Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-04-23
A REMARKABLE WILL.
The Romance CT an English Watering
Place-In Two Parts.
PART I.

watering place-l really forget whether a
Bath, or Clifton, or Cheltenham, or Nal
vern, or bennington, or Buxton but i
was at some such place, and luckily tn
name is the one detail which does no
matter. For the sake of avoiding blanks
and dashes, will call it CANTERBURY, a.
more or less applicable to them all-at leas
IN Miss Molloy's time. She was little
eccentric in trifes but in all Essential
things as VIGOROUSLY whole-minded, and
strong. minded, too, as any lady of 60 in
the whole kingdom. | must enter little
into her family history hut only so far as
is needful. She had been the second Of
three beautiful sisters, the daughters and
coheiresses OF a gentleman of large estate
in Ireland. They were much run after IL
their girlhood, and had once been known
as the three pocket beauties-le in al
fusion 90 their size than TO their reputa.
tion-then somewhat uncommon in Dub.
lin-of being worth marrying for something
more lasting than beauty.
Well, to cut long story short before il
is we'll begun, the eldest, Miss Lucis Mol.
10y Ia quaint first name, but it always
struck me as a singularly pretty one for a
girl, eloped with gentleman also descended
from royalty-so far descended, indeed
that there was scarcely further social
depth left him to descend to-named Fig
gerald 0Birn; and the youngest, Miss
judith, went off with foreign refugee, a
sort of Hungarian German-Po dancing.
master Count, named Ferentz Steldl.
Ferentz is the Hungarian for Francis,
believe; Steldl,- fancy, is Bavarian OF
Tyrolese. Both marriages turned out
miserably - so miserably that Miss
Bridgita forswore romance, and even
matrimony, and actually kept her vow.
She also kept more than her vow-she
kept her fortune. When the creditors got
hold Of Mr.. Molloy's great estates he left
the very handsome surplus left him in cash
and consols absolutely to his own wise
daughter. Not a penny went into the
pockets OF Count Steldl or Mr.. o Birn. IL
was a bitter disappointment to both gen
tlemen, and | believe they avenged their
wrongs upon their wives after the manner
of their kind.
So while poor Madame Steldl suffered
and starved all over Europe, and poor Mrs
-OBirn starved and suffered in the larger
and darker continent of London, Miss
Molloy lived alone and in dignifed opu-
lence at CANTERBURY. She was first-rate
economist, and her patrimony had pros
pered. She used to amuse herself by spec
ulating In stocks-always shrewdly and
cautiously. By the time she was sixty it
was reckoned that her income could not
amount to less than a safe twelve hundred
year, of which she saved at least five.
Now what in the world was to become
of all this money if Miss Bridgita Molloy
ever happened to die?
One afternoon the mail-coach from Lon.
don set down two gentlemen at the Old
Swan, CANTERBURY. Both had remark
ably little luggage for those days, when
men could not run from New York to Lon
don and back again in a few hours. Both
ordered bed, both walked into the coffee
room, and one of them rang the bell.
When the waiter answered it, one of the
gentlemen ordered cold brandy, the other
hot whisky. And the walters report at
the bar vas not favorable to either. But
with that opinion lack OF luggage may have
had some to do.
There were other resemblances between
the two men. Both were well past middle
age neither looked like one OF the hunt
ing men, or officers on half-pay, or rheu.
matte patients, who formed the bulk of
the male visitors TO Canterbury. But
there all likeness came to an end. He of
the whisky was a long, lean man, with
fierce untrimmed whiskers, a shiny bald
head, bloodshot blue eyes, and tell tale
nose, dressed in the hight of the fashion,
with a tendency of overstepping it into
loudness. He had ordered his grog in a
thick rich brogue He of the brandy, on
the other hand, was short and squat,
with a dirty sallow complexion, thick
grizzled hair, and twinkling black eyes.
He wore the then unusual ornament, If or
nament it be, of mustache /; and, for the
rest, was clean, or rather hall shaved, and
there was something Frenchified about his
costume.
"Waitther," said the Irishman. "If any,
body calls here to-dee or tomorrow for
Meior 0 Birn-rm Meior O'Birn -
The other started for a moment, and laid
his glass down.
"Saatl 1 comprehend, Monsieur" he
asked, A" chat you give me your name 2
Me name And why Shouldn't give
me name - said 0'Brn, with a little leap
of, anyhow. Ia like to see the man with
a name TO his back as good as 0'Birn %
50 One hundred thousand pardons, Mon
sieur. am glad that l know-that is all.
En-, but one hundred thousand pardons,
Monsieur Fitzgerald O'Birn.
The Majors jaws fell, and all his face,
save his-nose, grew suddenly pale.
''Sure, now, ye're net goin' to tell me
we're one of them blagyard Jews!' cried ne
Sure, 'twould be zoo crool an all, wheI
I've come down to see me own wife's sis
Their. that's -olin' over and over in joolI
an gold. An ye've followed me all thC
wee down here an this is a free country
An bad luck to the country where an Of
ficer an gentleman mustn't pee a visit Il
his wiie'a relations without being hunteC
by all Jerusalem in full cry Come, Moses
ven give ne another dee.
"Aha So you think no one shall know
your name but the people which shall holt
your bills, Monsieur 0'Birn: l hold no
your bills | am not fool. You come down t
see lille. BTidgita, then, shall compre
hend?'
Sure. then, It's the divvle ye are Blu
that's better, anyhow, than benz what
thought ye-"
. You shall rot be so sure, Monsieur.
S1al KNOW your Oi4I!SLiAu l-Alaits otiN
shall knew the Christian name OF the sis
ter OF your wife. because | am FereEt
S,eldl. Monsieur O'Birn Aha you shal
have the trernblement perceptible, Mon
sieur o BiTn E
"Hvbst !" cried the Major, leaping t
his feet with a shout and glare. Yesl
there 10 cold blood. and We tell me, Majo
Fitzgerald O'BIrn, yere that-lniscreant-
that blagyard-that snake in the grass
that dunkin', swindlin', maue-spirited
-undher. handed, slandherin, murderin', or
respectable thief of the whole world
Ferentz S;eldl: And ye think to escap
from the fist Of a gentleman tins dee ?"
Patience, patience, mon JeaaJrere,
said Steldl without the slightest change c
tone. 80 Fine words shall not butter wha
You CAL the pGaais. 1t is you who sha
escape from me. You shall leave thi
town. shall guard Mdle Molloy, siste
OF my wife, aunt OF my son, from you. Ia
that I am here.
Something in the significant calmness
49, 10, -, I 81 Al. ~