Fair play., 1881-06-25

But the mere is not entailei." she
said "Do not laugh n me. Austen
You can do wha, You Ike with IL. You
can even leave it Ia me.
II have no intention Of leaving il 1t
all for many long years, he said
+ She ha>teued IL add:
Il hope not. indeed, Austen. am
only talking for talking's sake. You
/ could leave il 10 NE or 10 little Hugh II
You wouid9'
Certainly. Hester. You are quite
right there; can do as will with IT.
But. although We have no entail. We
have what is almost as strong with uS
the law OF tradition. The custom
and tradition of the family are tha, the
estates shall descend from father 10
son. poyou understand
Yes" She replied. Il do not
know what makes me think ot II or
speak Of it; but il seems 10 me that my
little son Hugh, the son Of an English
woman. is the one who should hc mas
ter of English lands. and that your
elder son. the son IT - Spanish mother,
should take for his portion the lands IN
Spain
Sir Austen laughed again He had
no notion that she was serious. lie
believed il was all "ior taikins's sake"
I'VE will say more about il. my
beautiful Hester. wien Master Hugh
can walk or can eat slice of bread
and-but,cr At present let the fair lands
IN England and Spain rest in peace.
81 do not understand what has come
over us said SIR Austen, III Il lucru-
Ion. lone. ..How is il, Ross. that
: you and her ladyship never. by any
chance. agree?
lam very sorry for it. father.
should agree always If l could. IL you
SAY that those great heeches are to ho
clr down. | submit; but do not think
that Lady Cumnor omght To order such
thing. Ii will completely spoil the
place. Ii there wer" a sensible
motive. would not ask ono word
abou; il; but am quite sure that Lady
Cumnor SIMPLY desires ii IN order I"
annoy me.
"My dear Ross. pray do not talk in
such a manner. Why should my wife
seek lO annoy you9
because she does not like me, faith
ct. anu Will utNSi ttNt uh't s"' h's'
driven me away. Father, can you not
see how Jealous she is Of my dead
mother and cf NV dead mothers son?
.'Mv good fellow. what nonsense
Why should she be jealous OF poor lneh?
If she were living. there would be some
sense in it; but dead-whO would even
cve Themselves the trouble to be jeai-
ous of the dead!'
.If | were dead. she would tolerate
nv mothers memory. Oh, father. Ito
you not see, do YOU not understand.
what is gong on round about YOU? l
have not complained d-incver Intended
To complain. l. as man, would never
complain of woman; but, mind you,
father. a woman tOrtures and stin@S As
the blows Of man never could. Lady
Cumnor seldom says ANYTHING To me
that could take hold of; but her words.
light "a thistiedOwn, ranklc and wound
me hundred times each day"
IL thought you would all get on SO
well together" said Sir Austen.
Where is Lean? Cannot she make
peace between y0u?
A bitter smile came over Ross face
Father" he SAID. gently. .'how |
envy you the happy faculty vou have OF
seeing nothing, Lady Cumnor disiikes
Lean. if possible. more than she dis
likes me- You will find that that active
spirit of hers will know M rest until
everything belonging to my mother
even her sou and her kinswoman-is
removed from Larchton Mere. She
viii take down her portrait yet. and
YOU will not be able to help It, She
hates everything belonging TO her.
iTo BE CONTINUED.