Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-12-18
CHAPTER v.

Lord Barnstaple, who owned many acres in North Devon, was not particularly fond of visiting the county from which he took his title. He was a very rich man, owing estates in other parts of England upon which he was more or less bound to reside; moreover, he had moor and @ deer-forest in Scotland which engaged his attention from the twelfth of August until late in the autumn. Lady Barnstaple, however, was wont, at the close of the London season, to betake herself for weeks or even months, to Brentstow Cottage, which was hardly a cottage in the ordinary acceptation of the term. It may have started in life with some claim to that denom- ination; but it had been so frequently and so extensively added to that it would accommo- cdate a considerable number of guests, despite its unpretending style of architecture and the snallnesS of its reception-roomS.
 Guests came to Lady Barnstaple, as guests do in these days, for two or three nights; there were arrivals and departures every morning and evening; but Chris was begged to stay on as long as she liked, and the invi- tation was so cordially given that she could not doubt it's sincerity. The hospitality to which she was made welcome had been ex- tended to her beloved Peter; so that she had no reason for wishing to return to Balaclava Terrace, whence Miss Ramsden never stirred from years end to years end. And life at Brentstow was rendered very pleasant to her.
 
 she was neither neglected nor entertained, a mode of treatment which sounds simple and is difficult in practice, as many hostesses and many guests are aware; the great people who alighted for while on their way to or from one of the neighboring great houses, and whom she scarcely saw except at dinner-time, were kind and civil to her, and she got on very well with theSl all, though she had begun to understand that their class was not the h- ited a coat of arms with numerous quarter ings and she had always imagined that the difference between her father and duke was only one of degree; but now she perceived that fashionable people, whether dukes or not, live in a world of their own from which unfashionable people are perchance excluded, and that there was no likelihood of her ever being admitted into that earthly paradise.
 Even Lady Grace, unassuming as she was, had been a little changed by her season in London. The two girls resumed their friend ship, but could not take it up exactly where they had dropped it. The one, being rather pretty, good deal admired, and certain to marry we'll before long, accepted without ela- tion destiny which she had foreseen, and it's which belong to it; the other knew not what might be before her, only she knew that such as her dreams had been, they could never now be fulfilled.
 Peter, poor fellow, had poaching instincts which he could not always control; but he tried harder than most of us do to curb his natural passions, and it was only when his mistress lost sight of him that temptation got the upper hand of his moral sense. For this reason, and in consequence of certain rather uncalled-for complaints on the part of the keeper, Chris took care nevor to lose sight of him, and one afternoon she made him sit down beside her, as usual, on the outskirts of a wood, whence a view could be obtained of tho long Atlantic rollers breaking against barrier of gray cliffs and gigantic powders. Having established herself com fortably with her back against the trunk of { tree, she drew long letter from Mime. Lay ergne out of her pocket and began leisurel! reading it through for the second time. Sh' was laughing softly as she read, when sh' } was interrupted by & volley of furious barki ? from Peter, who until then had been sitting !. disconsolately on his launches, shivering al over and whimpering under his breath il token of his knowledge that there were rab bits in the neighborhood and of his desire t' } make closer acquaintance with them.
 , The cause of his present excitement wa