The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-12
MARTIN RaYNER'S ROMANCE

made Martin Rayner's acquaintance
| during my last ERIN at oxford
In the middle OF July-a month or 50
i after our last met ting at Oxford-T had a
letter from Rayne asking me TO spend n
Few weeks with n I'm at his country cot
age at Somersetsh ire.
arrived on a s iturday everinq. The
ne St morning broke ane and pleasant. ana
Ra yner took me 10 the villsss-e church.
Thi place Of worship was a queer little
bull, ling more queeTR han pretty. The arr
chito cture was naiNed. II represented
nearly every order from early English 10
early Georgian. tn ere were also repairs
ed after a st ID more modern styie
BY what title to d lgnify the latter ] do
not k how. 1 shou Id ina gine. however
that ii. had been specially invented bv
some cnterprsing l. cal builder The ser
vice was equally h ybrid. Old-fashioned
and new-fangled II gh Church and Low
| Church forms werts all strangely con-
glomerated. The pa rson himself was not
an exhileratiBg spe, .imen. He was fat
d and pursy, with a / ed nose and wheezvl
voice. His surplice was none Of the clean
est; the skirt of his cossack was frayed
round the bottom. struck me that his
Ioair and beard both demanded the imme-
d tate attention Of ihair-dresser. His elo-
cLVion was as slovenly as his person. How
he did drOnc the prayers, How he did
sim y-song his sermonl l should have fallen
fast asleep, but that my attention was at
trac ted to a rustic beauty in neighbor-
ing Pew / am not generally susceOtibie
of f male charms, but this girls face.
strue me al once. have never seen
anoth er In the least resembling it, | 10
not tn ink thai it CONFIRMED 10 the proper
canons of beauty. BIT / cannot be sure
When YOU sc a splendi sunset you do no I
stop to consider Whcth err the details of tho
landsca, pc which that crimson glory foo IS
are in themselves Etistic. l was cCha-
scious I two glorious eyes, Of a sw Get
eXpressit w thereupon reflected. but of
nothing else. II crested rather an odd
sensation If you viii believe me. is raised
something like lump in my throat
After Sc vice was over, Rayner and
stood wait ng outside the church door. 1t
was his GU ytom ne tdAd me. TO have the
vicar and hi family to kline with him every
Sunday, anoN they always walked back to-
I'VE are V cry intimate" said Rayner.
Il am godfal her to two of his children.
They regard ne quite as one of the TAM
lily"
I heard this with some surprise That
obvious dullard OF a person seemed hardly
the sort of man with whom Rhyner should
be intimate. But, N1f course, did not cX
press my SurTTls g, merely asking of
whom the wears IA mily consisted.
His wife, dalls liter and three sons.
Rayner told me. "a ut here they come /
must put YOU thrOa Ugh the ceremony of
/ looked towards the church porvh.
scarcely noticed any others. My eyes were
all for one face y my rustic h'3uty
was the Wears daugh ter, and was about
TO make her acquainh ance. An unacc CUNT
able excitement came upon me ana robbed
me of my usual self possession. / nope 1
did nothing idiotic. l believe l raised my
hat with due formalh Y when was pre-
scented to the vicaays v ife. l recollect muir
muring some observa ton to her, which
may or may not lNavt' been coherelt. 1t
was not until we We re wen upon our
region of complete Gon seriousness. was
then conversing with I he daughter, and
trying to make myself greeable. She was
very young. scarcely V, should imegine.
| and rather shy. She did not look at me
| much and that gave I ne the better oppOr
| tunity of inspecting h T
We had a pleasant ]. Nncheon. My chair
! was between the vicar daughter and the
| wears wife. Politenes g constrained me
| to address much of my conversation to the
| elder lady, in whom 5 Don became inter
| ested. She talked well, and in pleasant
! voice. Her manner was gentle and rehn-
! ed. HeI face was lined Nd careworn, but
| there were sim traces of beauty visible.
| should say that, many years ago, she had
| resambled what her daugL ger was now. l
| glanced across at her husband, guzzling
/ his food, with a red face, and furnishing
| Rayner's sherry with many smack of his
! lips. What hog the fellow, looked, to be
| surel All his thoughts seem ed TO be fixed
| upon feeding. | felt sorry THAT his dauGh-
! ter had TO own that father. l wondered
how his wife had given her self away to
| that husband.
AT about o'clock the Vica."s curate,
| fellow named Wilmington, was announced.
| He had charge of a district hurch some
miles away. was informed but he gener-
ally came over to join Rayner' gathering
in the afternoon. He differed. greatly in
! appearance from the vicar. for he was
/ scrupulously dressed and carefully
groomed. l thought him a good looking
man in his way, but did not dmire the
| saintliness of aspect into whic he had
trained his face. nor his confide ntial def
| erence OF manner when he addr essed the
| ladies. He was a gentleman, However
| which always goes for mething-and a
| pleasant enough fellow to talk .. ! can
| imagine that he was quite a go 3send in
that benighted neighborhood, VIII ere gen
! tlemen of any sort were rare, anGs cultur-
ed gentlemen almost unknown.
He took an early opportunity of coming
over to Miss Darby's side. She seemed
pleased to see him, and was soon in ami
mated conversation with him. / thought
her face less beautiful when animated. /
Joined her young brothers and made
friends with them. They were nice young
sters and wcll-mannered Two hailed
from Winchester and one from Wellington
/ had supposed that the vicar was a poor
man. But. of course. he must have moro