The Penn's Grove record., 1885-07-18
LADY WILFUL.

The old house at Whimple FTiars
was lighted from basement to roof, and
sounds of gaiety and mirth were to be
heard on all sides. 1t was lady WlltuPs
twenty- first birthday, and a great gath
erinp had assembled to do her honor.
Early in the day a deputation OF ten
ants and villagers had gone up to the
hall to present Lady Wilful with Il
scroll bearing a formal congTatulatlon
on her having attained her majority; at
two o clock there had been a dinner Tor
the tenants; at five, a huge tea for he
villa gers and children; and at eleven
the county gentry were arriving in great
force to do the fair Chdtelddne honor.
Lady Wllful herself was moving
about the large ballroom studying the
pleasure and comfort of her guests and
receiving with graceful thanks the nu-
merous good wishes for her happiness
which was showered upon her, On this
day she had come into uncontrolled
possession of half a million of money;
Whimple Friars and all belonging to 1t
were her own. She was extremely
beautiful, with large eyes of that deep
g~entianella blue which is as rare as 1t is
lovely; her hair was of a reddish golden
hue, and her features were of the DELI
cate cIealness of a cameo. In addition
TO all these charms, her figure Was n
of exquisite grace and elegance. She
ought to have been, and looked, radi-
antly happy; yet the question of the
evening was, Whats amiss with Lady
Wilful tonight ?"
1t was a question no n was able to
answer. although all could see that
something had gone grievonsly wrong
with her. Her blue eyes had that hard
cleaning look which so often comes
after much weeping, and the faint
streak of pink which usually tinged
her cheeks had faded, leaving them as
pale as the white fire of the diamonds
on her breast. All, those diamondsl
1t was the presentation of them that
had given rise to the question, whats
amiss with Lady Wilful to-nigh II"
The ornament they formed was a star
in the centre of which were large stones
of exceeding beauty; on the outer edge
was a double row of smaller diamonds
which added greatly to the brilliant eff
feet of the whole; the setting which
was of silver, was evidently very an
tique. IL was certainly not a gift which
should have brought tears to the eyes
of a great heiress, more especially on
the day of her m9jority.
OF course her name was not really
"LaGy Wilful"; but that was the pet
name given to her in early childhood,
and, like most of such appellations, IL
had chung to her, and, unlike the gen.
crafty of them, it still suited her, Her
~wilfulness however was invariably ia
the direction of something good. Her
aunt. Mrs. Stamer, with whom she
lived, always addressed her and spoke
OF her as Kath irine; to mere acquain-
tances she was Miss Dundas, but to all
her friends she was Lady Wilful.
At twelve years of age Lady Wilful
had been left to the care of Mrs, Stamer
her guardians being Lord Ormsby ard
| Sir John Baldwin. Mrs. Stamer was a
| widow, with one son, Hugh, the mem
Der for Swamptown, the little place of
which Whimple Friars was the great
house; and to him Mrs. Stamer inten
ded uniting her niece Katharine Dun
das.
But Lady Wllful had formed other
views. she was an exceedingly cIeVer
girl, perfectly capable of Judging for
herself in all things; and when, at eigh-
teen. she was presented and ran the
gauntlet of the London Sc lson as II of
the richest h~eiresses of the day, she made
up her mind TO marry only a man she
should love. She p%rudently declined a
dozen noble alliances, which she in
stinctively felt were prompted as much
by her wealth as herself, and until the
previous season was still as unfettered
as she had been two years before. Dur
ing that season however she met a cadet
of the house of Brabason, one Captain
the Honorable DARCY Brabason; and
darcy, Lady Wilful determined,
should become her lord and master.
He was handsome n of the hand
soonest men in town-tall, stately, with
the yellow hair and blue eyes which
were hereditary in the Brabason family
"a man with rigid notions of caste and
race, and withal the most winning
voice and fascinating mi possible.
Truly darcy Brabason was the
pride of his regiment. Well-born?
Was not the Braba OF family the old
est in the Peerage2 Nay, the race was
far older than the title; and DARCY
would tell you gravely that his brother
was only the seventeenth earl. They
had royal blood in their veins too. Was
he accomplished? He was the deadliest
''shot" in the kingdom; and who so
large an array of brushes as Darcy
He could do almost everything was
musical, sang with a rich baritone
voice, played the piano and violin
equally well, danced to perfection, was
noted 10 his profession as one of the
hest soldiers of the day.
AS he was the hero of the girls, their
darling, their b%eau-ideal, 80, unfortu
nately, was he the terror of the moth
ers; for the Brabason family were poor,
and had been so for generations, and
Captain Brabason, living in the style
to which he had been accustomed, 500
ran through his younger sons portion
and found himself at six-and.twenty
with only his officers pay" He had
also two rooms furnished with great
spIendor, a mail -phaeton with a pair of
splendid bays, two chargers, six hun
tiers, a gigantic st. Bernard named Bob,
and, in addition, something like thou
sand pounds owing in various parts of
the kingdom.
81 like darcy for his own sake"
said a gracious Belgravin matron one
day, after he had stopped a moment to
greet her in his especially winning way
~ like the poor boy dearly; but |
keep Gertrude out of his way"
How Mrs. Stamer mathematical the
day when Lady Wilful met darcy
Brabasonl How she abused him and
scolded the gil for dancing with him
sc often, and keeping hlm by her so
long'
81 am surprised at you, Katharine"
she said severely: to 90 down TO supper