Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-10-13
THE RECOVERED ESTATE.
HE Freaks of Fortune-The Urea
sures of love.

GFTon Loa,IO7 lSociefy.I
IescOmbe Hall. the property of Lescombe
CeedingIy pleasant and attractive. 1t was
situated on a promOntOry, in one OF our
sou hwestern counties, which stretched
somewhat broadly into the sea, terminating
in point. on which were situated the pie
turesque ruins OF an ancien, chapel, wAIch.
In the days OF faith, pious fishermen had
erected 10 their patron saint.
But the owner Of the Hall was the lord Of
the manor; anu whether by courtesy or
right. he had the shooting over the whole of
the orig nal estate. But the present story is
not concerned, as so many pleasant stories
are, with ancestral acres and the ancestral
hall. u Is rather concerned with Egyptian
bonds and TuI kish securities. The father Of
our present Mr.. LescOmbe was a man who
had dore great deal OF prosperous business
in the money marts. Just a. he had ma lie a
competent fortune he tOund that the hall,
manor, village and advOwso1 of Bescombs,
with divers rights Of fishing and shooting,
were I'm the market. 1t was a curious coin
c1derce that the name or TINS property
should be the same as his own name. IL
took the old mans fancy hugely tina: he
should be LescOmbe OF l. ,scOmbe. The for
mer people who had il were of another
name, probably derived from another prop
erty But 10 any man of the name of Les
cOmbe who should buy LescOmbe there
would be an ancestral hail not TO ment "a
ancestors, all ready provided. So when tue
great estate was parceled out and broken up
the Hall and the Home Farm and some OUT
lying lands were sold 10 Mr.. LescOmbe, who
was formerly of the Stock Exchange, hut
who now became LescOmbe of Lescomte.
lie had a son born 10 him in this country
abode, and. still further 10 strengthen The
idea OF leTiiIOrialIty, he had him chris 'eued
by the name OF LescOmbe alone. You could
hardly have anything sitter aud stronger 10
the territorial line than Lescombe LescOmo Do
Of LescOmbe.
But what troubled him most of all was that
the territorial idea did not seem at all likely
10 be carried out in IFS integrity. He had
only one living son, few daughters who did
not count for anything, and this son marry
IL seemed
there fore, that the first LsscOmbe OF Les
combe would be the last. IL was hard lines,
and the old man took IL to heart. He would
probably have lived much longer II he had
not settled at Lescombe, but had continued
his Stock LXchange business with country
box at Wimbledon.
II takes three generations TO make a gen.
tleman arguing ON the unfsvOra0le hypOthe
sis that the original Lescombe of Lescomba
hardly came under that denomination. But
in the third generation the Lescombe line
burst into radiant flower. Gertrude Les
among ladies. An only child, motherless,
living in remote part of the country, her
fathers companion and help in everything,
she had an unusual strength and decision of
character. Her father, born and bred in the
country, had taken heartily 20 the pursuits
which his own father had not cared for. The
neighbOring squires called On him and liked
him. The Lord Lieutenant of the country
invited him 10 dinner, and asked him to be
magistrate. the Bishop of the diocese, hold
ing confii nation ct Lescombe cnurcn,
stayed at LescOmbe Hall, aud hoped that il
Mr.. Lescombe came to town he would look
him up at the Atheu9un Club. People COM
monty said that Gertrude LescomOe would
be an heiress and capital wife. y capital
wife she would certainly be TO any man
happy enough 10 get her, but as things Were
going on IL was by 10 means so clear that
she would really be an heiress.
LescOmbe Hall was Kept up, not by the
Lescombe lands, which we have seen were
limited, but by very large sum IL teaty
money which the STOCK broker had bequeari =
ed TO his son. a hundred Thousand poEut4
is a very warm sam; but il takes great d5 .
OF caution and t-oubls TO place L "a safe IA
vestments. Ii had always bee = deeply ira
mind that he should never plt all his eggs
into one basket This may be very true a.
general adage. Bur egg afer egg may te
broken, or basket after basket may d lot
This was unfortunately the case II The ore
sent instance. He thought he had distributed
his coin in so many good securities thai b.
Dame Fortune begins 10 depress her wheel,
nothing can stop that unfavOrable process
Egg after egg went smash. He went into q
coal mine; the price Of coal fell He took
shares in baBs; The bank broke, and the
shares were put into heavy contributions H.
went into railway: and no dividend was
loss. The Turkish bonds confscated half his
remaining income: A hundred thousand
pounds is great deal, but IL will soon look
foolish under such an accumulation Of disas-
tiers. As matter OF fact, 1t evaporated en-
TREY. III is unnecessary To go through the
different stages of a sad experience which
has become only too common a one in recent
history II became necessary that the estate
Itself should be sold 20 satisfy outstanding
demands, and TO provide a modest subsfs:-
eDce for a retreat at Chel enhan or Bath.
Two young men were sitting In the smok-
Ing room of Loadon club. They had dined
together, had slipped coffee and curacao, had
had game of billiards, and now, according
TO the fashion OF these days, were going ia
arated waters and spirits. They were smok-
Ing meditative cigars, and were adopting
that earnest business talk which men take
up when their faculties are freshened up
few hours after dinner. They were evidently
the kind of men who would sit up 10 any
hour OF the night, and get up at any hour o.
81 wish everybody had your luck" SAID
the jcpior. "a legacy OF ever so much money
with no other condition than that YOU shOult
lay II ont in land A cool hundred thou
IL was not very clear how even such a sum
could be regarded as a matter OF temper
allure. Major Eveieigh simply re echoed the
"a cool hundred thousand
And how are you getting On about invest
Parker he's my man OF businessman l
am doing what We can. inserting advertise
mems ana lo0 or S Out Tor Whst advertise.
having splash In the Tines, the Fed aud
So on"
And what hs We you heard OFF,"
40, several things. There's very COOL
place not so far from Sandringham, loLs OF
game and fishing. Then there's another IN
Cheshire with lot OF very good houses
about Then there is a glorious place in
North Wales, with a couple of hymns and a
salmon river all To yourself, a good as being
1nNorway. Then there's another place which
Il have heard OF which would probably suit
me best OF all, only I'm afraid that there is
hardly enough land, Lescombe, down In the
west countries"
A." Never heard of it,.
It's an uncOmmonly pretty place, though
The world knows nothing OF Its prettiness.
know 1t very well, although have never
been there think must run down and see
H. The fact Is that 10 once belonged TO my
ancestors, mother M pd n,
tell me how she spent her Chi ldish days there
II was ali sold OF, as the proceeds had TO be
divided amonga lot of US. The present owner
has the same name as the estate, but he
wants toseil II, and Will take fair price.
must get Parker to see II there is any more
land 10 be had in the neighoorhoDd. have
written 10 Mr.. Iescombe 10 say that | shall
probably run down and look at the place,
more especially as had an old assoc alton
with II.
Just at this moment a page entered the
smoking room and handed MsiOr Eyeleigh a