The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1880-01-07
My Beautiful Client.
BY NAUDE A. HILTON.

)I BY NAUDE A. HILTON.
It had been an Unusually sultrv sum-
mer day, and l was fretfully anathema-
tizing the press of business that con-
fined me to the city during the heated
term, while all my friends and associ-
ates were enjoying themselves in fash
iOnable watering places, or rusticatinE
in some picturesque nook.
l was only a poor young barrister,
although rapidly rising in the pro-
fession, and there was a case on nv
hands that promised golden haf-
vest.
1t is true the courts were not then
in session, but the case of Smith versas
Jones required a deal of study and
working up" and I was kept rather
busy all the time.
"ConfOund the luckI' I calculated,
as tossed aside brief over which
had been pondering on the particular
summer afternoon of which / have
made mention. Confound the luckl
have great mind to pack up my traps
and take run out of the city, despite
the claims of a hundred Smiths and
Jones'"
While l had been giving way to this
unusually vehement outburst, there
had been timid rapping at the outer
| door, and my Office boy Henry threw
aside the paper which he had been in
tently perusing for the last two hours
| and admitted a young woman, pretty
and pleasant-faced, and with an agree
able smile
''Please, sir, are you lawyer Reavey"
| she asked, timidly, and with the slight
est possible brogue, betraying her Celtic
origin.
That is my name, madam" I as.
sured her, as / placed chair for her
near the desk from which l had arisen
at her entrance.
She handed me a note written in a
delicate female hand, and insisted on
remaining standing where she was un.
til l read it.
confoss to a feeling of curiosity, and
without much ceremony opened the
daint, pink-tinted note and read its
contents, which were brief and to the
point.
Mr. Hugh ReaUey:
SIR-If you are at leisure to wait upon
me, I should like to see you on a matter Of
business, the nature of which I will explain
when we meet.
If possible, should like to have you re-
turn with my maid, the bearer.
Respectfully yours,
FLENoRE HERBERT.
This was the note, word for word, and |
l confess no stranger message had ever |
been transmitted to me. There was |
something in the tone of the brief !
epistle that seemed 10 breathe a spice |
of romance and adventure, and my |
idea of country trip was abandoned
instanter.
" / am ready to accompany you, miss"
| said to the waiting-maid; and watch
ing her closely, / could see that my
decision pleased her.
I found q carriage awaiting at my
door, and silently assisted the young |
lady to enter it.
She made no attempt to enter into
conversation with me as drove through
the city streets, and although / was
as the ladies say" dying to know"
something of her mistress, | did not
stOop to question.
I heaved a sigh of intense relief,
however, when the carriage drew up
before the entrance to q superb resi-
dence on Madison avenue, and my COM
panion announced that our journey
was at an end.
A solemn-looking man-servant ad-
mitted us, and in answer to some low
spoken inquiry of the maid, informed
her that the mistress would receive the
gentleman in her b0udOir.
With growing sense of my own i'm
portance, I followed the girl up the
broad, richly-carpeted staircase and
into room that was like the home of a
fairy, 30 beautiful and pure-looking,
with its furniture of white and gold,
and delicate hangings Of snowy silk and
lace"
Lawyer Reavey, Miss Herbert,
announced my companion, and lady
arose from q couch near the window,
and came forward to meet me.
could with difficulty repress an ex-
of astOnishment, for my eyes
had never beheld anything so exquis-
itely lovely as the lady addressed as
Mrs. Herbert.
She could not have been more than
eighteen years of age, and looked even
younger, although there was nothing of
the child in the expression of the sadly
beautiful face or in the blue depths of
the fair, shadowed eyes.
She mOtiOned me to a seat near that
5he had lately occupied, and could see
that she was visibly embarrassed and at
a loss how to proceed. Her hands moved
from place to place, and /
could see the color fading out of her
perfect face, and she at last summoned |
courage to address me.
Her brother had been my friend, she
5old me, and when she mentioned that
brothers. name / started, for it was in
Iced that of one of my most valued
who had lately died. very sud-
lenly.
{ Ny poor brother begged me, with
almost his last breath, to 60 to you, and
ask you to take my case in hand for the
lake of your old friendship" The ]
beautiful woman ALTERED; and It is {
1eedless to say that I answered her she
had but to state her case, and count on
| willing champion.
She thanked me with a simple grace
hat was Infinitely charming, and then ..
old me the story of her life.
She was utterly alone in the world
ince her brother died, and tied to q '
nan whose cruelty was killing her.
Charles Herbert was q strange char
.cter, thought peculiar by his friends, Z
Dut believed by those who knew him T
'est to be developing traits of mad /
less. ,
In the presence of strangers he was !
emarkably kind and devoted to his /