The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-12-07
CHAPTER ".


CHAPTER ".
"Cose up bis eyes and draw the curtain close;
Aud let US all to meditat on"
Alverthorpe, the ancestral home Of the
Denisons, is a fine old Tudor mansion with
quaint gables and turrets. standing in a
spacious and well tinbered park, beneath the
shades of whose giant oaks and chestnut
.the ant!er'd deer" browse and rest Suffolk
contains no finer specimen of this pictur-
esoue order of architecture, which, having
reached its meridian in the reign of Queen
Bees, has come TO be known as Ehzabethan.
Next to the mansion itself, and the noble
wooded park in which it stands, Alver-
Nj thorpe is famous for its fish ponds-said to
ii have been constructed by the monks of the
II dismantled Abbey of Alverthorpe-and its
deer
Fallow deer are to be seen in abuand-
Gnce, sporting in the fine glades of the park;
but the large red deer were the pride of Sir
John Denison, whose only hobby it was to
keep up the quality Of the herd.
But the dark shadow that sooner or later
visits all homes has placed the slpendors of
Alverthorpe under eclipse. In the great
state-chamber, where, time out Of mind
generations of Denisons have breathed their
last the baroue5 li5s-an image of life and
deathn
Ten DAYS have elapsed since the news Of
the disaster in the Scent stretched Sir
John speechles5 and unconscious. Ills eldest
and Youngest son have persisted by
an incident that was clearly
demonstrated at the Inquest to
have been preventible. Their bodies
IL
final resting place beneath the chancel of
the Abbey church at Alverthorpe But
Sir John has betrayed no sign of what
passes around him. Sir julius Venn, the
eminent London physician, who has looked
gravely on the symptoms, from the first, has
departed for town with a final gloomy
shake of the head. He can do no more for
him No one can. So deep is his slumber
that were it not for the mechanical rising
and falling of the chest it might seem TO the
threa silent watchers by his couch that the
functions Of life have already cessed. Moth
ing but Sir johns fi0e constitution could
Il have avaied u have kept the enemy so
81 long at bay. But it Is matter now of
few days or may be few hours, and all will
Il be over
n Lady Denison, gentle, white haired old
II lady with sweet, patient face, has scarcely
H Quilted her husbands side since his seizure,
but watches anxiously though without
n hope, by his pillow. Her only daughter,
n The countess OF Polehampton is with her
n mother il this bitter hour of trouble. But
H there is one other who shares her sorrowful
b vigil, who is even dearer to Lady Den son
4 just low than her own daughter. This is
u 1rs. John Denison, the newly made widow
n Of her eldest son, a petite blonde with
q small child-Eke face and pleading eyes, who
a slts with her tiny hand locked in that of the
n elder lady,
1t seems to them ss though their deeper
sorrow has made them more closely allied
III IMAM any tie of blood could do. Mrs. Deni-
son has developed an unexpected strength of
character and capacity for controlling her
Own grief in order to console the sorely
uled mother who, having been bereaved Of
Two OF her sons at one fell swoop, watches
now by the dying bed of her husband, The
praVe little spirit has found an anodyne for
ner own sorrow in the work of ministering
to Lady Denisou.
nevertheless her own terrible loss is
Aeeuly telt. ltisnot many months since she
wore Vne bridal wreath; and she is painfully
young TO have passed so rapidly through
We stages Of maiden, wife and widow. Her
husband fell in love with her when a Young
l1au lfesh from Oxford, whilst she was
mere CHILD, and had waited till she could
"" up oclam her. And this was the end
W II an 4 bright ldyllic dream of happl-
1oss, 700 bright TO last, followed by a rush of
eeaG darkness! The bridal wreath laid aside
l o'. 'ne Widows cap, that looked strangely
/ 1917 us u place on SO young and girlisn a
Gasts. wv ~ - NN0N 0NH 0oii-
But What of Capt. Densona His family
lave heard nothing of him since he left
ifeFthorpe nearly four years ago with the
. ~ check in his pocket Since these
D "ounies he has made no sign, and his mother
J. AZ sSser are perplexed by his long silence
l -cyiu bruton If Bruton Towers, Lady Deni-
far i n{arest nelghbor, has set inquiries on
wbs-o""iitn the view of discovering the
aIeIeaoouts of the prodigal, but nothing
Y n rs come OF his efforts so far, except some
q II; :-cASanb revelations of Capt. Denison's
I VIII ePIiaoIe career since he left the army,
q b5r, MI LORD Bruton had deemed it best to
y to- III MS own breast. Lord Polehamp-
-. cra, "uose duties as a minister of the
~ i' 4eave him little leisure in these stir
~ ts uu4es, mas done his best, likewise, with
esuts. WIN ON0 '1Al0 Doi'e"
NJ as the group of sorrow-stricken women
ras+ ".a,.ching the slowly ebbing life in the
p koo,, s.ate chamber servant eatered the
AZ hampton away.
,s. is i. Earl Of Bruton has called, my lady
p. 5o,,l, ~ the breakfast room. Mr. Jobson
10 I,a55 uU mat you would like TO see him"
" @d roiehampton bowed her stately
tgss -. "a sent, and swept down the stair
r,n.' the breakfast room, where Lord
H. ~. aIVapciGg to meet her, held her
"f VITA sympaihizng pressure.
Eroto an s1rry 70 hear that there is no i'm
No IA, 1 iN IN Sir John. Jobson tells me
-, vi julius Venn mas left.a
p Eolv , w. no viii not return. We are
AZ ~~',iung for tho end, which cannot bo
Le phS countess IA low
s c.'.5 n'ruton was distressed TO hear that |
d. ]ei'lon ~ bis Old friend was past |
sag eKpFessad his deo3 coacern at the |
i''' words from other lips would I