Evening star., 1883-09-29
ROSE AMBLER'S EARLY LIFE.
A Romantic Chapter Not Hitherto Re-
lated.

lated.
Stratford, Conn.,, dispatch to-day says: TWO
or three days ago the Sun reporter waited in
StratfOrds little depot for q delayed railroad
train to take him over to Bridgeport. An old
lady with q white shawl and penchant for
gossip was his companion. She followed the
village custom, of course, and talked Of the
mystery surrounding Rose Ambler's death. She
had known the Inflated young woman. She
knew Capt. Clark, Roses stalwart fisherman
father; she knew Norman Amber, the divorced
husband; she knew William Lewis, the suspect
ed lover; she knew. in Short all, or nearly all,
of those whose names have been brought into
the story of the crime. Recounting reminis-
cences of each, she gave the newspaper man q
glance at a romance that colored Roses early
life, a chapter not hitherto opened to public
view.
"When Rose was between 17and 1S years DID,
began the old lady. toying with the fringe Of
her white shawl. 'she was q beautiful girl. so
everybody hereabout agreed. People who saw
her during the last few years OF her lfe since
she suffered SO much, could have no idea of the
bright, winsOme face and cOmely form of that
earlier time. She was the belle Of StratfOrd
town. dozen suitOrs sought her favor. To
all she gave the same cordial attention, and all
she dismissed with the same apparent uncon-
Germ. Norman Amber, whose father had grown
rich on war contracts from the government, was
among the crowd Of young men who strove to
win her smiles.
She cared no more for him than for others, so
| 1t seemed, but he was persistent. There came
to Stratford man named Brown, James or Ja-
son Brown. He was Rose Clark's senior by q
dozen years or more. He had been a sailor
from his boyhoOd so he sad but withal he had
the bearing of man who had seen much of
good society and profted by it. He was an in
valid. He had been very sick with fever, and
had come to StratfOrd for recuperatiOn. He
brought q little cedar boat, and nearly every
afternoon he was out on the water.
He met Rose at a village picnic, and was at
tracted by her beauty. She was fascinated by
his culture and by his ready wit. The girl
knew how to manage an oar as did few of the
young men of her acquaintance. Her father
had taught her the art. 1t was not unnatural
that she and the invalid visitor should become
at first fast friends, and then almost inseparable
spent In boating, she rowing while he, hardly
| strong enough for work, entertained her with
stories of the adventures in which he had
figured in distant lands.
And it was natural, too. perhaps that the
girl, with love for romance in her composition,
soon grew to care more for the invalid sailor
than for all younger beauX Of StratfOrd. whose
achievements were bound down to cOrn-husll-
ing. bees and the local ballroom. One after
noon out on the water there was a sentimental
roughly carved coral heart, was placed upon the
black-eyed wOmans finger. She was pledged to
be the sailors bride.
Time were on and Captain Brown left the viii
lage on long voyage. Rose Clark was to be
his wife as soon as he returned and he was
then to go to sea no more. A year passed by
and there came no word from him to her.
though whaling vessels returning reported that
he had been met and was well. Rose Clark
was piqued. She had not yet learned that
NOT ffon <hn frcf of int,
apparent carelessness of her far-away lover net
tied her, and she determined, in willful
wOmans way, to show the little world In which
she moved in StratfOrd that the sailors cava-
lier treatment could not humble or embarrass
her.
Norman Ambler's handsome horses and Nor
man Amber's shining carriage began to show
itself with a suggestive frequency under the
NAPLES on the lawn by Captain Clarks cottage.
Within a month or two the bells of the little
Methodist church of the hamlet rang out mer-
rily. and with blossoms in her hair Rose walked
through throng of villagers up the aisle. and
heard pronounced the words which made her
Norman AmblerS wife.
Early one night. month or so after the we'd
ding. a New York train stopping at StratfOrd
left single passenger. who, careless of the OBJ
servatiOn of the half dozen idlers at the sta
tiOn. walked away in the growing darkness. 1t
was the man who in the last summer time had
promised to make Rose Clark his wife. The
little time he had seen Norman Ambler's bride.
had met her at her own gate, there to learn for
the first time of her marriage.
1t was a stormy scene that followed and Rose
heard heated denunciatiOn of her husband, and
threats to do him harm were siIenced only bv
tears and entreaties. The sailor showed that
his conduct had been honorable. that he had
been duped. Norman Amber. so the allegation
went, had known the why and the wherefore of
the trouble which came suddenly between the
sailor and his betrothed, and series of crcum-
stances which had misrepresented them. each
to the other. had been devised, not without the
jealous lovers cunning.
But what Rose Amber thought the world
never knew, and if she suffered from any reve-
| latiOn that Capt. Brown had made concerning
an unscrupulOus rivals work her endeavor was
to conceal it. 1t is not impossible, though that
when months later William Lewis came to whis-
per unkind things OF Norman Amber he found
a listener who would have been less attentive
had not the seed of suspicion aud dstrust been
already sOwn.
''And what became Of BrOwn?"
'He died, so we heard" said the old lady
draping her white shawl about her shoulders
and going out from the little stations waiting
room to climb upon the cars.