The Yale expositor., 1894-12-07
Lady | atimer'S Escape.
by CHARLoTTE NJ. BRAEME.
CHAPTER I.

Fate is Against Some People From the
Cradle to the Grave.
"Change is the law of wind and moon and
lover
And yet think, lost Love, had you been true
Some golden fruits had ripened for your
pluckiug
You will not find in gardens that are new"
Many years have come and gone in
my life since this eventful one of which
my story tells. My name is Audrey
Lowell, and am the eldest daughter
of the Reverend Archibald Lovel, and
Millicent, his wife. The Reverend
Archibald has been for many years
vicar of st. Hubert's church at Kings
Lorton. He lives in u beautiful, old
fashioned vicarage, just outside the
town of Kings Lorton, a house such
as you see in illustrated Christmas an
nuals, with gable ends and great
stacks of chimneys, and great win
dows with pleasant seats in the deep
bays. Tangle of roses and jasmine
cover it in the summer; in the winter
there is wealth of green holly. A
large, old-fashioned garden surrounds
it, where every kind of tree grows
and flower blooms. A bright, sunny
orchard lies beyond that, the gates of
which lead into the clover meadow and
at the foot of the meadow runs the
clear, deep, beautiful river Lime, the
loveliest river in England, and the
great torment of my mothers life, for
the boys were always coming to grief
over it, either skating when the ice
was not an inch thick, or swimming
when the current was too strong
rowing when the wind was against
them--fshing and falling head-frst
into the stream. That river was the
one blot on my mothers otherwise
happy life.
My father, not being by any means
rich man, was blessed with the
usual large number of children. He
was heard to say, despairingly, that
he should cease TO count them after
the number of seven was reached.
We were nine in all. Six hearty,
healthy, hungry boys, and three girls.
l was the eldest. Then came the
eldest son, certainly the most terrible
boy in the world. My mother used to
say of him, bob is all boy" and
that means a great deal. Archie, the
second, was not quite his equal in mis-
chief, but he had every desire to be
so. Willie, the third, was a quiet,
well-behaved boy, who lived in con-
tinual fear of his two elder brothers.
Then came a sweet, fair-haired little
maiden; it was rest for ones eyes to
look upon her. She was called after
our mother, Millicent. Then three
more boys. the sole object of whose
existence seemed to be eating and
noise, varied with skirmishes of all
kinds. carried on in all places and at
all times - skirmishes that almost
made my hair stand on end. Then
came the last, sweetest, fairest, and
best, a wonderfully fat, lovely baby
girl, named Trottie; the roundest,
prettiest baby ever seen, worshipped
by the family, adored by the boys.
1.-The boys!" Does any sympathetic
reader know what that means? If
you suddenly hear tremendous crash
like the roar of artillery, or great up
heaval like tropical earthquake, and
you ask in alarm, What is itP" the
inevitable answer is, The boys" If
there is a rush up and down the stair
case, followed by sudden shrieks, un-
earthly noises, succeeded by silence
even more terrible, and you ask,
"What is itP" THE boys" Any un-
expected explosion, any unforeseen ac-
cident, any unthought-of hap, had but
one source, 1.-the boys"
Yet how we loved them, and what
fine, manly fellows they were. But
they were the very torment of our
lives. How they enjoyed Turing that
unhappy little maiden, Mile, into the
most unheard-of situations. The only
one they held in supreme awe was
Baby Trottie, who ruled them with q
rod of iron.
A large, happy, healthy family, and
at the time this story opens was just
eighteen. had, thanks to my fathers
insistence. received an excellent edu-
cation, and was now supposed to be
helping my mother.
Being the eldest daughter l had GER
tain privileges. / had q dear little
room Of my own, the window of which
overlooked the green meadow and the
lovely trimming river! / had the
entry to my fathers library, privilege
which 1.-The boys'' most virtuously
Stunned. Altogether loved and en-
joyed my life, with its simple duties
and pleasures. had thought little OF
love and lovers. The boys absorbed
all my leisure time--to save them
from drowning, TO keep them from
breaking their necks by sliding down
the great carved balusters, exhorting
them as much as possible not to climb
the very tallest trees in search OF
birds'-nests. and preventing them
from throwing stones quite close to
tie windows.