Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1883-03-28

Poor Mrs. Aylmer was dreadfully upset
by the news; she had already fixed upon
suitable wife for her grandson, and
was afraid, from his reticence on the
subject, that his bride was not all that
she could wish. Imagine, then, her
horror when a fortnight afterward Oliver
returned home and introduced to her,
what her worst fears had hardly antici-
pated-an italian wife. She looked lit
tie more than a child, with her soft
brown skin and large eyes, and shrank
in terror from the strong featured old
woman, whose provincial English
sounded so barbarous to her southern
ears.
And now commenced life of perpet-
ual chickering's and disagreements be-
tween all three members of this ILL
assorted family. Oliver either could not
or would not give any very clear account
of who or what his wife was, merely tell
ing his grandmother that she was his
equal in point of birth, and standing up
for her vehemently whenever she in
CURED, us she frequently did, the old
woman's wrath. Old Mrs. Aylmer, con-
sumed by jealousy, was only too glad to
soft Incidence and want Of knowledge
be forever finding fault with littleNorina's
OF English ways and manners; and az for
the poor young wife herself, even Oil
ver's devoted love could not compensate
her for the loss of her home, her reli-
giOn, her mother tongue. She was
strangely ignorant, and beyond just read
ing, writing and working knew nothing
and was as little able to enter into her
husbands intellectual tastes as she was
into themysteries of cooking and butter
making, the succession OF the crops, the
balancing of accounts, which epgrossed
SO large share Of his shrewd old grand
mothers thoughts. The poor child grew
thin and white, shivering over the fire
through an English winter; and even
when her baby came, a little mite of a
girl, it failed to rouse her from her mel
ancholy lethargy,
She was destined to be reused, how
ever, in way she had little dreamed of.
One lovely spring evening, when the air
blew in soft and balmy as in her own
Italy, and she was seated at the open
window, with her baby in her arms,
Oliver was carried past her into the
house by two laborers on the farm, and
borne all unconscious to his bed, from
whence he was never to rise again. He
had been ont riding all day, and had
been found half in, half out of ditch,
about mile from home, to all appear
ance dead. How the accident had hap
pened no one knew, for he never spoke
again; only his horse had returned to its
stable with its knees broken.
The village doctor was very ignorant,
and evidently had no idea OF how to
treat the case; and Norma, wakened by
love and jealously, kept away from her
husbands bedside the only person Ca
pable of doing him any good-his grand
mother. Whether from want of proper
care or from the nature of his accident,
certain it is that, at the end of a week
after his fatal fall, poor Oliver was no
more, and Norma left solitary young
widow, all alone in a strage land with
stern old Mrs. Aylmer.
One day towards the end of July, old
Mrs. Aylmer, with sudden energy deter
mined to make descent on some ten
ants who for months had been clamoring
for repairs to their tumble-down Gotta
ges, and investigate their complaints
herself. Down Hollow, the hamlet for
which she was bound, lay at consider
able distance from Fair Beeches, go she
started early, leaving Norma sitting as
usual in the orchard, with her baby in
her arms, apparently perfectly indiffer-
ent to her departure. The old woman
made long day of it, and was not home
till o'clock at night, owing to an acct
dent to the cart, her conveyance. On
her arrival at Fair Beeches, she was
greeted by the solitary maid servant
with the intelligence that Norma had
been out all day with her child, and had
not yet come home. Mrs. Aylmer was
both tired and cross, SO she merely told
Sarah to sit up for Norma, and herself
at once repaired to bed, where she was
soon sleeping heavily.
Meanwhile, through the long July
night the faithful servant sat anxiously
for her young mistress return,
till at last another morning dawned, aud
still Norma did not come. The whole
house was early astir, and quickly the
news of her disappearance spread
through the farm, and men and boys
round ab :ut the valley to look
for the missing woman.
AS the day waxed and waned, the
news arrived that Norma and her baby
had been seen four miles, six miles, lat
terly at eight miles from her home, and
beyond that nothing more was heard of
her. Henceforth, Mrs. Aylmer lived for
one object only-to amass gold; and for
this she starved herself, her servants,
her animals, allowed the house to fall
into decay, and almost, in parts, to
ruins; and for fifteen long years after
Norina's disappearance turned Fair
Beeches into the dismal abode of a
miser. During these fifteen years
Sarah continued to live with her, until
one morning, six years ago, she found
her dead in her bed at the advanced age
Of eighty nine, having retained all her
faculties to the last.
And thus the last known owner of the
house and property passed away, leav-
ing no successor, no will, surrounded by
ignorant rustlcs who knew nothing Of
either law or property. As months
rolled by, and no one claimed them, the
farm horses and implements were sold;
Sarah Fielding married thehead laborer,
and, on the pickings they had made,
hey set up the little village inn, in
which l was at that minute sitting.
Through all the long story, which I
have related in my own language, have
spoken no word to Sarah, afraid Of inter-
rupting aud confusing the old woman.
She now paused, breathlees with so much
speaking, and gazed inquiringly into my
lace. Thereupon, [ assumed an air of
profound wisdom, and said:
1T is quite clear, Mrs. Fielding, that
;he property belongs to divers
and she ought to be found, if
The is alive"
"To be sure, sir, she answered. 81
thought you were, maybe, q relation of
hem all, for you have got the white lock
md you are like Mr.. Oliver"
1 started. "What do you mean ?" I
lsked.
"Ah! forgot to tell you that the
Aylmers-many of them, at least-have
! silver-white lock of hair Just where
yours grows, sir; and they were very