Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1894-07-04
CHAPTER I.

H.
Buckingham and in this very room whcre
lily Of the Wingfelds of Wingfield castle,
in Suffolk, that lies some two hours on
horseback from this place. My grandfa-
ther was shrowd man, more of yeomnn
than squire, though lis birth was gentle.
He 1t was who bought this place with the
lands round it and gathered up some for
tune, mostly by carefully marrying and
living for though he had but one son he
was twice married, and also by trading IN
cattle.
Now, my grandfather was godly minded
even to superstition, and, strange rs 1t
may seem, having only ono son, nothing
would satisfy him but that the boy should
bo made priest. But my father had Ut
tie leaning toward the priesthood and life
in monastery, though at all seasons my
grandfather strovc to reason it into him,
sometimes with words and examples, at
Others with his thick cudgcl of holly that
still hangs over the inglc in tho smaller
sitting room. The end of it was that the
lad was sent TO the priory here in BunGay,
where his conduct was of such nature that
within year the prior prayed his parents
to take him back and set him Ill somcw way
of secular life Not only, said the prior,
did my father cause scandal by his actions,
breaking out of the priory at night and
visiting drinking houses and other places,
but such was the sum of his wickcdncss
he did not scruplc to question and make
mock of the very doctrines of the church,
alleging even that there was nothing sa-
cred in the image of the Virgin Mary
+1,n oh
ewes in prayer before all the congregation
when the priest elevated the host "Therc-
fore" said the prior, Il pray you to take
back YOUR son and let him find some other
road to the stake THAI that which runs
through the gates of Bungay priory
I 1t was believed both by my grandfather
nnd the prior that the true cause OF my IA
theirs contumacy was passion which nc
had conceived for girl Of humble birth, q
miller's fair daughter who dwclt ut Wa
ingford Mills. So the end OF it was that
he went to foreign parts in the care OIL q
party of Spanish monks, who had journey
ed here to Norfolk on n pilgrimage to tho
shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Thus it CHANGED that when he had sailed
from Yarmouth year and six months
there came letter from the abbot OF the
monastery in Seville to his brother, the
prior of St. Mary'S ut Bungay, saying that
my father had fed from the monastery.
Two moro years passed away, and then
came other ncws-namcly, that my father
had been captured; that he had been hand
cd over to the power of the holy ot.!cc, rs
the accurscd inquisition was then named,
and tortured to death at Seville. When
my grandfather heard this, he wcpr. Stl!l
he did not believe that my fdthcrwas dead
in truth, since on the last day OF his own
life, that ended two years later, he spoke
of him as living man and left messages
to him as to the management OF the lands
which were now his.
And in the end it became clear that this
belief was not i'll founded, for one day,
three years after the old mans death, there
landed at the port of Yarmouth none 9TH
er than my father, who had been absent
some eight years in all. Nor did he como
alone, for with him he brought wife, q
young and very lovely lady, who aftcrward
was my mother. She was q Spaniard OF
noble family, having been born at Seville,
and her maiden name was Donna LulSa de
Garcia.
There were three Of us children-Geof-
FREY, ny elder brother, myself and my SIS
ter Mary, who was one year my junior,
the sweetest child and the most beautiful
that have ever known. We were very
happy children, and our beauty was tho
pride Of our father and mother and tho
envy of other parents. was the darkest
of Lie three, dark indeed to swarthincss,
but in Mary the Spanish blood showed
only in her rich eyes of velvet hue and III
nhn Il +lnr
blush on q ripe fruit.
NV mother used to call me her little
Spaniard because of my swarthincss-that
is, when my father was not near Tor Such
names angcrcd him. She never learned 20
speak English very well, but he would
suffer her TO talk IL no other tongue before
him. Still when he was not there shc
smoke in Spanish, OF which language, how
ever, alone of the family became 4 mas
ter. and that was more because Of certain
volumes Of old Spanish romanccs which
she had by her than for any other reason.
From nv earliest childhood was fond OF
such tales, and it was by bribing me with
the promise that should read them that
she persuaded me to learn Spanish, for
my mothers heart still yearned toward her
old sunny home, and often She would talk
of 1t with uc children, moro especially IN
the winter season, which she hated as
do. Once asked her if She wished to go
back to Spain. She shivcrcd and answered
no, for there dwelt one who was her en-
emy and would kill her; also her heart
was with us children and our father.
Now, when was 1SE years old, on
certain evening in the month of May, 1t
happened that friend OF my fathers,
SQUIRE Bozard, late Of the hall in this par
ish called at the lodge on his road from
Yarmouth, and in tho course OF his talk
let it fall that Spanish ship was at an
chor in the roads laden with merchandise.
NV father pricked up his cars at this and
asked who her captain might be. Squire
Bozard answered that he did not know
his name, but that he had seen him in the
market place, tall and stately man, rich
" dressed, with handsome face and
scar upon his temple.
At this news my mother turned pale be-
meath her olive skin and muttcrcd in Span
ish:
''Holy Mother, grant that it be not hc.'
Nv father also looked frightened and
questioned tho squire closely rs TO inc
mans appearance, but without learning
anything more. linen nc pauc MN t'o'S"
with little ceremony, and taking horse
rode away for Yarmouth.
That night my mother never slept, nu1
sat all through it in her nursing chair
brooding over know not what AS !el0
her when I went to my bed 50 found her
when came from it 1T dawn. can re-
member well pushing the door ajar to see
her face glimmering white in the twilight
of the May morning as she sat- her large
eyes fixed upon tho lattice.
"You have risen early, mother" said
"1 have never laid down, Thomas, she
answered.
tWhy not9 What do you fcar?"
IT fear the past and the future my son
Would that your father were back
About 10 o'clock Of that morning, rs l
was making ready to walk into Bungay to
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