The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-12-23

"The place has been blighted, that is
true" said Absalom, ''since Mrs. Guest
wick and that young Mr.. Fossbrook disap-
peared.'
''The Squire moping about nobody |
knows where, continued Tippet, as if the
song had done it all. "Here's Christmas
coming. What are laboring folks to do Z"
The company broke up soon afterwards,
and Siah Hudson took his departure, feel
ing thankful that his happiness and pros
perity did not depend upon the village OF
Lundley or the integrity of Guestwick
Hail.
CHAPTER IL.
1t was indeed serious matter for. Lund-
lev when Guestwick Hall was closed, for 1t
was closed, except that one or two servants
remained, and the nurse who had charge
of Rosy, the infant daughter of Squire
Guestwick. Absalon Enderby was the
Lundley patriarch, and he could not re-
member the time when any such calamity
had befallen the place.
"My memory is clear since | was that
high. said Absalom, indicating about three
feet from the ground 'boy and man have
| lived here, as you can testify, and have
never seen the likes
Being the patriarch Of Lundley was an
enviable position the misfortune was that
nobody could enjoy the honor long, for
man or woman was sure to be advanced IN
years before he or she became the oldest
inhabitant. Absalom thought it was too
bad that, when his turn came, there was
nobody from the Hall to stop him and ask
his age. or to listen while he related what
he had seen seventy years before. He
said it was Just like his luck, for things
had always been bit awkward with him.
IF he had hen that was better layer
than usual, she was sure to be one of those
contradictory creatures which would rather
lay away than at home.
Lundley people could endure the mis-
fortunes of their neighbors with quite an
ordinary amount of equanimity; but, un-
fortunately for them. as they sometimes
said. what bit one bit all, and they were
ready to render an amount of sympathy
with Absalom which took him by surprise
Coyerwood Guestwick, or the Squire, as
he was called, had not followed the Guest
wick custom of marrying young The
villagers at one time were troubled In their
mind lest he should remain a bachelor all
his life. The only Guestwicks whom they
had ever heard about who did not marry
were said to have beena "sorry LOT, and
fear was expressed lest Coyerwood should
act in the same manner. To them, Sc
ouence. meant consequence, and they did
not take pains to disentangle ideas which
were unwelcome to them and caused them
pajn. But, at length, all need for nice dis
tinction of inference was removed by the
Squire bringing home wife.
t "She is not more than half his age,
said the patriarch of the day who happened
: to be Absalom Enderby's uncle, old Sau
t Barker. "and there is something about
f halviug ages and doubling risks, if could
o only Just put my tongue round 1t.
Saul never did put his tongue round 1t
/ because he died soon afterwards. and one
| of his deepest regrets was that his place OF
i honor would next be filed by his owl
t nephew, IA lad of eighty-two!"
The wife whom the Squire brought hom'
/ soon won the hearts of the people, and he
d husband appeared to love her with ihqt
k Jealous love which was customary with al
/ the Guestwicks.
"There never was a Guestwick,' salt
d AbsaIom Enderby, 'who was not Jealous
d But that is so, Just as the Hall is near TIL
9 marsh. Things often look worse than the.
are. have known strangers come int
these parts, and they thought the Hall wa
unhealthy BECAUSE of the mist but that
all fancy. The village is near the mars
too; and yet, barring asthma and rheumat
les. and now and then touch OF agut
=, there is not much to be said against MS.
Speeches like these promised to max
u Absalom popular and he knew that some
thing was needed, because it was usual 70
, village patriarch to be nephew of tn
' previous patriarch. There was nc denyin
. his age but still, it looked as if somethin
'e was wrong when the oldest iuhabitant wa
II person who not long before had calle
4 somebody uncle.
i Very little was known about Mrs Cues
ts wick except that she was beautiful, an
kind to everybody with whom she ha
>, dealings Her home was said to be in
J., distant part of the country, neither in No
y = tinghamshire, Yorkshire, nor Lincolnshire
~ those were the three counties which coul
. be seen from Guestwick Hall and all the re-
"A of the land was supposed by Lundley PEE
N pie to be very remote from them.
u Foreign parts, or nearly so, said Abs;
lom, who had not been twenty miles ava
70 from home in his life.
when little Rosy was born, then peop
=, who believed in omens were satisfied, b.
a cause, as they remarked,
- First girl
io Then an Earl,
Ut was the mode of procedure in the old time
when the Guestwicks were nobleme
h, They preferred that the eldest child shoul
be girl, and they hoped the time woul
come when earl would take the place
esquire" as the designation of the head {
" the house Itseemed wasteful that pith
no rhymed couplet should be inappropriate
ke and as they could not by any alteration
IS words make the lines suitable to altert
1t circumstances, they trusted that somethir
We would be done to place the family in
ll- old position again.
During Coyerwood Guestwicks bach
p lorship not much company had been ente
'r- tanned at the Hall.
"Nothing like his fathers time, sa
"a the old people.
IL "And that was nothing like the gran
re, fathers time" said the few ancient on
RS. who professed to remember the doings
re; Stewart Guestwick, about whom many t,
m ditions had been handed down.
nd The Lundley people admired goodness
nd quality, but, to judge by their remark
they had special fondness for those Cue
ng wicks who had not been very good alwa
excepting the bachelor ones, who we
es classed by themselves.
ID After the Squire's marriage the H
ok continued to be very quiet, and it was co