Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1898-06-30
The Dcane. of pennshar-t.
CHAPTER l.


and a chief promoter, II was said, OF
the infamous South Sea Bubble frauds.
died, his vast wealth deyolyed upon a
distant kinsman. John Deane. of
Dcanshurst, in the county Of HamD-
shire.
The circumstances attending the old
financier's death were somewhat sin
gular, ard afforded food for the Cos
sips OF the neighborlIood for many "a
long day TO come. A small, elderly wo-
nan, poorly clad and Of foreign APP
p%earance. had called TO see him upon
business, and had been ushered into
his private office mp stairs by a conf
Dental clerk. What had occurred at
the interview no n knew, but half
an hour after the stranger had taken
her departure, Simon Deane was found
still seat d at his desk and stone-dead.
There were no marks of violence upon
the body. and no signs whatever of
any struggle having taken place.
Two doctors gave it as their opinion
that death had resulted from heart dis
ease, and. as no traces could be discoy-
cred of the mysterious visitor, the in
quest ended in a verdict OF Death
from natural causes"
With this verdict the gossips, of
course, disagreed, as being for too tame
and commonplace, and were only par
TALLY contented to accept the confiden-
tial clerks opinion that his master had
died from shock or fright. or in a titsof
temper. The strange woman, he ar
gued. although unknown 10 him, must
have been one of old Simon's numerous
dupes, and the object of her visit faust
have been TO upbraid or. perhaps, to
threaten him.
A subsequent incident seemed to fa-
vor this last hypothesis. A good-sized
packet was sent to Change Alley, adj
dressed to ''The heir-at-law of Simon
Deane. money-lender and Thief and
upon being opened by Dir. John Deane,
was found TO contain q large quantity
of worthless South Sea scrip, and a
black-edGed card bearing the following
grim couplet:
Renounce his curst gold! For until it
be sped.
Not a Deane of you all shall die in his
bed.
Now, this John Deane of DeanshGrs,
was by no means the kind OF man TO
act upon advice OF this sort. He was
just a fair type of the ordinary fox
hunting, p~Crt-bibbing squire of the pc
riod, who feared God but vaguely. and
man not at all, and who loved money
for the broad acres 1t could buy, the
-. .ZZJl all - If, nta.I nr,
the wines IL could put into his cellars.
So, with grim humor, he caused the
minatory card to be framed and hung
up in the dining hall at DeaDshnrst,
and proceeded TO enjoy himself upon
old Simon's ill-gotten gains after the
manner of his kind.
In those days when. as Walpole Gym
ically remarked, every man had his
price," it was an easy matter for a
wealthy squire to bride his way into n
baronetcy; and this John Deane lhav-
ing an ambitious wife, accordingly did
in II26. Two years later he broke his
neck i'm the hunting field.
Within five years his eldest son and
heir vas killed in a duel, and was sue
ceeded by n younger brother, who
reigned at DeanshLrst until 1I52, when
he was shot in an encounter with a
hlghwayman, leaving an infant son to
inherit the family honors, and what
was, by that time, commonly regarded
as the family curse. Four sudden
deaths In the same family within thir-
ty years, seemed indeed to tell of some
malign influence hanging over the
Deanes of Deanshurst.
Then there followed n long respite.
The career OF the youthful fourth bar
0net was prosperous and brilliant: and
when the end came at length, few per-
sons saw anything very remarkable in
the fact that Field Marshal Sir Hum
phry Deane, Bart, X. G. b., should
have expired in his carriage, Of an APP
oplectic fit, at the patriarchal age of
~eighty-sven. But the superstitious old
Hampshire DANES shook their heads
knowingly as they remarked that yet
another Deane of Deanshurst had
failed to die in his bed. and that the
curse had once more been fulfilled.
Sir Humphrey had married three
times; but only by his last wife-the
wife of his old age-had he left male
issue, two sons, Derek and Oscar. Der
Cht tnC Niutis VI tOuASc, SuCtttItu 10
the title and the entailed estates. His
brother Oscar, inherited sufficient
ready money TO pay off most of his
debts and to purchase his majority in
a dragon regiment.
No very special affection existed be-
tween the two brothers. Sir Dereck
was a selfish. cynical man of the worldf
who avowedly saw no higher object in
living than to take all the enjoyment
possible out OF life.
Oscar was a typical beau sabreur,
careless of the present nd utterly reck-
less of the future, always in debt, and
by no means punctilious in his shifts 10
stave off his creditors. He regarded his
elder brother chiefly as a banker, to be
drawn upon as his necessities might
require; but Sir Derek usually refused
to be SO drawn upon. finding his rent
roll, large as it was, by no means in
excess of his own requirements. Ana,
hence, although the ,iiagooii was nj
ways more or less welcome TO spend as
much OF his furlough as he chose at
peanshurst. there was neYer my great
c0rdiality upon either side.
Iime wore on Sir Derek tried pub
tic life and entered parliament, but,
Proving a failure. resigned his seat and
retired to Hampshire in disgust. Os-
car, altar distinguishing himself high