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 bareheaded."
81 wouldn't put it on just yet, said |
Tom. "Let it lie in the sun u little and
dry, while you go on with your work" "
But suppose it starts oil again, and |
there's no oGe 10 recover it for me?'
she suggested.
Let me guard it, then. and you can
work in peace. You are sketching, L
see, may | look? 2"
sOh, yes; but its a miserable failure,
I'm afraid" she said, laughing, as she
handed it to him. Tom examined it,
and, being a Bit of an amateur himself,
proceeded to criticise and, finally, to in
struct. He found his girl very charm
ing: she seemed so delightfully."- free
from all conveDtionality, without at
all resembling his 6ete noir, the "last
girl"
They grew quite confidential as the
lesson proceeded, and were amazed |
when, on consulting their watches, that
it was 6 80 O'Clock.
81 must fy," she said, "or 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. Goodbye. No, l can carry |
them, thanks; l couldn't think of
troubling you any more. Goodbye"
and she went off
Tom went to his room thinking a |
great deal about his new friend, won-
dering WHARF the charms lay which,
even more than the beauty, had fas-
cinated him. "Perhaps it's her dress,
he thought; "she dresses better than |
any woman ever saw; and then her |
bootsp Her he lit cigar, and fell into |
a dream about the said boots, and about
the little white hand that had worked |
so industriously and confiding!y under
the direction of his big, bro wn paw.
All the next day he wandered by the |
river, but she came not. That evening |
he was restless and ill-tempered with |
his hostess and every one who ap- |
preached him.
The day after was more fortunate. |
She was sitting in the old spot, and |
greeted him smilinely.
you're just in time," she said.
"Look at my tree; isn't it like those
bright green cauliflowers you see in
the pickle bottles?
Tom sat down and set TO work on the
refractory tree, while she watched
him.
81 say" she said at last, 'isn't this
dreadfully improper"
IL % l. al NAnn or L inrr q q "