The record-union., 1896-05-31
FELIX GILLMAN'S LEGACY.


sharp to the right. The gate has long
since disappeared, and the cottage is
used only as a tool shed now, but 1
can remember the time when the keeper
was very busy on market days.
Along this road the first house you
will pass is a rambling building with
many gables, with windows where you
would hardly expect to see them, the
whole place buried in somber-l looking
ivy. This is Roston Hall, the home of
my forefathers for many generations.
Half a mile further on, you will come
to another large house, more modern
in style, but built under the shadow of
great square half-ruined tower the
remains, 1t is said, of an old feudal cas-
tie. Roston is rather rich in remains
of this description. There is another
tower, quite in ruins, standing like a
lost thing in corner of a field, nearly
a mile away from the one l mention,
and there are old tumble-down looking
houses in ROston with quaint histories
attached to them, and the church is
generally admitted to be one of the
most interesting in the length and
breadth of the kingdom.
We have always been called the Hall
GiilmanS, to distinguish US from the
Gillmans of the Tower. The name is a
singularly common one in the neigh
borhood, and possibly we all come from
a common stock, but long before my
time vast differences had been fixed
between various families of the name.
In my great grandfathers time a Gill
man, a grocer in the market place,
made money, bought the Tower, par
TALLY pulled down the house which was
then standing there and built the pres
ent one, much to my worthy ancest
or'S annoyance, I have heard my father
say. We were of the aristocratic Gill
mans, with an Old-fashiOned horror of
trade, and, I am bound to say, had
year by year grown poorer. No doubt
these differences would have gradually
been forgotten as far as the Tower
Gillmans and ourselves were concerned
but for one thing. My grandfather,
when young man, and young Gilman
at the Tower had fallen in love with the
same woman; she became my grand
mother, and most unreasonable feud
had existed between the two houses
ever since then. My father and his CO.
temporary, Felix Gilman at the Tower
used to just recognize one another when
they met, but that was all With his
1IS5o GNAtlNAAEQ d41ACI LAlS any lis
port on the table before him. my father
has many a time given me the family
history in detail and glanced round at
the dingy portraits of past Gillmans
hanging In our dining-room with pride
Keep up the family dignity, Frank,
whatever you do he would say.
'It may be a difficult thing to ac-
complish with small means" I would
venture.
Marry money, then" he would an
swer promptly. "A Gilman Of the Hall
ought to be able to do that, surely"
He had married for love himself, but
I did not dare to remind him of the
fact. This brings me to the time of my
story, which, if it did not end the feud
between the families, made a great diff
ference TO both of them.
My father died, leaving me master
of RostOn Hall, and with means abso-
lutely insufficient to keep it going as it
ought to be kept up. Fortunately, how
ever, he had left no creditors to worry
ne, and I determined to stick to the
Hall for the present, and make the best
of things. 1 had never thought of en-
deavoring to marry money; my inclina-
tions were toward bacheIorhood, as
good many other young mems are until
they chance to meet the right person.
/. unfortunately. met her I say unfor-
tunately because al the time it certain
ly was so. Ethel Holroyd was practi-
cally engaged when 1 first met her, and
to make matters fuller Of irony, to Mark
Gilman, the nephew and heir of old
Felix. Felix Gilman lived practically
alone at the Tower, a miserable old
miser who was popularity supposed to
deny himself the bare necessities of
life in order to keep his gold. Could he
have taken it with him when he died,
/ have no doubt he would have done so,
but as that was impossible Mark Gill
man was looked upon as his heir; in
deed, the old man said as much.
knew very little of my rival; he did not
live in ROstOn, but came there con-
stantly to see his uncle, and was al
ways anxious to do anything he could
for the old man, which, under the cir
cumstances, was only natural. should
probably have done the same, but one
is always apt to disparage the actions
Of rival. He was a goOd-looking,
dashing sort of a fellow, attractive, !
should imagine, to most women, and
for a long time I supposed that this
was the case with Ethel Holyrod. Had
been a sensible man, seeing how mat
ters stood, I should have done my level
best to forget the woman who had sud
denly come into my life bringing such
pain. Still. Ethel was not easily for
gotten. Hers was a face that, once
seen, was TO be remembered. Those
sweet eyes of hers would constantly
look down at me from the dingy old
portraits in the dining-room as I sat
alone, nursing my hopeless passion
Only one day came a new sensation. ]
met Ethel with her father in the mar
ket-place, and she and / were alone to-
gether for a few minutes. I never for
a moment doubted that she knew
loved her, although l had never actu-
ally told her so. Seeing that every
body who knew the Holroyds looked
upon her marriage with Mark Gilman
as a settled thing, and that he treated
her as his future wife. / could not very
well speak 1t had always struck mt
as curious that there was a certain
secrecy about the engagement. 1t had
never really been made public.
Are you going to be married soon
Miss Holroyd?" 1 asked.
She looked at me quickly.
mo, not yet. Nothing is fixed" sh'
answered. Il am in no hurry TO ge
married"
THAT does not sound very enthusi
astic."
Some people seem to think that tn,
end and aim Of a woman's life is to ge
married" she returned petulantly. Il
is nothing of the kind. AS far as / an
coy,cerned nv on ora eyer11eut Is NOT Dllh