Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-04-17

4 l.
| about getting her situation at once. -
"Wasn It Godfrey Erne rather sweet
on her in India?'
| Godfrey Erne is in no position to be
| sweet, as you call it, on anyone; GER
tainlY not on penniless girl, - answered
Lady Blenkensop sharply; for Godfrey
| Erne was her nephew: and she did not
| like to hear his name coupled with
| Nanoy's.
| fWell, I'm sorry for the poor little
lassie, said the general, as he once
more raised his newspaper, for he was q
| kind man, and remembered the pretty
| girl so well who bad been the belle of
many an Indian ballroom.
Lady Blenkensop. was kind woman
| too, but her kindness was of that active
| and somewhat aggravating nature which
! displays itself in the management of
other peoples affairs. The moment
| breakfast was over, therefore, she re-
tired to little sitting room of her own :,
! and at once drew out her visiting list
| and began seriously to consider, as she
| counted the names, which family would
be the most likely to require a governess
suited to the age and capabilities of
| Nancy Loftns.
1.-The children must be young, - men
! tally decided her ladyship in her ener-
| getio way; 'Nancy is not old enough to
| manage big girls-Lady Gilmore g twins
are seven ar eight, believe wonder
| if she would do for them"
And the idea Of Lady Gilmore $ twins
| found favor in Lady Blenkensop's mind.
''She is very rich, and can afford to
| give Nancy a good salary - went on her
reflections. cit would be a splendid
| thing for the girl if 1 can manage it.
| Well. will try. -
And Lady BlenkensoD did try. She
| drove the same day twelve miles, ina
cold, bleak mist, to Wrothsley Castle,
which was one of the show places of the
county, and one Of the many residences
| of the widowed Lady Gilmore.
Lady BlenkensOp knew this lady, and
had visited her occasionally since the
general had held his present command in
the neighborhood, and she knew, too,
| that Lady Gilmore was considered q
somewhat eccentric and odd-tempered
woman.
Her marriage was said also to have
been an unhappy one. The late lord,
gay and handsome man, had married in
his youth the daughter of q proud, poor
northern Catholic family, who had
brought him neither money nor beauty,
and yet who esteemed her blue blood to
be far beyond the new title and the
great wealth of Lord Gilmore.
She despised, in fact, the origin OF that
great wealth, and never quite forgot that
her husband s father had been a brewer,
whose riches had grown and grown year
by year, until a vast fortune was accu-
mulated. He had been created a baro-
net first, and then, when he was quite
an old man, peer, and scarcely lived a
year to bear his new honors.
Then his young good looking son came
into possession of the great estates, the
gorgeous mansions, the huge watts, the
mighty dray horses, and the ooronet,
that the old man had left behind He
soon got rid of the watts and the dray-
horses, and the famous beer his father
had Drewed was not used in the new
Lord Gilmore's household, nor was it
word ever to be heard on his lips. He
married into the oldest and proudest
family he was acquainted with,
for Miss Dorotho Vaux could not
find in her heart to refuse the hand
some WOoer, though she scorned his new
name. She loved him, was jealous of
him and sometimes reminded him with her
sharp tongue that cher people, came
of long descent, and that trade had new
er once stained their escutoheon. And
these taunts did not tend to increase the
young lord 8 affection for his wife, and
he sometimes swore at his highly born
Dorothy, and used very strong language
indeed when the shadow of one of the
black-ro bed priests of her church was to
be seen crossing his threshold.
But Lady Gilmore chung to her old
faith, and there was bitter quarrel be-
tween the husband and wife when an
he ir in hot 70 Il oeha Il
be reared. Lord Gilmore, however, got
his own way, and the boy was chrlstened
by the vicar of the parish; but the
mother shed many secret tears over the
cradle, and prayed silently words she
dare not speak aloud.
The child was sicklY and aiIing from its
birth, and died shortly after q second
son was born, and again the mother
struggled for what she believed the new
babes salvation. But Lord Gilmore was
firm; no child of his should be brought !
up Roman Catholic, he told her, and |
lady Gilmore was compelled to submit to
this dictate. Again the vicar of the |
parish was summoned, and Lord Gilmore |
named his second son Hugh, and wished |
many a time, both openly and in private, |
that this stalwart boy had been born the |
heir.
lie was UNJUST anu medH enough even |
to taunt his wife with her 1rst-born' |
bodily delicacy and when the child died |
made no pretence Of regret He indeed |
grew little more domestic IN his habits |
than formerly, and was never weary of |
playing with aud admiring the little
Hugh, whom he justly considered had |
inherited his own good looks, and |
we'll formed limbs.
And as this boy was born, SO he grew
up; a beautiful child, a handsome lad,
he was the pride and darling of both his
parents, and no other child that was
born to them was ever regarded as he
was. He remained the only son, though
Lady Gilmore had four daughters, two of
whom died in infancy; but when young
Hugh was about seventeen the last of
Lady GiImore's children-the twin girls
that Lady Blenkensop was now so anx-
ious TO provide q governeSs for-were
born, and three years later their father
died, and thus at twenty Hugh Clifford,
the heir, became Lord Gilmore.
1t was a trying position for so young a
man, and from that day his mother had
watched over him with absolutely fever
ish anxiety and unrest. She had an ex-
citable temperament, with strong, ardent