New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-03-06


that one of her ancestors had been jew All kinds
Of out-ofthe- way sources had furnished the blood
which had been destined to mix with the slow cur
rent in the Mountford veins and probably Anne
had inherited certain bizarre qualities from this
tumble. But Rose had no such naked antecedents;
There was not drop OF blood IN her VEINS that dio
not belong to the county and 1t was difficult to see
how she could have taken after her sister Anne as
sometimes suggested, in respect to peculiaries
which had come to Anne from her mother; but Ii
she did not take after Anne who did she take after,
as Mrs. Mountford often demandedf
Rose was now eighteen, and Anne just over one
and-twenty. They were considered in the neighb0r-
hood to be attractive girls household possessing
two such daughters is naturally supposed to nave
all the elements Of brightness within IL, and per.
taken their natural place as harmonzers and pc ace
makers. But there were no brothers, and the girls
ences natural to boys in their persons, with GER
tain difficulties appropriate to their natural char
acter 1t is true they did not get into scrapes or INTO
debt; they were not expelled from school or SEM
down from college. Duns did not follow them 10
the paterpal door, or rosterlDg companions Drea5
the family peace. But yet Anne and Rose contIlveaa
as IL they had been Jack and Tom. These good
people had lived for about a dozen years in their
rural mansion like the cabbages in the Kitchen gar
den. Nothing had disturbed them. There had been
no call upon their reasoning faculties, no strain
upon their affections; everything bad gone on quite
TRANQUILITY and comfortably, with that quiet persist
ence of we'll being which makes trouble seem I'M
possible. They had even said to Themselves WIN WIN
signs that to have only girls was after all good dog
we're, even as the rector, one OF whose boys nao
gone to tho bad.' The thing when had been
was that which should be- me sh0cks tne emSOts
involved in male youth bring with them, could not
trouble their quiet existence SO they consoleu
themselves, although not without sign. e.,
Alas good people they had reckoned without
their girls. The first storm that arose IN the mousse
was when Anne suddenly discovered that her go So
played and passed the mistakes which she made. on
purpose to test her, in her grammar 81 want some
fifteen, but abe had already made great deal more
use of that pernicious faculty OF reading when
works so much mischief in the world than MRS.
Mountford approved; Some one wn1 o could teaCn l
herl That meant lady at E75 or G1OO year, IN
stead of ESQ, which was what they mad hltnertQ
given. Mrs Mountford nearly cried over TINS most
nice. She was of family which had seen better
days and she was fully conscious of her good fortune
After all what did it matter about false notes or
mistakes in GRAMMAR 1t was ladylike person that
was everything. But then Rose too declared IN nel
shrill treble that she wanted some one VINO couid
teach her. Miss Montressor had to go-and tne
troubles that followed To do them justice tne
Squire and his wife did their very pest 10 sa1sIy
man goverpess with all kinds OF certlhcates, VINO
taught Rose to say pom chour; they got frencn
ladV (Who commended herself to the best sentiments
of Mrs Mountford's nature by making her up the
sweetest CAPT. but who taught the girls that Charles
l. all but rescued from the scanod Dy tno gen
erous exertions of Gascon gentleman by the name
| of DArtagpaD and three friends who were devoted
to him Mrs. Mountford herself was much pleased
with this information, but Anne ana ner aI9eF were
long to follow them infinitely through ali these
troubles. At seventeen Anne wanted Greek and 10
complete blow to the prejndices of the house. The
same 40 q young mani 1t was improper IN the
highest degree ALMOST wicked Mrs Mountt1ra o Ga
of our abeet crtcs that nothing but Illicit longngs
| after evl could make girl wish to pass exanina-
| lions aad acquire knowledge. She must want to
rood he which
| and Latin, and which deprave the minds OF young
| men, the good woman thought. AS for the certih-
| the Soyernesses of whom Mrs Mountford had such
melancholy experience; but a young lady OF q
county family, what did she want with them Ihey
| would be things to be ashamed. not prond Of And
| on this point Anne was vanquished. she was al
| lowed to learn Greek with many forebodinga but
| not to be examined in her knowledge However,
4 this decision was chiefly intended to prevent Rose
from following her sister, as she always did for to
refuse GirtOn Rose would have been more dlficut
| than to neglect Anpes entreatIes. For, though
Anne the eldest sister, 1T was Rose who WIS the
princess royal and reigned over the whole demesne
This desire of the higher education on the part OF
Rose, who still said pom chour.' and was not at AZ
certain that two and two always mako four, would
there had not occurred just then one Of the family
troubles appropriate TO girls after 80 many that cou1
that the rector of the parish had q con who had
gone to the bad' He had two other sons, rocks
ahead for the young ladies at the Mount Indeed.
these two young men were such obvious dangers
that Mrs. Mountford had taken precautions against
them while Rose was still in her cradle. One
cuFa his fathers r0OaSe SaSSs and Ui' Is Ta s
always possible that some one else might be pre-
ferred to Charley, some Mountford connection who
had q nearer claim, that prospect did not count Tor
! much. The other was nothing at all, young man
at Oxford not yet launched upon life. But for
tunately these young men. though very familiar IN
the house, were not handsome nor dangerously at
tractye, and this peril is one which must always be
encountered in the country even by people OF mnch
higher pretensons than the MounTfords. The first
mot
quarter. 1t was not one of the Ashleys but 1t was
a person still less satisfactory. One OF the curat6s
friends arrived suddenly on visit IN the late sum
mer--a young Mr.. Douglas, young barrister. but
not one of the DOugases who have ever been heard
| of. They did not find this out for some time. I'M
aaining fonlly that he belonged, at distance per-
| haps, to the Morton family, or to the house OF
Queensberry, at least to Douglasses IN Scotland
OF whom it could be said that they were OF Lanark-
shire or Sekrkshire some other county. Indeed,
| it was not until the whole household was thrown
| into connection by q morning call from Mr.. Doug
las. who asked for Mr.. MOuntford, and boldly de-
| mauded from him the hand of Anne, that 1t burst
upon them that he was Douglas of nowhere at ALL.
He had been very well educated, and be was at the
| bar; but when he was asked what branch OF the
Douglases he belonged to, he answered Nome with
| a smile. 1 have no relations, be said. Relations
can be dispensed with: There is no harm IN being
without them; but family was Indispensable aud
he belonged to nobody 1t was just like Anne how
ever not to She did not in the least care, nor
did she SEQ any harm IN her lovers GSantyess con-
the honor Of alliance with this MIR. Douglas OF
nowhere at ALL she did not hesitate TO say that she
entirely disagreed with her father. This was the
state in which things were at the time of tn inter
| view have recorded Mr. MOuntford was deter
mined, and 80 was his daughter. THIS struggle of
wills had taken place before but never before had 1t
gone 30 far In former cases Anne had gwen in, or
| she had been given in to- the one as much as the
\ other. But now there was no yielding on one side
or the other. The father had declared himself mex
Orable the daughter had said little, but her coun-
tenance had said much. And the threat with which
he wound had introduced an entirely new element
| IN fha Z
that was what at this moment nobody could venture
| to say.
CHAPTER 1.-THE REST OF THE FAMILY.
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