The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1878-04-03
THE
RECOVERED ESTATE.

Lescombe Hall, the property of Lescombe
Besoombe, ESD, was a property OF its hnd
exceedingly pleasant and attractive. II was
situated on n promontory, in one of our south
western counties, which stretched somewhat
broadly into the sea, terminating in 4 point,
ON which were situated the picturesque ruins
of an ancient chapel. which, in the days Of
faith, pious fishermen had erected to their
patron saint. The house itself was sheltered
from the sea-breeze by low-lying hills; il vas
well-nigh covered with ivy; an ancient colony
Of rocks had built for generations in the tall
trees a pretty cottage, instead OF the modern
kind of ediice, served ns a lodge to the park
like grounds; and all the land within the pro-
montory, strictly 80 called, formed the Home
Farm. Other and there was outlying the
Home Farm, where laborers' cottages, the
best In the whole county, lay, nestled each In
its own holding-a veritable model village,
although it did not arrogate TO itself hat title,
az the manner of some phnris4ical villages is.
Beyond this the Lescombe estate did not go,
although a few generations back they extend
cd over a dozen thousand acres, which were
now broken up into farms aud holdings and
lesser estates. But the owner OF the Hall
was the lord of the manor; and whether by
courtesy or right, he had the shooting over
the whole of the original estate. But the
present story is not concerned, ne so many
pleasant stories nre, with ancestral acres and
the ancestral hall. It is rather concerned with
Egyptian bonds and Turkish securities. The
father of our present Mr.. Lescombe was q
man who had done a great deal OF prosper
Gus business in the money. marts. Just as he
had made q competent fortune he found that
the hall, manor, village, and ndvowson of
Lesoombe, with divers rights of fishing and
shooting, were in the market. 1t was a
curious coincidence that the name OF this pro-
perry should be the same RS his own name.
1t took the old mans fancy hugely that he
should be Lescombe of Lescombe. The for
mer peoplewho had it were of another name,
probablyderived from another property. But
10 any man of the name of Lescombe who
should buy Lescombe there would he an an
cestral hall, not to mention ancestors, all
ready provided. SO when the great estate
was parcelled out and broken up, the Hall
and the home farm and some outlying lands
were sold To Mr., Lescombe, who was formerly
of the Stock Exchange. bnt who now became
Lescombe of Lescombe. Efc had Il son bora
10 him in this country abode, and, still fur
Tier to strengthen the idea Of territoriallty,
he had him christenod by the name OF Les
sombe alone lou could hardly have any
thing sitter and stronger in the territorial
line than LeBcombe Lascombe of Lescombe.
But the transformation of the s~tockbroker
into the squire did not altogether work well.
The old gentleman pinned after b~usine mid
bis lawns and groves. He could not spend
the whole of his time in admiring his W
grandeur. He went out shooting; but the
sscoil Of the u pretty well threw him over.
BE went publishing but as, on the first &C.
easion, very rough weather nearly sent him to
the fishes, he settled that this quest was not
for hin" There was only n few neighbors,
who did not care for q new man. The Lord
Lieutenant declined TO put him in the Com
mission of the Peace. But what troubled
him most Of all was that the territorial idea
did not seem at all likely to be carried out in
Its integrity. He had only one living son, a
few daughters who did not count for any
thing, mt this son marrying, had one dough
ter. 1t seemed likely, therefore, that the
arst Lescombe of Lescombewould be the last.
1t Was hard lines, and the old man took it to
heart. He would probably have lived much
longer if he had not settled at Eescombe, but
had continued his Stock Exchange business
with 4 country box at Wimbledon.
1t takes three generations to make a gen
tleInan arguiugon the~uufavorable hypothesis
that the originate scombeof Lescombe hard
ly came under the denomination. But in the
third generation the Loscombe line burst into
radiant flower. Gertrude Lescombe WAS a
- 5000 AAANa - ANaN hAt hAllf All
only child, p.other!ess, living in a remote
part of the country, her fathers companion
and help in everything, she hal an unusual
strength aud decision Of character. Her
father, born and bred in the country, had
taken heartily 10 the pursuits which lis own
father had not cared for. 1he ~ucighboring
squires called on him and Li 4 him. The
Lord Lieutenant of the county invited him to
dinner, and asked him to be u Magistrate.
Ill Axgat-. ~ eIu a.n I-l.s--.
ir,nation at Lescombe church. stayed at Les.
combs Hall, and hoped tina. ii ~ Loscombe
came to town he would look hun up at the
Athensum Club. People commonly said that
Gertrude Lescombe would be a great heiress
and a capital wife. A capital wife she would
certainly he 20 any man happy enough to get
her but as things were going on it was by
10 means so clear that she would really be an
heiress.
Lescombe Hall vas kept up, not by the
Lescombe lands, which we have seen was
limited, but by a very large sum in ready
money which the stockbroker hadbequeathed
70 his son. A hundred thousand pounds ia n
very warn sum but it takes q great deal of
caution and trouble to place il in safe invest
ments. II had always been a deeply implant-
ed maxim in Leseombe Leacombe'smind that
ho should never put all his eggs into one bas-
ket This may be very true as n general
hdage. but egg alter EGG may be broken, or
basket after basket may be lost. This was
unfortunateiythe case in the present instance
he thought he had distributed his coin in so
many good securities shat he had made him
self quite safe. But when Dame Fortune be-
gins 10 depress her wheel, nothing can stop
That u~nfayoribte process. Egg after egzwent
smash. he went into u coai-nline the price
o: coal fell. He took shares in q bank The
bank broke. and the shares were put into