Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-07-22
LADY WILFJL.

= Ii,bt,-d from basement to roof, and
''nrdS of gaiety and mirth were to be
taaT5 on al sides. 1t was lady Wllful's
,TTsuty-first birthday, and great gath
nc had assembled to do her honor.
Ta-Iy in the day deputation of ten
ants and villagers had gone up to the
bsI 70 present Lady Wilful with a
-sToII h4aring a formal congratulatiOn
n her having attained heI majority; at
no clock there had been a dinner for
,ba tenants: at five, huge tea for the
,-flIs GERS ana children; and at eleven
The county gentry were arriving in great
s,Tes to do the fair Chdte'Oine honor.
lady WIIful herself was moving
.nout the large ballroom studying tie
1Isssure and comfort of her guests and
Taeeiying With graceful thanks the nu-
mar5us g1Oi wishes for her happiness
which was shoWered upon her, On this
day she had come into uncontrolled
noSsession of half a million of money;
Wbimp'e Friars and all belonging TO it
were her own. She was extremely
beautiful, with large eyes of that deep
gsntianella blue which is as rare as II is
lovely: her hair was of reddish golden
hue. and her features were of the deli
cafe cIearuesS of a cameo. In addition
toal these charms, her figure was one
Of exquisite grace and elegance. She
nuCht to have been, and looked, radi-
antly happy; yet the question of the
evening was, What's amiss with Lady
Wilful tonight -
1t was a question no one was able TO
answer. although all could see that
something had gone grieyously 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
0n her breast. All, those diamonds
It was the presentation of them that
had given rise to the question, what s
amiss with Lady Wilful to-nigh II"
The ornament they formed was star
in the centre Of which were large stones
IF exceeding beauty; on the outer edge
was 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 cerIainly not gift which
should have brought tears to the eyes
Of a great heiress, more especially ou
the day Of her majority.
OF course her name was not really
Lady Wilful''; but that was the pet
name given to her in early childhood,
and, like most of such appellations. il
had clung to her, and, unlike the gen.
erality Of them, il still suited her. Her
wllfulneSs however was invariably liz
the direction of something good. Her
aunt, Mrs. Stamer, with whom she
lived, always addressed her and spoke
Of her as katb irine; TO mere acquain-
tances she was Miss Dundas; but to all
her friends she was Lady Wllful.
At twelve years Of age Lady Wllfui
had been left 10 the care OF Mrs. Stamer
ber guardians being Lord Ormsby and
Sir John Baldwin. Mrs. Stamer was a
widow, with one son, Hugh, the men,
UeT for SWamptown. the little place of
which Whimple FTlaTS was the great
house; and TO him Mrs. Stamer inten
ded uniting her niece Katharine Dun
daS.
But Lady WIlful had formed other
views. She was an exceedingly clever
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 one of
the richest heiresSes of the day, she made
up her mind 10 marry only man she
should love. She prudently 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 cadet
OF the house of Brabason, one Captain
the Honorable darcy Brabason; and
Darcy, Lady Wilful determined,
should become her lcrd and master.
He was handsome one of the hand
sOmeSt men in tOwn-tall, stately, with
the yellow hair and blue eyes which
we're hereditary in the Brabason family
"a man with rigid notions of caste and
race, and Withal the most winning
voice and fascinating manner possible.
Truly darcy Brabason was the
pride OF his regiment. Well-bOrnt
Was not the Braba o. family the old
est IN the PeerageI Nay, the race was
lar older than the title; and darcy
would tell you gravely that his brother
was only the seventeenth earl. They
lad royal blood in their veins too. Was
he accomplished? He was the deadliest
shot" In the kingdom; aud who so
largean 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 IN his profession as one of the
Test soldiers of the day.
As lie was the hero of the girls, their
CARING, their heau-ideal, 50, unfortu
nalely, was he the terror of the moth
els; Tor the Brabason family were poor,
ahd had been so for generations; and
Cap'aln Brabdson, living in the style
10 which he had been accustomed, soon
ian through his younger sons portion
and found himself al siX-and-twenty
with only hls ofGcer's pay" He had
also two rooms furnished with great
Spiendor, maii-phaeton with pair of
splendid bays, two chargers, six hun
IerS, gigantic st. Bernard named Bob,
and, In addition, something ike thou
sand pounds owing in various parts of
The kingdom.
1 Ike darcy for his own sake, "
saiu gracious Belgravin matron one
uSy' after he had stopped a moment to
greet her in his especially winning way
- Ike the poor boy dearly; but
Keep Gertrude out of his way
hOW Mrs. Stamer mathematical the
qay When Lady Wilful met darcy
b1aUaSon! How she abused him and
Scoided the gill for dancing with him
~ oIien, and keeping HIM by her so
l am surprised at you, Katharine"
sue SAID severely: to go down to supper