The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1889-03-16

in such case. And SO the old oak chest
kept its secret-if it had one-well
1t was universally admitted that, to view
Madden at its best, you must visit it in the
Autumn when the September sun was setting
behind it background of hills, and the first
finger of decay was passing over its woods and
copses, touching them lightly and painting
them crimson and brown and golden, with
the iuimitable tintS taken from nature S own
palette. If ever Madden Court was beautiful
and all allowed that it was so-it was beau
tiful then; more beautiful even than in the
early Spring time, when buds were shooting
and leaves unfolding day by day, or IN the
winter, when snow covered and hid the green
slopes and icicles hung from the branches.
And it was on a September day, early IN the
present century, when the place fairest
to look upon, that Sir Hugh Halliwel brought
home his bride.
She was, it had been reported, OF Spanish
lineage, and Sir Hugh had met her and fallen
victim to her charms while seeking distrac-
ton and forgetfulness, after the death of his
first wife, in foreign travel. But who she was
and whence she came, beyond the mere cir
eumsiance of her being of foreign extraction
though she spoke English well enough
was not and never was known.
People who had pitied the bereaved man in
the first flush and outbreak of his griet ex
claimed in wonder and contempt when they
heard Of the brevity Of its duration. That is,
they wondered until they saw the new Lady
HaIliwell, aud then they, or at any rate the
masculine portion Of the community, wonder
ed no more, bat attested their conviction as to
the bridegroom's good fortune and taste, and
confirmed it with the many oaths Of the period.
Their wives aud daughters certainly deemed
il only becoming on their part to throw up
their hands in scandalXsd amazement at the
hckleuess Of men generally and the unseemli-
ness ola widower, whose tears should scarcely
have dried upon his cheeks, marrying again
in less than three months; yet even they
though grudgingly aud with sigh aad shake
Of their heads ss q token OF respect on their
part, at any rate, 10 the deParsed-allowed
that Lady Isabella was vastly handsome, with
most elegant shape, and the manners Of
Princess Of the royal blood-bu,-
somehow there was always "bot' when
her ova sex spoke of the second Lady Halli
veil Female prejudice, Of eOurse-what
else could it Be, seeiag that there sas not one
ofshsir aamberin the whole county ~bo could
bold candle to her in respect Of personal
appearance or elegance Of pArRsrs
Bot on that same September dAy when
Lady HAIli~ell saw her future home for the
6rss tine. bathsd IN snssshise sad standing
Rroadly on its wooded eminencv, ihe expires
sioa which crossed kssT face, aacv her FIRST
exclamation of pleasure was bot a gloomy
one, suggestive Of susy and discouseut vi,b
her los; Cor there vas slFsAdy an heir to tins
I fair domain. The irsi wife, wbo bad died,
had lefs behind her son, and consequently
no child Of hers might hope 70 inherit The +
estate and reign at AAddon in the time to .
cone.
she vas Only the second wife, And, wish al .
hsr pride and beauty, Of less consequence .
shaa a sickly baby. '.And those sickIy babies +
80 seldom die, she reflected bitterly.
+ For The young hsir ~as q weakly child,
though. thinks to The care OF bis faithful parse
and the parv eosuisy ar, he grev 10 be q
sioas enough yeash. Il vas scarcely 10 be
wouderrd al that this sFusiy nurse, Deborah
Brand, Who had beca bis father usFse before
his. should nourish HafavorAble and hostile
shoagbss toward the new Madam, AFTER the
manner of most old Fvsaiaers, who consider
i ihsir daiy to lock apOa a stspmo,heF, whz,
ever her character or eoaiaos, as a sappiaa,cr
and intrsder--par,icaiaFIy Que vith such
black bru~s and naughty airs, who vas snoSu
10 Be "PApiaheF.
She watched oVrr her yoans charge wish
= vigilance which ~As practically ansiecPing,
and which she never relaxed aatil be vas OF
saskcient age 10 be deemed capable Of taking
becd 20 his own Ways Never. ahiess It vas
impossible to avoid so dcisg. wOald she leave
the young heir alone with bis stepmo,hsr, and
never-after the time Shsu, a. a mere baby,
be narrowly escaped being drowned in the old
hsbpond. through. as Deborah declared and
maintained, .ha, lAdy's negligence would
she lei him ous Of her sight.
The sweetmeAis, TOO, which Lady Isabella,
no dosb, desiFoas Of winning his childish
confidence and iafanlile saeesions, gave him
from her own bonbonnisFe, we're, IL possible,
rathlessly eonGsested, notwithstanding ihs
prolonged and Angaished ho~ls Of the de-
spoiled one She declared the nasty foreign
muck made The child i'll; aud, indeed, on one
occasion the child was very SICK after having
pAr;Aken OF his slepmothsr's boaRIy.
Ia vain the latter carried complaints of the
nurse iusolence aud overbeaTing conduct TO
Sir Hugh. and demanded that she shoald be
dismissed, and one Of her ladyship's own
choosing installed in her stead. In this matter,
and in this only, SIR Hugh was adaman,, and
equally impervious to smiles or tears, earesses
or yituperstion. He had promised the child's
dead mother that the faithful Deborah, to
whose arms she had committed him as her
own grew too feeble, should never be sent
away or deprived of her post 50 long as the
boy required her services
This be had sworn, aud would abide by bis
oath come what would, though in every other
matter his lady might and should have her
undisputed way. ii
So Deborah remained, and the young Reg
inald grew apaee and throve amazingly under
her fostering care. In course of time baby
brother was born to him, who soon became
the one object of his mothers existence, and
the centre and sole possessor Of her affections;
though, with his birth, the growing expression
of euyious discomfort which sullied her hand
some features, increased and eliminated.
By this time the young master, as the old
servants of the household delighted to call
him, was sturdy young urehin of some three
or four years. 1t was this last expression
which, when she heard it, made his step
mothers eyes fash FIRE, and caused her to
bite her full red lips until they bled. He,
she would mutter fereely to herself; that
little interloperl" which was hard on Regi-
nald, and, to say the least, unreasonable,
seeing that he was the first born-"Yhoi is not
to be named with my son, my Anthony. But
he shall never lord it over me and mine when
his father dies. Poor weak fool but for him
I'D he r;tifnI vow I conld have SAINT auav