The record-union., 1897-09-12

times when the GueStWickS were noble
| men. They preferred that the eldest
child should be a girl, and they hoped
the time would come when Earl
| would take the place of Squire as
the designation of the head of the
| house. It seemed wasteful that pithy
rhyfneG couplet should be inapproprl-
| ate, and as they could not by any al
| teration of words make the lines suit
able to altered circumstances, they
trusted that something would be done
to place the family in its old position
again.
During Coverwood G9estwick's bach
elorship not much company had
been entertained at the hall
Nothing like his fathers time, said
the old people.
And that was nothing like the
grandfather's time" said the few an
cient ones who professed to remember
the doings of Stewart Guestwick about
whom many traditions had been hand
ed down
| The Lundley people admired goodness
as quality, but, to judge by their re-
marks, they had special fondness for
those Guestwcks who had not been
very good; always excepting the bache-
lor ones, who We're classed by them
selves.
After the Squire's marriage the Hall
continued to be very quiet, and it was
| commonly whispered among the vii
layers that jealousy was the real cause
of it,
Hes a Guestwick, he is, in some
| things said Absalom Enderby; 'too
| much of a Guestwick in some things, if
possible; like Bobby Smeaton's CHM
ney. What do you think of that for a
chinuey?' Bobby asked Too much of
| it, says l; too much of it for the size
of your cottage That cannot be- he
| says. the more chimney, the more
room for smoke and SO it proved, but,
somehow, the smoke liked the chimney
so we'll that it would not go out. Then
L told Bobby there should not be room
enough in a chimney for the smoke to
turn round in. Don't make it too
comfortable l says to Bobby
| Whatever the reason might be,
there was not much company at the
Hall. But Elton Fossbrook was a fire.
| quent visitor there; and there were
people who said he would have made
a better husband for Mrs. Guestwick
than the Squire could possibly become
| Ellen Winks, the village dressmaker
never agreed with that opinion, and
| she was wont to express her dissent
from the popular sentiment in language
| which could be neither mistaken nor
| enjoyed.
"A man for husband rather than
lad" she said; ''and only a parcel of
tWaddlers would think differently"
Neither man nor lad seems to have
fanciei you,' was Dave Brands reply.
Ellen was a spinster, and in Lundley
there was no tendency to take the edge
off repartee, however unpleasant the
fact might be which the rejoinder con-
tanned.
Elton Fossbrook was a kinsman Of
the Squire; a bright, handsome young
| fellow, whose sunny ways contrasted
in a r1arked manner with the quiet and
thoughtful humor which was natural
to the master of Guestwick Hall.
If the Squire was ever Jealous. he
carefully and successfully hid it from
view, and his young wife was always
| lively and pleasant when Elton was
| present. Perhaps the Squire knew
that he had a tendency towards feaI-
| ousy, as all his family had, according
most of his ancestors, he may have
set himself to live down any feeling
of distrust within his own nature He
knew that it was like insanity to sus~
pect his pure and childlike wife. and
he could not help regarding it as dis
honor to harbor anything like a dis
trustful feeling towards Elton Foss-
brook
But one day he returned from a meet
ing of county magistrates to find that
his home had been deserted by his
wife and his kinsman There was no
note, or anything giving an explana-
tlon. The child was left behind, but
the nurse was utterly bewildered, and
unable to throw any light on the mys-
terry. Alice Rayner, Mrs Guestwick's
maid, had also disappeared; and, as
might be expected, Jim Travis Mr..
Fossbrook's man, was nowhere to be
found.