The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1880-02-19
CHAPTER II.
FATHER AND DAUGHTER.

EALhEh AND DAUdHLEhs
Fairview is one Of those places which
suggest at a glance Old-established re-
spectability, and long line Of ancestry, a
/ race that has taken deep root in the soil
/ It was not a grand house, or a show house.
1t had a snug and even homely air, as Of
house meant to Withstand the ravages Of
time and weather, rather than show of its
| architectural beauty under an Italian sky.
It was a Tudor house, with heavy mulliOn-
ed windows, huge central chimney stacks,
and many gables. 1t was a long, low house,
with broad terrace in front Of it, and be-
| low the terrace a stiff, Italian garden,
with a round pond and fountain in the
middle. The pond and the fountain were
as old as the house, and the goldfish that
splashed about in the water were popular
" supposed to be Of the same date, and to
have seen Queen Elizabeth when she spent
a night at FairvieW, in one Of her royal
progresses. There were people Of a radio
al turn Of mind who disbelieved in Queen
Elizabeth's visit to Fairview; but there
was the old carved oak bedstead, which
had been set up for her especial acCOmmo-
dation, and there were the cramoisy satin
curtains, faded to a dull brick-dust hue,
which sheltered her august person from
the night air.
Time had toned down every color inside
and outside the good old house to mellow
est half-tint. Brick and stone had assum-
ed all those varying shades Of purple and
gray, red and brown, which time and the
lichen tribe give to old houses. There had
been no restoration or renovation, but all
things had been kept in exquisite order
from the beginningOf time; for the Courte-
nays were one of the most respectable fami-
lies in the county. Nobody had ever been
able to say the COurtenay estate was
dipped" No one had ever hinted at an
undue telling Of timber. The small park,
or chase, as Sir Eyerard preferred to call
it, could boast some Of the finest trees
within fifty miles. The home farm was
a model of advanced farming, every COW a
picture, every cart-hOrse. worthy Of prize
medal, even the pigs were the aristOCracy
of the porker tribe.
The COurtenays we're not among the
wealthiest Of the land, but they had never
been poor. This was their merit. From
the time when Jasper COurtenay, the law
yer, chosen companion and favorite of Sir
Francis BacOn's, bought the old mOnastic
lands of Fairview for a song, till the pres
ent day, there had been no reprobate or
prOdigal to tarnish the family shield or di-
minish the estate. These COurtenays, a
younger branch of a good old DevOnian
family tree, had thriVen and hOurishsd
in their Midland home; they had married
always respectfully, sometimes pro6tably. |
They had adopted the graver professions, I
and had won fame in the Senate and on
the Bench, rather than in the more ad- l
venturOus careers Of soldier OF sailor. |
They had been men Of considerable cul- |
ture, handing down certain pride and /
Of mind and mien from sire to /
son, as if it had been a tangible heritage.
They had for the most part married late in /
life, and had not left large families. And /
now the race of the Fairview Courtenays
had dwindled to two persons, Sir Everard
COurtenay and his only child, Dulcibella,
otherwise and always known as Dulcie.
Tonight, while the wind was stripping
of the ruddy beech leaves, and bending
the long level branches Of the cedars, the /
loW-ceiled, paneled parlor at the end of j
the house, looking out upon dark shrub /
berries, was the picture Of homely, old
fashioned comfort. It was Dulcie's room, |
the room where she had studied with gov
erness and masters during the studiOus /
period Of her life, and where she was now .
sovereign mistress, free to improve each
Concluded on Fourth Page. /