The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1898-12-17
SeleGt Storp.
THE CHRISTMAS LUCK.
Fergus Hume in Philadelphia Ledger.
CHAPTER j.


a precious and venerable volume-was
jetsam of the Tawleigh fortunes, which
her father had bought in at the sale. At
the last moment Julian Tawleigh had been
unable to let slip the book, which con-
tained-in the quaintest of English, the
most grotesque of Caxtonian lettering -
the tradition of that Christmas luck given
to his race by SIS. Peter and Paul. Yet
small comfort had that luck brought to him
or his.
In their day the Tawleighs had been
great folk, whose genesis dated from be-
fore the Conquest; but in the passing Of
centuries the family had dwindled in wealth
and position; until-tempo Victoria
scarcely an acre remained to them, save
that upon which Tawleigh Court was built.
Three3years after Herry birth, this rem
nant, by ill-fortune, was wrested also from
the race. Today John Kilvert, sometime
lawyer of Barnstaple town, dwelt under
the lost roof tree; while Tawleigh, his wife
and family sheltered in the miserable cot
tage, at the window of which Herry sat
reading of her ancestors and their vanished
glories TO the imaginative child there
was food for reflection in considering the
declension of her people.
Herry was singularly childish child, and
as such rarity in these days Of old little
men and women, cynical jaded. skeptical,
even from the date of early understand
ings. She believed in pixies who danced
on moen-lit Devonian moors; she enter
tanned no doubts upon the awesome sub
iect of Cornish giants, and to her wooden
dolls and dolls of wax were sentient things
Also, as was becoming the eldest Of a
Catholic family, she owned to firm be-
lief in sanity miracles. There had been
miracles aforetime, and what had been
might be again With all her little soul
Henry trusted in such wonderments, and
longed that one might occur to upset the
existing order of things, and restore the
Tawleighs to Tawleigh Court. This desire
became the more vehement when-an in
nocent eavesdropper-she overheard il
sadly practical conversation between her
father and mother.
Ignorant that their eldest Was engrossed
with medieval legends behind the window
curtain, Julian Tawleigh and his wife
were discussing domestic troubles in the
tiny drawing room A meagre fire burnt
in the crate, and-as it was late in the
day-played Pickering flames upon walls
and ceiling, and upon the worn faces of the
twain who sat beside it. In low voices
they talked of an approaching departure;
and Herry, aching with half-understood
sorrow, hearkered breathlessly to every
word. Her 12- year-old mind could not
grasp the infnitude of parental Woe
''It is no use crying, Dora, said Ju
liam sadly; ''as things cannot be mended,
they must be endured. | cannot get fur
ther work in Barnstaple, and even this
wretched shelter will be denied us-want-
ing rent to pay for it. Our sole chance
of existence lies in the London clerkship
have been promised. y
"Tawleigh, of Tawleigh Court, IA clerk
Oh = sobbed the wife, conveying Il world
Ol SOIlOW lIllO lllc
"Tawleigh, of Tawleigh Court has been
clerking in Barnstaple for the last two
years, replied Julian, family smiling.
''In London, at least, our disgrace will
pass unnoticed.
els there no hope-no chance d.
MY DEAR" interrupted her husband
cvnically, ''the age of miracles is past ;felse
might Kilvert give me back the Tawleigh
house and lands. He paused, and then
went on, trife bitterly 1T is a pity
you did not marry him, Dora; you might
have lived at the Court had you done So -
:'No, Julian y she cried with energy
chad married John Kilvert he would not
have foreclosed those mortgages; and you
would have kept your own, until the rents
paid off the moneys he lent on the land
1t was because | loved you and hated him,
because chose rather to be your wife than
his, that he ruined you as he did. ="
II think my father ruined me- rather
than Kilvert, returned Tawleigh in
gloomy mood ''What estate could bear
the burden of his extravagances And |
was brought up in ignorance of it all
Only when he was dead-when was en-
gagged to you-did learn the grip Kilvert
had on our property. But [ thought to
recover all, with time and economy
LAS you would have done, my poor Ju-
lian, had not Kilvert revenged himself
upon us both, because Of my refusal to
marry him. But that is fifteen years
ago"
"Fifteen years of drudgery and penury
and sinking deeper into the Slough OF
Despond," said the man. ''Here we are,
with three small children, starving at our
own park gates, as one might say; and
John Kilvert sits by my hearthstone. But
this is the end, dear, he added determin
edly. "After the New Year we go to
London
ssOur last Christmas in Devon, sighed
Dora. LET us make it happy one for
the children, Julian; they have so few
pleasures. y
"They will have none in London, said
Julian grimly. However, we will wish
them Happy Christmas next week, and
do our best to realize the meaning of the
greeting
And then husband kissed wife, and wife
comforted husband till their sorrows grew
lighter, and they left the room fairly cheer
full But behind the curtains wept Herry,
and her tears blotted the fat black letters
which set forth the tale of the Christmas
Luck. The ancient legend-the recent
conversation, child as she was, Herry vague
ly felt the irony of the contrast. She
kept her thoughts to herself, and said
nothing; but all that week she wondered
if the monkish miracle could be reproduced
in these days of disaster and struggling.
On Christmas Eve she reminded her father
of the promise given to Amyas Tawleigh
by the two saints. Alas good Catholic
as he professed to be, Julian disbeieved
in such miracles, and smiled at the hope;
| r. Il