Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-01-01


on the wall, they were scrapod of; If a stone
moldered away, it was replaced by one sim
liar in shape, and taken from the quarry
whence the old builders had hewn out Its
predecessor. Nothing better pleased the
possessor of Becchwood Castle than to hear
n stranger say 1t looked as if It had been
built yesterday.
SO it was that If on this bright juno day
any one had travelled By tho straight avenue
of great trees, and had caught glimpses of
the castle, with its towers and turrets glitter
ing in the sunlight through the vistas OF this
sweet woodland scenery, the moat. surround
ed outer wall, the portcullis chains in their
places, and tho draw-brdgo let down, he
might almost forget the four or Ave hundred
years that had passed, and dream for n mo-
mont If it so pleased him, that he was IN
real truth knight or n burgher of the old
times, coming to seek hospitality at mcdi-
pval castle.
Such traveller, possessed with such q
fancy, II he had happened to DO coming to
Bcechwood Castle on this particular June
afternoon of my story, might indeed have
thought himself dreaming with his eyes
open.
Under tho walls of the castle, standing
about in groups on the broad expanse of
turf which stretched from the moat to where
the LEAKAGE of the woods rose up like huge
wall against the sky, was an assomblago Of
ladies and gentlemen, dressed not as we OK
pect in these days 10 see our countrymen at
tired, but in the strange costume of u long
past age. There were ladies with tall cree
tons of stifienod silk upon their heads, in
shape such rs are still worn by the peasant
women of France and Germany, and wear
ing bright-coored dresses with long trains
that trailed behind them upon the close
shaved lawn. The younger men were dress
ed more brightly even than the ladies' in
tight-fliing hose of red or yellow, and jerk
ns of rich silk with sleeves of different
color, quilted, padded. and trimmed with
various -hued silk and velvet, their heads
bare, or covered by the small, velvet, plum.
ed caps that were worn in the early part of
| the fifteenth century. There were but few
elderly men, and these wore garb that
better comporled with their years loose.
! fur-trimmed gowns with hoods,
| 1t was masquerade ut Beochwood-C Castle,
and rs the fashion of to. day sets strongly to-
ward fancy-drcss balls, and as strongly, in
the country, toward day entertainments, it
had been Lady Sandon's whim and pleasure
to combine these two things into one. There
was to be dancing, but it was to be in the
dusk Of evening, on polished floor temper
| arily laid in n sylvan glade. There were to
be fancy dresses, but they must be of one
period-of the age when chivalry was flour
ishing and when troubadours still sang the
prowess of knights and the beauty of high
born ladies. This had been Lady Sandon's
edict, and it had been cheerfully obeyed by
neighborhood who took all their fashions
and many of their ideas from the lady of
Beechwood Castle.
During the whole previous spring, little
else had been talked about, and the antigua !
rim knowledge of Sir Philip Sandon had
never been so highly priced in the county. |
The choosing of their dresses was lesson
in history to II great many ladies and gentle |
men who had seldom troubled themselves |
to read n page of it, and most learned talk |
prevailed us to eScofiOtS and 6dlandrans, Uait |
and niRtrer, among people who had looked |
out those words in the dictionary an hour
before.
The day came, the people assembled, and |
the masquerade was success. There was
something for the stupidest guests to talk |
about, good deal to admire, and, most de-
lghtful of all, very great deal to laugh at.
1t is not every lady who can manage train;
it is not every gentleman who feels comfort
Oh To- H. =, al. T. |
seldom worn but by harlequins and circus
riders.
English people as Il rule have too much
dignity and perhaps too much shyness to
shine as masqueradors, but here there was
one cause of diilidence removed. Every one
was dressed alike, or more or less alike;
and no one, therefore, had to brave out u
more eccentric or n more ridiculous dress
than his fellows.
There were, of course, among the crowd
of guests somo people whose dress seemed
to suit them better than others. Some fig.
ures, both of men and women, seemed adj
mirably suited to the tight-ittng costume,
who looked ms if they had stepped from tho
canvas of some of the great early painters.
Two such persons were especially noted
Miss Sandon, the heiress of Beechwood Cas-
tie, and her aflianced husband, Lord We're
ker. Every one had known that he was
good-looking young man, fair complexioned,
fair-haired, amiabe, and popular, and Miss
Sandon had been recognized ms beauty
even in London, when she had come out
two years before; but to-day there was no
end to the admiration which these two
young persons excited. People who were
almost strangers to them stared mt them ,
with II half-imbecile smile of admiration ,
Nothing so exquisi,ely graceful, nothing so I
positively beautiful had ever been seen in !
shire rs this pair of lovers. i
The whole country had been full of medi- +,
rvaism for n month past, studying old books =
in country-hous6 libraries, porting over lllu- +
minated missals, and some one, n little bet
ter informed than his neghbors, said they +
were like Aucassn and Nicolettc, the fam
Dns pair of Provencal lovers of whom the h
Did ballads sing-shc with the skin so white -,
hat the daisies looked dark rs her naked
eet pressed them he, the slim, golden hair s
ed knight, with "eyes of vair'-Aucassin, Il
'E-biaG, H-blOn, and this sentence was
taught up and went from mouth to mouth, o
and almost every one talked of Aucassin, p
u bia1, Ii JLon," and pretended to consider e
he phrase extremely applicable. 81
There was cause for these raptures. He s
vas marvelously handsome, and his slight :,
igure showed to advantage in the tight n
losen of pale crimson, in his doublet of a
,reen silk slashed with silver gray, with n q,
lager in ieweled scabbard borne in n i
,road silver belt. His young, fresh face a
m which not even mustache had yet APP q
feared, was, some severe critics thought, :,