Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-03-08
nBow about these Clairmonts ~ / asked

at a venture. " Do they live upon their OWE
land ?"
Begorra-you've got it there !" cried
O'Keefe. "They do nothing but live on
their own land. They've niver stirred of
it for more'n fifteen y ears.
Never stirred off of it ~
"Sorra fut beyond the park gates and
! the great brick wall. No mans OF has
| ever rested upon Mics Clairmont's face bal
ould Dennis the odgekeeper-the black.
mouthed spalpeen-more be token they
say she's grown into the purtiest girl in the
county, forbye having foive and twinty
thousand in her own right"
"What !" we both roared.
" Foive and twinty Thousand pounds,
repeated O'Keefe solemnly /; "snd wher
her ould cat of mother dies she'll come
in for the whole family estate"
"What is she ~ "Where is she p
"Who is she % "What in the devil is the
matter with her." shouted Bob and 1,
forming sort of strophe and antistropke
to the landlords chorus
O'keefe's account of the past history Of
the Clairmont family was a remarkable
one, and, when curtailed of his many Hi.
berLian digressions and meanderings,
amounted to this A certain Major Clair
mont had come into the county some six
teen years before, bearing with him large
sum in hard cash, snowy looking wife OF
rather foreign appearance, and pretty
little daughter about two years old. Hav-
ing expended portion OF the first item
upon the purchase of considerable estate
near Glenmahowley, he had taken up bis
residence there and awaited some recogni.
ton from the county families. This came
soon enough in the case of the Major,
who, as an old Guardsman, possessed rec
ognized social position, which was secured
by his own many admirable qualities.
1t WAS different with madame. The men
might drink the old claret of the soldier,
or take days shooting in his pheasant
preserves, but their wives made no sign.
Strange rumors were in circulation as to
the antecedents of Mrs. G.. Some said that
she had been upon the stage before her
marriage some that her career had been
more equivocal still There were individ.
uals who ventured to doubt that she pos.
sessed even now the little blue slip of paper
which civilization demands. 1t was this
rumor which some busybody brought to
the ears of the Major, coupling with it
the name of neighboring landed proprie-
tor. The Major was bull-necked, chol-
eric man. He chose out his heaviest hunt
ing cob and galloped furiously down the
avenue to interview the traducer of his
wife's character. The lodgekeeper was sur
prised to see the veteran horseman reel
in his saddle as he shot through the
gates, and then fall backward with dull
thud on to the dusty road. The local
practitioner pronounced it to be apoplexy,
while the family physician favored heart
disease-but whatever the cause the Ma
jors spirit had drifted far away from
Glenmahowley. It was then that that
fiery foreign strain which showed itself on
his wife's face asserted itself in her char
acter. She would live on the estates still
because he had been fond of them, but her
life should be spent in mourning her loss
and in educating her daughter in her own
way. Above all, never should che again
exchange word or look with any living be-
ing belonging to the county which had in
suited her and Indirectly caused her hus-
bands death. The great gates were walled
up, and only small Sits left through which
provisions and other necessaries ordered by
Dennis, the lodgekeeper, were handed. A
formidable row of spikes was planted on
the brick wall which had always sur
rounded the estate In this extraordinary
seclusion, cut off from the whole world,
Mrs. Clairmont and her daughter had now
passed fifteen years of their lives unseen
by human eyes, save those few of the En-
glish domestics who remained with them,
and perhaps of an occasional daring urchin
who might penetrate into the wood which
surrounded the great house. 1t was these
irregular scouts no doubt who had brought
word of the exceeding beauty of the young
lady, though no adult male had ever yet
had the privilege of being able to form an
opinion upon it. she was at present close
upon her eighteenth birthday.
Thus far o Keefe while Bob and l sat,
with elbows upon the table and chins upon
our hands, drinking in every word. Meth
er of us broke the silence for some little
time after he had concluded. Bob Elliott
pulled furiously at his pipe, while looked
dreamily out of the window at the matched
roofs of the cottages and the long, monot-
onous stretch of bog land in the distance.
"She is beautiful" asked Bob at last.
"She is that !"
"And rich ?" queried.
"Divil doubt of it"
We relapsed into another silence, in the
midst of which our worthy landlord, evi.
IDENTIFY thinking US the worst of company,
stole out of the room, walking for some
unknown reason upon the tips of his toes
as if he were afraid of waking US.
Left to ourselves, we became even more
meditative than before. Bob strolled rest
lessly up and down in front of the door
l whistled and continued to stare out OF
the window. We were both lost in our
own thoughts.
Fancy girl who has never even seen a
male fellow-creature !" calculated Bob at
last
"Who is unfettered by the conventional
tiles of civilization !" said l.
How artless she must be and how SIM
pie !" remarked my companion, twisting
his mustache.
"What a depth of pentup affection
there must be in that heart % | exclaimed,
with my corsair-like look of slumbrous
passion.
How charmingly childlike and roman
tic !" said Bob, smoothing his hair in the
glass.
How easy for a dashing young fellow
W VIII L az O"n
Election over Bob's shoulder
1t is a curious fact that for the remain.
der Of the day, though nothing in the
shape of a distraction turned up, neither
of US complained of the ennui of a resi-.
dence in Glenmahowley. We both seemed
suddenly reconciled to contemplative ex.
istence, and even became tolerant of Pen.
dleton, whose contentment under existing
circumstances had struck us hitherto as
nothing less than an insult. He came in
about supper. time with his sketch. book
and his despatched boots, apparently
as happy as if he were among the most
artistic scenery in the world. If it were
not for his shyness and reserve he would
be rather a pleasant fellow-that is, in
gentlemen's society, for his diffidence would
ruin him among women. He is tall, slim
and fair haired, rather good-looking young
man-decidedly more so than Bob.
did not sleep very well that night
neither did my companion. He showed
his tousled head round the corner of my
door somewhere about o'clock in the
morning.
Hello, Jack, he said, "are you asleep
mo"
"What was the figure again ?"
Twenty five" growled.
at thouOht IL was twenty Thanks