The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-11-20
SIR CHARLES GODFREY, BAR0 l)l'''
rr var Y,auce no. MAST Pay tne Fsper

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rr Won n aucs Hoa seust Pny tne Fsper
Tezxs.s
tphiup Boarke Msrs.un, In Lihts"e0'' So' ~
Sir Charles Godfrey, baronet, icy siek ~
h,a house IN Park lane. ANS All people
Enew--tbas is to say, all people VINO cou.
end read ti,sir Morning Pest with proper
an From hts youth up Sir Charles
Moo been bit wild. There were plenty OF
stories about mad. merry shines ID 1o"n unu
country when he was handsome YOUNG
fellow, with black cnrlias hair tiEck on tne
hca6 that for q long time now haa worn
,T;r.--an ;mparturb able xsg--wGSn ny Fe1-
sn,s ~ fine hot weather sad his present III
,,oss mas Sust now put assde, so that at last
he looked an old fnah. IA ,oo,,
R,,t WIN, !. young fellow he had peen
x,ncas He had sowed has wildcats oy the
aero. hut he bad been very cafefoi OF ms
dogs and herses, and very teslder TO inc
romep. Nc woman reasonably young anu
folerabiy soad3ooking eTer 'has occasion 20
accuse km Of hardness With much ilghe
love. ws,hksnting and tsigeon"saootln any
GOOD dinners, Sir Charles beg.ated the oest
Seass ~ he. But ut sixty or thereabout
Sbc inavitatsc reckonfnS cane; for all OF
snf,Sen he Gel, fiat on life. or to speak more
cnrrecsa v, Me fell fat ca him. There was
al an,s st si,sasess Of inteutien :Ne,l, at past
S;xtT one can't keep The ball OF pleasure
.Gn;,rr sg nns. did at thirtr-even at forty.
Ta Bad .lor.ed widely, il not, deeply. he
had saen every place considered worth see
sno dcnnkera every epicuTean wine, eaten
a,.ery anicurean dish. IAN was done that
mar esuld do" and. so far rs present plea
SIRE went, all had been donean VAIN. AZ
sixty hereditary govt took up us aooae
with him: exacting mercliess RECKONING ioi
all past good dinners. o,
What was TO be done? Marry ane seu
tie down" suggest wisdom ane eNpef uhc st
ut my elbow; and this "as pree,se't Mn ~
Sir Cbsrles did He bought for his wife rs
fresh and pretty a girl Of twenty as you can
and ,nyYhere. She. poor child. was only
100 SeIirhted to be sold, for she came OF
.,orr 3mI.,yerisaed old family ana sne
l;yea shut I'D ia a great, gloomy country
horse. twenty miles away from any large
town-I,ycd there with her father ana
,no,her. who were engaged in desperate
lifelong struggle TO make both enGs meet,
vol slNays left them the fatal half inch apart;
0ne af,er anotbe: the family had parted
win its pleasant things, and the Soung
rady-s own little Iony-phaeton hac .luSt
cone to the hammer when Sir Charles maze
h;s annearance on the scene. he regarded
the daughter OF his friend with the eye OF q
congoisseur-iound her pretty. nice, asso-
cether desirable in ali ways. In week OF
two he proposed for her hand ana was aS-
cepted, and shortly aEerward they were
married.
Then peace and plenty replaced struggle
and want IN the BRIDES t1nni'y, ana she con,
sidered herself fortunate woman; ana
with good reason. Had SIZE not stateiy
country-house, with all It's %e'l-Dreu luAu-
RIGS and town residence. eharmngly ap-
,o;nted where she might take her ill Of the
deli-bts OF The London season? Nor was
Sir Charles had husband, as husbands ana
lovers 20. Certainly, he migbs easily have
been worse. He was still nice-ooklng--
a handsome old gentleman--and lbs
manner was kind and courtly. True, be
cot TO be somewhat OF bore when, ABOUT
n month after marriage, he really fell IN
love with his wife. and became excessively
demonstrative. However, the bride was
nbilosophical. She bore with his spoonlpg
as gracefully as sue had borne with his
cont. She met alike bis affection and DIS
irritability with the greatest sweetness O!
temper. She was certainly model Wlle:
would that all elderly husbands could find
such treasure! Sir Charles, poor soul
vain BY nature, and more vain by reason OF
n long course of successful ladY-klllng,
easily persuaded himself that he was loved,
and Rugged the dear faith TO his heart.
Thus things went Oh pleasantly enough
till his serious illness, with which the horn
inq Post daily concerned itself, TOOK Sir
Charles resoIutely by the shoulders and put
him to bed. What is il? A combination
hot
even the doctor, who cau.e daily and shook
his head suinea's worth, could decidedly
tell. But he always said his patient would
be better soon. and that was comfort.
1t was sad for Lady Godfrey that his i'll
ness should have come on in the midst OF
the London season. But she bore this mis-
fortune with her usual sweet patience.
Certainly she was most admirable woman.
Day after day went by, and she saw abso-
lutely no one except the doctor and two
young men Familiarity known Us Ned Lew
son and Bob Butler-two devoted friends
of her husband; for Sir Charles was
popular alike with young and old. East
" persuaded in most things, Sir Clark
had sworn big oath when his illness
first seized him that whether he lived or
died, no hired nurse should cross his
threshold. OF course bis wife, with her
fragile constitution, was unequal to the ar
duous task OF taking care OF him, so these
two young men, quietly foregoing all the
pleasures OF the season, took up their abode
under his roof and devoted themselves to
him entirely. The first OF the two to pro-
pose the step was Lewsou. His offer took
every one by surprise, for he was unlver'
sally regarded as pleasure-seeking, selfish
sort of fellow. He was big, heavy. band
some, with more muscle than brains. Ht
had a pleasant voice, with slight military
drawl. His fair, clear-cut face was adorned
by long, conventional mustaches.
Butler was comparatively insISnlncant
looking. He had thin figure ana PAL
face, with the suggestion OF sheer apou
the close lips. Lewson had long ago nick
named him "Mepb," as a conVenlen
abridSement of Mephistopheles.
Straw had been spread thickly oeIore th'
pleasantest house ia Park Lane, and horse
and carriages passed softly as procession
In q dream. But from the near d.stance
like the murmur of some erer-fiowing sea
could be heard the ceaseless ebb and flow
OF busy, surging life-that life In which ST
Charles had already scarcely more par
than il he were dead. 1t was brilliant MAY
weather. People rode and drove in tht
park went TO fowcr.shows and kettle
drums; diued aud danced; made love; in
trigued-did all manner OF things, goo(
and bad-and ali the time Sir Charles lay
there parching Through the hot days, ant
there was no fua for his patient, pretty lit
tie wife. But what q model wife she was, Il
be sure.
Every morniag she came regularly to hi:
room, examined the medicine-bottle, sip