Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-12-16

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willing to concur in the opinion that ther
was something not quite right about her. A
few believed her mind to be affected ; but tn
common country folks rather inclined to tn
idea that she was in league with the power
of darkness, and by these she was Stunned a
though pestilence had walked in her footsteps
Very different had been the estimation il
which the former Lady Hepburn-Roland'
mother-had been held. A gentle and piou
woman, kind mistress, charitable frient
and benefactress to the poor, she had won al
hearts, and her death had been universally
mourned, and long felt.
A solitary and joyless existence the pres
ent Lady led, almost perpetually secluded
within the massive walls of the grand bu
sombre home to which her presence had
brought curse. Occasionally she might be
seen taking lonely drive or walk through
the grounds or their vicinity, always wearing
the same cold and melancholy look, her pale
marble.like face deriving an additional pal
lor from the dense black of its surroundings
A beautiful face it was, too-a face that an
artist would have reioiced to transfer to his
canvas. No Greek chisel could have sculp
tured purer more classic type Of lovelness
than that which marked her delicate features
Her large, deep blue eyes looked out from
the shadow of their sweeping lashes with a
wondrous power in their gaze; an aureole OF
golden hair crowned with a shimmering glory
the small, well l.poised head that sat with re-
gal haughtiness upon her snowy throat Did
her mirror ever whisper to her of the fascin'
alton such charms might have wrought
Did vain regrets ever fill her mind, for the
lost opportunities of conquest, which might
have been hers had she been permitted to
mingle with the world? If woman's vani'
ty stirred her heart, who could tell? It's i'm.
pulses, its desires, its regrets, were a sealed
book, which no eye could read. What
thoughts were hers, what fancies were the
company Of her solitary hours, no mortal
could divine. With all the wealth at her
command, with all the lordly domain for the
sake of whose possession the one great evil Of
her life-her marriage-had been forced
upon her, there was not soul living that en-.
Wed her, or would have stepped into her
place.
There were one or two of the county fami'
lies with whom she exchanged occasional Wis.
its, and from these, and the newspapers which
she sometimes read, she got rare glimpses OF
the outer world, of passing events which
seemed to her as shadows or dreams, so little
did anything which transpired beyond her
own narrow sphere enter into the interest Of
her life
There was a certain Lady Hungerford, a
kind hearted, eccentric busy-body, who was
sort of privileged character, and exercised
her prerogative in doing things which other
people were afraid o: unwilling to experiment
upon. One of her freaks was to follow up
Lady Hepburn, in order, as she said, to "bring
her Quito clear up something of the mys'
terry which attached to her name.
"It's all nonsense to ostracise the poor wo'
man." she would say. 81 dare say she's no
more responsible for her husbands death than
you or I. What if they did not live happily
together? Does that prove that he killed
himself because she disgusted him with his
life? Good Lord there'd be suicides enough
if all the married people should kill them
selves who were not happy with their wives
or husbands. And besides, who knows that
he killed himself, after all? Just as likely
he was murdered by some tramp who wanted
his watch or his money; maybe by one Of
his own servants. My impression is that
some of his people did it, because his death
was so successfully concealed. It's hardly
likely that an outsider could have managed
so effectually to destroy every trace of the
deed. They should all have been arrested
and brought to trial, instead Of being suf
fered quietly to walk off and 60 into service
elsewhere. Or maybe he isn't dead at all
but has just run away and hid himself in
some foreign though, of course
that's not very likely. At any rate, don't SEE
why his wife should be Stunned. I, for one
am not afraid to keep company with her
and it's only common charity for somebody
to call on her now and then"
So Lady Hungerford's stylish equipag'
might he not unfreqiently seen standing a
Lady Hepburn's door and it came to pass
in the course Of time, that the two ladies
would sometimes drive out in it together
on which occasions Lady Hungerford woule
choose the most popular routes, displaying
her companion like kind of trophy along
these thoroughfares, and especially rejoicing
if they encountered any Of their neighbor
in their progress. Perhaps the Lady of Lin
ton, guessing at the estimation in which sh
was generally held, was not insensible t.
the advantage of being thus openly patron
lied by the representative of one Of the lead
ing and most influential families in the coun
ty. Lady Hungerfords antecedents wer
noble; her character unimpeachable; he
wealth and influence great. No one qustion
ed her right to do what she pleased, evel
though persons did not always choose t.
follow her example. She was the first on
who made anything like cordial advances t