The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-03-24
The Legend of Manhattan.
(The Curse of Bellamont. BY Maud
Goodwin. In Three Parts.)
PART l.

|
doors the tenantry bowed and bobbed as
she passed, and, above all. the parish
| church, where the sun played through the
! glowing windows on the family tomb Of
her ancestors; to abandon all these scenes,
.dear and familiar as the face of an old
| friend for life in this rude and crude
new country, not even settled, like Massa-
| chusetts and Virginia, by her fellow coun-
| try-men, but more than half full of long
coated Dutchmen and their Vraws in
! Holland capes and bodices decked out with
! giltchains on a holiday.
What could have induced such sacri-
fee? Nothing but that which had done
/ so, love for her husband which out
weighed all other considerations, and
made Lady Bellamont willing to face dis
! comforts and perils for the sake Of being
! with him.
The new life was indeed a strange con-
| trast to the old. She was obliged 10 sub
NIT to the cramped evening strolls, which
aforetime had covered the wide acres OF
an English park to a prim walk up and
! down within the bastions of the fort here
on the point of Manhattan Island, where
but for these dull walls Of masonry, her
view might have swept the beautiful har-
| Dor, with its tree-clad islands, and found
some CONDENSATION for the loss of the
rolling hills which she had loved so long.
To the town folk it seemed that my Ia
| dy's life was much to be envied in that
| fine governors house, whose roof rose
above the earthen walls of the fort, the
mansion with neatly-laid walks around
it, and within a hall fifty feet in length,
where in winter great logs blaZed in a
double chimney Janus-faced; but for. the
poor lady herself. she would as lief have
lived in the jail which hunched its high
~ ftrnn Tlia
! ure she knew when Lord Bellamont was
away( except watching for. his return,
to see his big black horse come thunder
ing down the Broadway and Gathering
over the stone pavement of the land-gate-
way overhung by the arms of York; was
TO listen to the sweet tones of the bell
which hung in small tower oVertoppIng
the high gable of the church. Like her
self the bell seemed to feel itself a pris-
oner within these walls of earth and
stone (for the church. too, in those days
stood in the fortifcation). There was
peculiar plaintiveness in the note of the
bell as it struck the evening hours, rude
ly interrupted as il often was by the
booming of the sunset gun. which seemed
to thunder out a gruff irony, as If to say:
Your gospel principles are well enough,
but where would you and your church
be, Mistress Bell, if We did not take care
of your"
AT the booming of the cannon, Lady Bel
lamont was wont to hold her pretty white
hands over her ears and sometimes to
shiver little, for they brought so near
the thought of what was meant by all this
powder and shot. and these iron mouths,
which might belch forth death at any
moment
Once she found courage to whisper all
/, no n H1,t ba
and kissed her. and drew her out at the
little wooden door in the false gateway
on the water-side, where he showed her
bird nesting III the deepest embrasure OF
the fort. Does that look like death2'
he asked, and though il was so little to
the purpose, it comforted her. Even af-
ter she loved to creep out on 1.-The
Capske" as the Dutch had named the
ledge of rock running out into the bay
from before the fort, and wrapping her
long cape around about her, to sit watch
ing the bird lowering above its nest in
the deep embrasure.
AS she sat thus, memories Of the past
surged over her. and in fancy she walked
once more. with her gallant young Irish
lover destined TO be the Earl of Bella
mont, under the rows of elms in that land
far away in the blue distance whittier
were bound the happy white-sailed ships,
slipping out at the narrows to dip out of
sight beyond the hook of sand.
Once more she rode over the downs and
felt the blood dance in her veins till she
was young again. Once more she sat o.
Sundays under the high pulpit and listen
ed dreamingly to the intoning of the
priest and the cadence of the choir boys
OF all the visions which rose before her
none was so clear as this of the church
a rhla n ha me-
of all her forefathers from time immemo-
rial.
God grant" she whispered. that moth
ing may hinder me from being buried
there too!'
Her husband felt a certain jealousy of
her love for the past and strove to make
her attached to her new home. He him
self liked it so we'll that he was fully de-
termined to spend the remainder of his
days here, and when the term of his gov
ernorship should be ended, to plant him
self on some of the rich manors over
looking the North river, where he could
live like a prince and rule like a king.
Alas! like so many. he reckoned with
out taking account OF the grim Fate with
shears in hand. who Sits life and plans
together. Whether from exposure or from
the breaking out of an old wound, or from
some subtle poison bred in the marshes
on the northern edge of the colony. none
could say. but it soon became evident that
Lord Bellamont was broken man. The
keen interest he had felt in the affairs Of
the colony languished, and the pirates
who had been well-nigh driven from the
coast by his strenuous efforts (for il was
he who set fire to fight fire by sending
forth the redoubtable Robert Kidd against
the flyers Of the black fag), now began to
hover once more like vultures upon the
horizon off the low Long Island shore.
The reins of government at home too
were slackened, and, highly as he was
respected. folks began TO whisper that
the Governor was not the man he had
been.
With his Illness, too, came a strange al
ienation from the wife he had SO long
idolized. The sick man fancied that she
and the doctor were in league 10 take him
away to England. This, indeed, was lit
tie more than the truth. for they believed
his only chance of recovery lay in change;
but none burst mention the matter 70
him Secretly they planned to drug his
slumbeTs and move him TO q berth in a
stout packet bound for England. The ship
lay in harbor with sails alert 10 spread IN
fight. All was in readiness. But the
Governor was dying.
John Kenyon. Lord Bellamont's score
tary, watched by the sick mans bed in
his last hours and the tale ne told after
wards was so strange that 1t gained little
credenCe even in that sUperstitious age.
People said Kenyon drank too heavily
and talked too lightly 10 be worthy 0f
credit: but nevertheless they listened and
wagged their boards, and told over again
TO their wives by the chimney-co-ner the
story OF how the Governor had charged
Kenyon TO see 10 IT thar his coffin should
be placed in the vault OF the church IN