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

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| ed and sometimes hoped for.
| Lady .Blenkensop was thinking of this
mother and son as she drove along the
misty roadways toward wrothsley. Se
was not personally acquainted withRIhe
! young lord, who only paid occasional
| and sometimes very brief visits to his
mother, though to do him justice he was
| fond of her and unwilling TO wound her
unless his own pleasures and convent
| ences interfered with his filial affection.
''Well, If is fine place, thought
| Lady Blenkensop, as they entered the
| vast park, driving through the open
| lodge gate, at which stood the rosy
| checked, stout lodge keeper s wife, sur
rounded by four rosy-eheeked children,
| who all seemed in some strange state of
| excitement or other.
| absurd, having those children out in
| q mist like this mentally reflected
| Lady Blenkensop as she passed this fam
| lily group, for she never could resist man
aging her neighbors affairs, and absO-
| lutely thought of stopping the carriage
| to give tho woman this advice. She did
not do this, however, put proceeded
| across the park by the wide carriage
road, the state of the atmosphere almost
hiding from her view the broad grass
| on either side of it.
The castle was also invisible through
the murky air; that vast pile of build
ings which the first Lord Gilmore, then
Sir Thomas Clifford, had raised with such
pomp and pride. Nothing that wealth
could purchase had not been spent on it,
and the second lord had been proud of
his pictures, if not of his beer. All the
great masters were represented at
WrOthsley, and Sir Thomas used to
boast that for the seven paintings the
state dining room contained, he had
spent over E25, 900.
cit is strange how unequally money is
divided, - reflected Lady Blenkensop,
thinking of these things as she proceeded
On her way, and of the poor, almost
penniless, well-bOrn girl, whose bread
she was now going to beg for from the
heirs of the rich brewer.
Although as this thought went through
her active mind, a groom splendidly
mounted, and dressed in the Gilmore
livery, galloped past the carriage IN hot
haste, the sudden appearance of the man
and his steed through the mist, some
what startling Lady Blenkensop's horses.
The groom was riding from the castle,
which was still distant about half a mile,
Blenkensop put her head out of the win
dow and looked after the man wondering
what made him ride at dangerous speed,
she perceived group Of figures also ap-
preaching the carriage, and q moment
later they had hurried past it, and
among this group Lady Blenkensop rec
OgniZed face, figure, that she knew.
'Surely that was Lady Gilmore, - she
muttered to herself; "WhateVer can
have happened. -
Lady Gilmore's appearance was, in
deed, sufficiently startling. Her dark
hair was uncovered and her dark eyes
were fixed before her with an expression
of such anguish and mental fear written
on them that no wonder Lady Blenken-
sop was sure that something dreadful
must have occurred. She stopped the
carriage; she descended on the roadway
and looked eagerly after Lady Gilmore's
flying footsteps. Two women were with
her and one or two men servants: and as
Lady BlenkensOp hesitated a moment
what TO do another woman and a man
also came running toward her from the
direction of the castle, and Lady Blenk-
ensop at once addressed the foremost of
these.
what is the matter?'' she asked of
"Surely that was Lady Gilmore who
passed just now?'
Eyes, my lady, Unanswered the pant
ing, breathless girl; 'that was her poor
ladyship, and she's in a fearful state
''What has happened" again in
quired Lady Blenkensop sharply.
1.-The young lord has been shot, my
lady, and they say IS lying dead and
murdered in the woods down there, -
answered the maid, and she pointed down
the road. Zone of the keepers brought
the news, and my lady ran out just as
she was, and they've sent John, the
groom, galloping for the doctor, but the
keeper thinks it IS no good. -
Chow dreadful!' said Lady Blenken-
sop, greatly shocked, and her clear rosy
complexion grew little pale. She was
thinking of the mother whose devoted
love for the young lord was well known,
and her kind heart bled for her.
"'I'lI follow her, - she said the next
moment in her quick way. ''Get up be-
side the coachman, girl, and direct him
to the wood where you say Lord Gilmore
was found. Did the keeper leave him
alone when he brought the news to Lady
Gllmore?'
"No, my lady, two keepers found |
him, and one of them stayed with |
him, - replied the maid as she prepared !
to obey Lady Blenkensop's command, |
and was assisted up by the coachman to |
the box after he had turned his horses.
''Drive as fast as you can, Williams, -
directed Lady Blenkensop, as she re- |
entered the carriage; and Williams, |
therefore, drove rapidly back the same |
road he had come, until he pulled up in |
view of a small wood; or rather cop |
pice, when he decended from his box |
and went to the carriage window to |
speak to his lady.
1.-The young woman, my lady, says |
yon s the wood where the young lord was |
found, and there's no carriage road |
through 1t, he explained.
lin that case 1 shall get out, - replied
Lady Blenkensop, "and the young |
woman must show me the way, and you
wait here until return -
Williams touched his hat, and went
and gave directions to the ''young
and a moment or two later
Lady Blenkensop and the maid left the
roadway, and crossed the damp grass
until they reached the coppice, and en-
tered the narrow pathway through its
midst where every bough and branch of
the leafiess trees, and every leaf of the
L.