Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1884-08-08
AN AMERICAN HEIREsS.

AN AMERICAN HEIRESS.
| Lady Francis Trimston was charming.
She was also clever, wonderfully well
preserved, had natural complexion, a
| moderate jointure, good milliner, and
had only one chld-a son.
She had experienced little care or sor-
row, for her husband was an old man
when she married him. and he was gather
ed to his fathers before be became very
disagreeable. He was the younger son of
a Duke, and moderately we'll off.
Lady Francis life-or, at least, her
widowed life-had been strewn with roses;
and, although she could have settled down
comfortably again. she preferred to retain,
as she said, her freedom.
1T is so nice to marry an old man; you
are widow quite young, you know she
murmurad to her dear friend, Glare Mel
ton.
81 suppose it is, DEAR" sighed Glare,
| whose husband was young scamp.
Few of us are perfectly content with
our lot. and Lady Francis had grievance
that marred sadly her happy, butterfly ex-
istence. Do what she could, her son Jack
would not marry.
s'Dear Jack is so poor ard so extrava-
CANT, wonder what will be his end ?''
! she sighed.
''He will marry rich girl of course"
said Clare.
SIT is his duty to do so, as L tell him;
but he only laughs at me-" sighed Lady
| Francis.
| "Where is he now ?"
shooting Indians or Buffaloes, or some
other wild animals in America"
when do you expect him back 20
81 am sure I don't KNOWN month
Or two perhaps
Jack Trimston had been out West, hunt
ing buffaloes, shooting prairie chickens,
racing Mexican mustangs, and playing
pokers with the miners. He had had a
pleasant time of it, for he liked America
and the Americans, and he was sorry to
have to return so soon to England.
But life in America is expensive, and
Jack, who had extravagant tastes and a
knack of getting through with money,
had spent in two months the sum he cal
culated would last him four, and he Was
in the middle Of the Atlantic, on board an
her friend that he was shooting Indians and
buffaloes. The passengers on hoard were
chiefly Americans who were going to Eu-
rope on pleasure trip. There were one
or two pretty girls among them, and Jack,
who was dangerous lady g man common
ced hot Irritation with one of them be-
fore he was two days at sea.
| Katie G. Brown was nice girl, and
had pair of soft, brown eyes, that always
did great execution when they opened
fire. as they did now upon Jack. The
Brown party consisted of three, for, be-
sides Katie G. Brown there was Mary l..
Riown-a fine honest American girl, with
no pretense t. beauty, but with look of
strength and character about her homeIy
face-and Samuel Washington Brown,
who had made money in Frisco In the
good old days of gold mining and wild
speculation. He invested part of it in a
silver mine in Nevada. which turned out
a gigantic success, and Samuel was now
worth his good S. 200 900.
Jack Trimston was pretty deep in the
intricacies Of hard filtration with Katie
G. Brown before he heard. who Samuel
was. 1t was his friend General G. Jones
who enlightened him.
81 guess, stranger, that girl has got a
heap" he SAID.
"A heap of what ?" asked Jack, care
lessly.
GA heap of dollars. 1 calculate Samuel
W. Brown is worth a million of your
money. always beard he had only two
children-daughtefs. 'Spose that brow +.
eyed friend of yours will have her half
million of pounds"
Jack Trimston was astonished.
"By Jove if my mother heard of this
fortune she would 60 mad ~ he calculated
to himself. "Fancy, half million of
money! Ye gods! what fun 1 should
have spending it!''
The Brown party landed at Queenstown,
and went on to Killarney, while Jack
came over to London. 1t was arranged
when they parted that the Browns would
wife to tell him of their arrival in Lon
don, and Jack had promised to show them
the sights and make them generally
pleasant.
Lady Trimston was delighted to have
her dear Jack back again. He was look
ing, too. she thought, so handsome and Sc
bronZed.
"Any girl would fall in love with him,
my DEAR" she said, complacently, to her
bosom friend, Glare Melton.
s'He can be very nice when he likes,'
murmured Glare.
Jack, who wanted money badly, was
very nice just now to his mother. He de.
scribed to her his experiences of Ameri
can girls. and Lady Francis was deeply
interested in everything relating to hel
sex.
"They are really pretty and not at all
bad style, but their accent is abomi-
nable," she sighed.
''You get used to it after time" SAID
Jack. 81 know such nice American girl