The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-04-25

"What an extraordinary woman! J! ne
I said pensively, to Mr.. Ruddulph, to whom
/ he felt very grateful
'Truly awful" replied Mr.. Riddulph,
with a laugh.
In the meanwhile Mrs. ConwayHope
was giving her opinion OF the two gentle
men in the drawing-rOom.
'There is nothing in that poor Scotch
clergyman" she said; 'but Mr. Riddulph
is clever man"
The "clever man." however avoided the
! snare she laid to entrap him again into
! conversation when he returned 10 the
! drawing-room. The moon had risen and
was shining on the gray towers of Ross
more and the dusky sleeps below.
"Come out on the terrace, Miss Stewart"
| he said, approaching Leonora, and feeling
sure that in October Mrs. Conway-Hope
! must have rheumatism in some part of her
| angular form. You love the moonlight,
| i am quite sure"
"And how are you sure?" asked Leon
ora, smiling.
'By certain signs and tokens; by that
wondrous sympathy which makes some
natures open to US, while others are II
/ blank, dull page"
/ They went out together, and stood there
/ in the silver darkness OF the night. At
4 first both were almost silent. The great
/ stiffness around, the weird white shadows
/ where the moonbeams crept through the
tall dark frs, the thoughts in their own
hearts, perhaps, made their lips grow
dumb.
Leonora was thinking, "Shall tell him
tell him he has an enemy close at hand
/ trying to do him harm ?" And Mr.. Bid
| dulph was thinking, This is the sweetest
womanl If | were but free" And he
1 -frr
| Leonora heard thai sigh, and glanced up
at her companions pale, grave face, on
which, at this moment, glinting moon
/ beam shown. But the other young peo-
/ pie had now followed the example OF their
/ hostess, and appeared on the terrace NAL
colin Fraser was hiding his injured feel
ingS by an animated conversation with
Miss Maud Lee, the Rev. Andrew Mac
/ donald, in his mild way, was devoting
! himself to the younger sister, and Mrs
! COnway-Hope, mentally thinking how
very ill-bred it was OF Nora to leave her
| alone, had taken refuge in a novel.
And while her guests are thus amusing
] themselves, we may as well learn some
/ thing more OF this James Biddulph, whom
/ Leonora Stewart had Just been so mystic
/ riously warned not to put her trust in.
Across the broad, blue waters of the
I loch, which laps round three sides of the
! iutting headland on which stands the
! house OF Rossmore, a grey, substantial
mansion is to be seen which, some twenty
7 five years ago, was built by certain Col.
Biddulph, an Englishman, who lived and
died there.
A gloomy, disappointed man, who, it
was said, chose this lonely but lovely
spot to end his days in, far away from the
friends of his youth and manhood. And
| he sought no new ones. He buried him.
! self here alone, with his books, and per-
haps vague dreams and theories, which
/ satisfied his peculiar mind better than
the passing pleasures OF the world. A
man must have something to hope and
/ live for, and may be this grim old hermit
/ had fixed his hopes on a higher standard
/ than those with whom he used to live
! At all events, he sought no fellowship with
his kind, and an accident only introduced
him to his neighbor, Mr.. Stewart of Ross
more.
1t was in the bitter winter weather, and
/ the loch was rough and dangerous, but
| this did not deter Col. Biddulph from
crossing the water whenever it suited his
convenience to do so. And one dark De-
cember afternoon, as he was returning to
Dunbaan-so his property was named-a
squall struck his light boat, and the old
man and his boatman were in imminent
danger of their lives as they struggled in
the rough and icy surge.
The accident was seen from the win
dows OF RossmOre, and the gallant laird
lost no time in hurrying to the assistance
| of his ungenial neighbor. Risking his
own life by doing So Stewart had a boat
launched, and, with one OF his keepers,
| put off to endeavor to save the almost eX-
hausted men in the water; and it was
only after desperate efforts that they were
able to do this, and Col. Biddulph was
carried into the house of Rossmore in an
entirely unconscious condition.
When he recovered, his cold stoicism
melted before the natural gratitude of his
heart, and from that day Stewart OF
/ Rossmore was a welcome guest under his
/ roof. And occasionally, also, he would
cross the loch, and talk to the laird in that
hard, stern fashion of his, in which he
ever put the worst colOring on the motives
OF his fellow men. Thus LeonOra had
seen Col. Biddulph, and the colonel knew
it was his friends intention to leave his
ancestral acres to his sisters child.
As years wore on Mr.. Stewart died, and
Leonora came into possession OF Ross
, more; and a year later, far away from
kith and kin, the stern old man who lived
( at Dunbaan also passed away from the
world in which some blight had evidently
fallen on the years OF his earlier man
! hood.
After he was gone, every one who had
lived around him wondered who would
be his successor. His elder brother, Gen.
Biddulph, was dead also, and had left a
widow, but no children. There was, a
third Biddulph, a lawyer, and shrewd
man, who had amassed a considerable
fortune, and who lived still, and was nat
urally supposed to be his br ther's heir.
But he was not. Dunbaa-l and a large
sum of money were left to the son of this
lawyer-James Biddulph, barrister, and
man of some thirty years; and after a
little while, some two months before
Leonora Stewart received the strange mes
sage about her neighbOr, the new owner
had come to stay at Dunbaan.
He made Leonora's acquaintance by
bringing over to Rossmore a bequest
which his uncle had left to the niece of
his old friend. This bequest consisted of
a valuable diamond necklace. The col
onel had never been married, and
Leonora's neighbors wondered where the
old man had picked up this splendid
heirloom, which he now had left to a
stranger, probably out OF gratitude to the
laird.
Be this as it may, the old mans gift
drew the two young people into sudden
intimacy. This was but natural. 1t was
bond between them, and between them