The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1882-12-15
SELECT STORY.
UNDER THE BEEOHES,
A STRANGE STORY.


brought his emphatic remarks to
close-'I tell you it's all of a piece
tabIe-rapping, meSmerism, banshees
vampires, second sight-all of piece
and all nmitigated, internal non
sense !"
"My dear Colonel" said Mrs. Ire
| g1rthen, our hostess, sin this matter ot
second sight, | can say, i believe, foy
| have seen I! | was, as you know
brought up on my grandfather's estate
IN Northern Scotland. AT this day
among the Highlands, a belief in sec
ond sight is familiar to the minds OF
the people, and you could hardly
travel a large tract of country without
meeting at least one person possessing
this mysterious gift; often it was a
woman, and oftenest one we'll past
middle life.
"Such one. named Tibbie Hand.
rented little cottage on my grand
fathers land. She was held in much
respect by tie servants and cottagers,
not so much as a seecress, think, as
Tor her skill in the use of herbs and
simples, and in the preparation of such
sweetmeats and cordials rs were in
favor in the country side. | knew old
Tlbbie well, and when Marjorie Doug
las, my distant cousin and dearest
companion, and came back on long
gallop across the windy moors, we
were glad to stop at her little cottage
for bowl of porridge she knew how
to prepare to perfection. But in her
trance state never saw her.
Between Marjorie and | there ex-
listed one of those close and tender
friendships which spring so often from
total unlikeness. She was tall, and
fair, and fragile; !, small and strong,
and n veritable nut browne mayde !;
she was the truest Celt | ever knew
imaginative, sensitive, dreamy, pas
sionate; | was the sturdiest of perse.
vering, humdrum SaXons.
"She opened to me the riches of the
world of books, and brought me into
communication with those who loved
nature more wisely and as well as |.
She brought poetry and romance into
my life, and | into hers a certain
breziness Of sunshine that held the
dream-mists from gathering too close
ly about her. and made commonplace
life and work more possible to her,
sweet idealist that she was
81 passed from my childhood associ.
ations, to be part of them no more
forever, when, after grandfather's
death, | went to live with my uncle,
Robert Farleigh, in Kent. | was only
II, and it was hard to bid farewell to
the dear old glens and moorlands !;
1t was hard to leave the grand hills,
from whose uplifted lights and shad-
owy silence, all unconscious to me,
sense of the infinite faith 9rhood and
motherhood had flown down into my
orphaned, childish heart 1t was
hardest of all to say good-by to Mar
jorie. We promised each other that
our separation should be as short as
possible She was to come soon to
see me at Farleigh Manor, and | was
to pass long summer with her at
Douglas House But, all, me how
much had passed before | saw my
sweet girl again!
Il spent several years travelling with
my uncle and his only daughter Ethel
"a fair, bright, proud girl, of whom
| soon became very fond. And when
at last we returned to Kent, and |
wrote, beseeching an immediate visit
from Marjorie, she answered that her
mothers failing health kept her con
stantly at her side, and they We're pre-
pairing even then to take refuge in
Southern France from the merciless
rigors of scottish winter. And per-
haps | missed Marjorie less, that l
brought home with me a shy, sweet
hope, that blossomed in my heart like
winter rose. | met Major Tregar-
then in Italy, and not long after our
return home sought out some hitherto
unknown cousins of his-the Ffrench's
who had fine old estate not many
miles from us. During his visit be
found frequent occasion to ride over
to Fareigh Manor-a tall, dark, hand
some cousin of his, Basil Ffrench by
name, not unfrequently bearing him
company. Major Tregarthen was ten
year my senior, and my dear old uncle
was so wont to appropriate his com
pany and enjoy hls visits that it was
an unspeakable amazement to him
when one morning the Major inter
rupted him in a political harrangue to
ask his niece's hand in marriage, with
her full and glad consent So, when
the hawthorn was white in the hedge
row, | gave Major Tregarthen then
my hand, as | had given him my heart,
what seemed to us both, so LONG ago,
under the gray old walls of Rome.
Immediately after our marriage we
came to Tregarthen House, and IN the
happy year that followed there grew
in my heart for the dear old place
that feeling which never in all our
lives cling about more than one home.
The second year of our marriage
my husbands regiment was stationed in
Dublin, whittier / went with him, and
1t was while there we began to make
note OF how frequent in Ethels letters
had grown the mention of Basil
Ffrench, and what Il matter of course
it seemed to be that he should be her
cavalier at ball and festival, until we
came Mt last to feel certain that my
cousins proud heart had passed from
her keeping, and her turn to be kissed
and carried ava was not far off, But
the weeks and months slipped BY, and
though Captain Ffrcnch seemed to be
still the most frequent of visitors at
Farleigh Manor, the pleasant news
was eagerly looking for was still de-
layed,
"We had but just returned to Ire
garthen House when the news reached
us of my Uncle Roberts sudden death,
leaving his affairs so heavily involved
that when the large debts presented
against the estate had been settled,
Ethel was left with only few hun
dreds a year, instead Of the thousands
she had always been led to expect,
"We wrote at once, begging her to
come TO us, which she did, poor child,