Litchfield enquirer., 1878-07-11
WHOLE NO. 2719

 had lived too long in other lands to be car | ried away by the blandishments of society. All very fine Three days afterwards, at ten o'clock-positively at ten o'clock, almost my usual bedtime-there waa 1, man of six ty, with not a chick or child to lead me to such places, preparing myself to go out to-abomi- nation of abominations evening party. Not dinner, not a ball, but great gather ing of people for no object whatever, whose only hope for the time being is, that they may have half foot of carpet to stand upon, and half glass of champagne, ere they are hurried | to the door. -s Fer this was laboriously decorating at that unearthly hour, and greatly were my feelings ] tried by the persistency with which the two ends of my neck-tie turned the wrong way. It took me fully ten minutes longer to dress than had calculated upon, and fearing to be late ordered my driver to lose no time was afraid of missing the pleasure in store l for me, for it had been agreed between me and | my hostess, that was to be in the room be- fore the arrival of Henry and Carry Brand. I For this had come. 1 had not seen them previously, as they had only come to town the day before, and l had kept my arrival se- | cret. -...-... l. B-Square was reached duly. The rooms were ready, brilliantly lit and decorated when entered, but they were empty. For some time I was left to their cOntem- | platiOn, or to that of my own figure reflected | in innumerable mirrors; but at length the mis- tress of the mansion hurried in armed with | thousand apologies. g..-
 For these. however, soon found there was not the slightest occasion. She was in perfect | time, whereas | had been at the party nearly | an hour before the party had commenced. The guests, however, had no sooner begun l to arrive than, as if by common consent they all reappeared together and the rolling of car rlages, the bawling of names, and the chatter and rustic of a myriad of tongues and dresses ceased not for moment, after the din once fairly set in. Not single face did recognise. l Wandering discontentedly about that great London ballroom, came at length upon lit- | tie group that recalled bygOne days. ... | The ladies of the circle Several Of them were | now married) were the same with whom l had | often stayed at Henry Brands cousins of him l and of each other; these were Bessie Dale, Maria Hardy, and Lily-I forget her surname, | for she had changed it.
 With her entered into conversation, but as we had no topics of interest in common, and 1 as found her, like the rest, to be engrossed | with much that was altogether unknown to me, we were soon reduced to the level of spectators. Presently she was joined by an- other young lady.
 ''You never knew any one more lucky" said Lily. "They only came up last night, and Carry is in such good looks and in such spir- it's. They have succeeded to a large property you know, and Henry. means to stand for the county"
 This was news to me, and as I could not help hearing what was said, l thought it fair l to listen.
 "Henry has given her some diamonds, " con- tinued Lily. ''They are to be worn for the first time tonight"
 "They are beautiful" said Bessie Dale, turning round at the word diamonds saw | them this afternoon. And you will be aston ished when you see her dress 1 can tell you; it is more like a Court train than anything else"
 "You have seen her, then?"
 'EWent there at i've and we had tea in her dressing room. That girl Sophia was there too, whom they have adopted She will prove a thorn in their sides, or am mistaken! She
 wanted to go about this season, fancy! A great schoolgirl. Car won't take her, and quite right, too; but you have no idea what spiteful, disagreeable things she kept saying the whole time 1 was there"
 "What about ?'
 "Anything and everything. Carry's things which were being spread out by the maid, for instance. The one for tonight is magnificent.
 Miss Sophia turned down her lips, and observ- ed that it was certainly more fit for foreign I princess or an Eastern sutana than for plain
 Mrs. Henry Brand but of course her opinion
 was of no value, as she was never taken any
 where and could not judge.
 "Impertinent creature! What did Carry
 sayT :. .. .. .,,o .,,,,,,,, so.. ro,s ,o.
 her time would come, or something of that
 sort. An, there she is!'
 | bent forward at the words. But Carry
 Brand, coming up the staircase eve were on
 the landing), was arrayed in-Or did my wits
 really forsake, wilfully mislead me? ?-1ny DaOth-
 e7's goacn the once hooted at despised gar
 ment, of other days Could it-could it.
 could it be?
 The likeness between the two women was
 startling as 1 gazed upon her, and was proba-
 ply the reason of my instant recognition of its
 cause.
 The hair which had formerly hung in curls
 over her shoulders was now drawn back and
 piled above her head, and diamonds crowned
 the glossy 6GHdeG,tG. She was my mothers
 picture. .-....t --- .......
 Yes, Carry Brand, followed by the admiring looks of all who witnessed her arrival, wore
 the ridiculed robe in which she had few
 years before scarcely venture to present her
 self, and I fancied that 1 could even detect
 that she wore it proudly
 'Isn't it lovelyl" cried every lady wholooked. ''Well, "said Bessie, drawing long breath, and giving her shoulders comical little shrug ''hoW the men do stare! One positively does not like to be eclipsed in that way. l shall 9 give way to despair"
 l "What about, Miss Dale ?' A black mous- tache had strolled towards us, and caught the
 last words. Because Pm jealous, Sir John. Pm jeal-
 ous of that beautiful lady and her beautiful
 gown. Women always are jealous of each
 other, are they not ?"
 'Pon my word, don't know" said he.
 ''Who is she"
 My cousin, Mrs. Brand"
 "Ah" he said. 'GOod-looking. Where
 are you going after this ?"
 He had no more to say, N't
 Inow made vigorous effort to sally from
 my corner, and was slowly edging in by side
 doorway, when slight tap on my arm plelud- } ed "Ah! thought so; remember me, Mir
 Oldham P
 It was Captain Thorne.
 sHappy to see you are not a mummy yet, '" said he. s'How de do? Town very full?' It was kind of him to stop me, and though , we had never been intimate, he seemed all at
 once to become friend With warmth l , grasped the two fingers he extended towards } me, and looked into his kindly stupid face with : enthusiasm. !4 He observed that Egypt was .all the go, !" r and wanted to know what specimens had brought home An didn't shoot? But at least had brought with me an Arab costume for private theatricals! No? really? With this his interest in the subject came to
 an end For observed that although he ejac- rlated "Ah!" and "Indeed!" or '' You don't
 say SOP" at proper intervals, his eyes and ears were rowing all the time.
 Seeing this I stopped. This appeared to , give the captain satisfaction; and as began to show the preliminary symptoms of moving } on, he inquired where 1 was steering for. s'That room," said ''Mr. and Mrs. Brand
 are there, and have not seen them yet" Are they I'll take you in tow. Amazing fine woman, Mrs. Brand. There she is, one can always see her above the rest. Just stand l still where you are, and we can't fail to en-
 counter" rteL
 We did so, and in the interval it occurred to me to test the Captain on the subject Of the old gown Awkwardly enough, referred to its farmer annearapce and inQuired, .hYpocrit-