Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-05-27
THE COUSINS.
A COUNTRY rALE-BY MISS wITTosD.

1923 the tragedy Of Julian :" IN 1926 - The Eos
earl :" in 1928 " Riesz" and - Charles l. This
sketch OF Engish lie appeared in one Of five vol
In 1882 This story 3 reprinted by the RECORD
Usios fair sample Of some Of the magazine
stories Of some d the earlier days Of the century,
Towards the middle of the principal
street, in my native town of Cranley,
stands, or did stand, for l speak of things
that happened many years back, very
long.fronted, very regular, very ugly brick
house, whose large graveled court. hanked
on each side by offices reaching to the
street, was divided from the pavement by
iron gates and palisades, and row OF Lom-
hardy poplars, rearing their slender col
umus so as to vail, without shading, a
mansion which evidently considered itself,
and was considered by its neighbors, as
holding the first rsnk in the place. That
mansion, indisputably the best in the
town, belonged of course to the lawyer
and that lawyer was, as may not unfre-
quently be found in email places, one of
the most eminent solicitors In the county.
Richard Molesworth, the individual IN
question, was 4 person obscurely born and
slenderly educated, who, by dintofprudence,
industry, integrity, tact and luck, had risen
through the various gradations OF writing
to be himself the head of a great office,
aud man of no small property or slight
Importance. Half of Cranley belonged TO
him, for he had the passion for brick and
mortar often observed amongst those who
have accumulated large fortunes in totally
different pursuits, and liked nothing better
than running mp rows and terraces, repair
ing villss, and rebuilding farm-houses. The
better half of Craniey called him master,
to say nothing OF six or seven snug farms
in the neighborhood, of the goodly estate
and manor Of Hinton, famous for its pre-
serves and fisheries, or OF a command of
floating capital which borrowers, who came
to him with good securities In their hands,
found almost inexhaustible. 10 short, he
was one of those men with whom every
thing had prospered through life land, In
spite OF profession too often obnoxious to
an unjust, because sweeping prejudice,
there was pretty universal feeling amongst
all who knew him that his prosperity was
deserved. A kind temper, moderate use
OF power and influence, a splendid hospital.
ity, and that judicious hberality which
shows itself in small things as well as in
great ones for it is by twopenny savings
that men get an i'll name), served to in
sure his popularity with high and low.
Perhaps even his tall, erect, portly figure,
his good .humored countenance, cheerful
voice, and frank address, contributed some-
thing to his reputation; his remarkable
want of pretension or assumption OF any
sort certainly did, and as certainly the
absence of everything striking, clever, or
original in his conversation. That he must
be man OF personal as well as of profess
sionsl ability, no one tracing his progress
through life could for a moment doubt !;
but, reversing the witty epigram on our
wittiest monarch, he reserved his wisdom
for his actions, and whilst all that he did
showed the most admirable sense and
Judgment, he never said word that rose
above the level of the merest common
place-vapid, inoffensive, dull and safe.
So accomplished, both In what he was
and in what he was not, our lawyer, at the
time of which we write, had been for many
years the oracle of the country gentlemen,
held all public offices not inconsistent with
each other, which their patronage could
bestow, and in the shape of stewardships,
trusts and agencies, managed half the
landed estates in the county. He was even
admitted into visiting intercourse, on foot.
cratic circles of country society," society
which is, for the most part, quite as exclu-
sive as that of London, though In differ
ent way. For this he was well suited, not
merely by his own unaffected manners,
high animal spirits, and nicely of tact. but
by the circumstances of his domestic ar.
rangements. After having been twice mar.
ried, Mr. Wordsworth found him, at nearly
His first wife had been homely, frugal,
managing woman, whose few hundred
pounds and her saving habits had, at that
period of his life, for they were early
united, conduced in their several ways to
enrich and benefit her equally thrifty but
far more aspiring husband. She never had
a child and, after doing him all possible
good in her lifetime, was so kind as to die
lust as his interest and his ambition re-
CURED more liberal housekeeping and
higher connection, each of which, as he
well knew. would repay its cost. For con-
nection accordingly he married, choosing
the elegant though portionless sister of a
poor baronet, by whom he had two daugh-
ters, at intervals of seven years the eldest
being Just of sufficient age to succeed her
mother as mistress of the family, when she
had the irrepaTable misfortune to lose the
earliest, the tendeIest, and the most inestim-
able friend that young woman can have.
Very precious was the memory OF her
dear mother TO Agnes Molesworth AL
though six years had passed between her
death and the period at which our little
story begins, the affectionate daughter mad
never ceased to lament her loss.
It was to bis charming daughters that
Mr. Molesworth's pleasant house owed its
chief attraction. Conscious of his own
deficient education, no pains or money had
been spared in accomplishing them to the
utmost hight Of fashion.
The least accomplished was, however,
as not unfreguently happens, by far the
most striking and many high-born and
wealthy client, disposed to put himself
thoroughly at ease at his solicitors table,
and not at all shaken in his purpose by the
sight of the pretty Jessy-a short, light,
airy girl, with a bright sparkling coun-
tenance. all lilies and roses, and dimples
and smiles, sitting, exquisitively dressed,
in an elegant morning-room, with her
guitar in her lap, her harp at her side, and
her drawing table before her-has suddenly
felt himself awed into his best and most
respectful breeding, when introduced to
her retiring but self'possessed elder sister,
dressed with an almost matronly simplicity,
and evidently full not of her own airs and
graces, but of the modest and serious cour.
tesy which beseemed her station as the
Youthful mistress of the house.
Dignity, mild and gentle, but still q
most striking dignity, was the prime char
acteristic of Agnes Molesworth in look and
in mind. Her beauty was the beauty Of
sculpture, as contradistiDguished from that
of painting depending mainly on form
and expression, and little on color. There
could hardly be a stronger contrast than
existed between the marble purity of her
finely. grained complexion, the softness o.
her deep gray eye, the calm composure o