The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-09-19

What is this they tell ne. Jernyn?"
said Gaspard 10 his cousin. as one guest
after another came Up 10 shake hands
with him. "CoSerdale says that your old
screw has fallen dead lame, ard .s unfit
to cary you home
Let me see her" cried the littie man.
excitedly. The mare was all right as
Ne came along tonight" he pushed out
into the open air. where shaoby-looking
mare stood harnessed to a shabbier-iook-
| ms dog cart
The man touched his nat gravely. Il
can't thine>whats gore = rong with the
mare, sir" lie gaId, IN an apo.ogetic tone.
but she's gone dead lame. She must
have run a call into her hoOf. l fancy"
There could be no doubt about the fact.
The poor creature would scarcely allow
her Of hind foot 20 be touched.
I'm sorry / can't put you up Tonight.
old fellow" SAID the baronet, coming TO
| his cousins side, every bed In the house
Is occupied, as several OF the men are
staying overnight But I'll tell you what
I'll Go. I'll Dive you home in my dog
cart. No trouble, / assure you. The night
air will DO me good. Here, Coverdale, tell
them TO put Hack Bess IT. the dog cart"
Black Bess vas Sill Gasrard's best ami
rlal-a fine, spirited creature, which he
seldom used in harness.
"One of the grooms can drive me. If you
really can't put me up" said Jermyn. in
a grumbling tone. or perhaps one of the
others would give nae lift"
Get a lift # you can, but l fancy they
| haven't a vacant seat anywhere" said
lis cousin. And as for the grooms.
wouldn't trust one of them with Black
( Bess tonight She is bit fresh, after all
the frost we have had, and the roads are
| slippery"
! Most Of the guests had by this time
/ driven off, and none Of the others felt
I inclined TO go out of their way so late
| at night to ob.ige Jermyn Hawke, who
/ was no favOrlte, especially as Sir Cas-
I Pard had Offered to take him home.
/ was driving an old comradc, who was
my guest for the time being, and We
I started before Black Bess and the dog
| cart had been brought around. For the
| first three miles our way was the sane
/ as that which Sir Gaspard would take
/ in driving to Chichester. About a mile
/ after leaving the Abbey The road crossed
/ the Brent, a deep, fast-nowing river, now
| covered by a thin coating Of ice. The
! banks on either side OF the stream were
! Abbey; but the road WAS wide, so was
/ the bridge. and with careful driving there
was no danger. What danger there was
1 that night arose from the fact that as
! the wall fianking the bridge on the left as
| you carle down the hill was being re.
! paired, there was only a thin wooden
! fence between the road and the river at
I that point.
! We passed the bridge IN safety, and
were climbing up the opposite bank when
we heard in the keen, frosty air the sound
| of Sir Gaspard's dogcart laundering down
! the iron-bound road on the other side
/ of the river.
! IF Hawke doesn't mind he will throw
/ that horse down." said my companion, as
/ the sound Of galloping hOOfs came clearly
] to our ears. We heard the rattle of the
/ wheels on the hard road, and the shout
| of the driver. Do You think Sir Gas
| pard is quite sober:" asked my friend.
| Sober as a judge" said l.
As the words left my lips a sbriek--an
| awful shrek. cry as of 4 soul in agony
| pierced The stiffness OF the night Then a
I loud crashs Then silence.
Good heavens! What has happened?"
/ cried, and turned my trap around. In
a very few minutes we were at The bot
| hole in the ice just at the corner of the
bridge, and we could dimly sec a dark fig
ure climbing slowly up the bank. II was
| Sir GaspaTd.
What has happened? Can We do any,
| thing?" / yelled out, az We dashed across
! the bridge.
There's nothing TO be done-they must
! be half a mile down the stream by this
/ time-under the ice. too painted The
| barOnet. He sat down by the wayside to
get his breath. We could see that he
was dripping wet from mead to foot. We
/ peered over the parapet, but not a YES
, tise of man, horse, or cart was to be
/ seen.
BLACK Bess was so fresh" said Sir
| Gaspard, 'that / could scarcely hold her
in from the start. Latterly she got be-
| yond my control altogether l think the
slippery state of the roads frightened her
At any rate. as we came down the hill
she bolted. ! tried to turn her on to the
! bridge but il was no use. She turned
as if there had been a regiment of SOL
diers at the end of the bridge. and went
bolt into the river as though she were
mad. IN a moment l was struggling in
the water, and ] remember nothing more
| till l found myself clinging to the Shiny
I bank of the stream. ] must have es-
I capped death by a miracle. Have either Of
! you got a mouthful of brandy about
| your
! Whether the baronet got the brandy he
was In need of don't remember / know
that ne insisted on walking back TO the
/ Abbey. saying, truly enough, that he
would BE less likely 10 come to harm walk
/ ing than driving in an open trap in the
] 81 ,fr 7 u saaroeH prifp n hia m xualiy
so he went of, and we saw no more Of him
that night.
When the ice was broken up the dead
| body of Jermyn Hawke was found en-
| tangled in the wreck of the doscart, un-
derneath the drowned mare. His face was
| swollen almost beyond recognition. He
was buried with all due honor. but his
cousin was the only mourner at the fu-
neral
Time rolled on, and gradually the muir
murs of suspicion that had followed the
| accident died away. True, it was whis-
pered that Jermyns groom had been heard
to say one night that he knew all about
| the lameness of his late masters horse.
| which had prevented the Inflated man
| from driving himself home on that fatal
| night. But it was a mere rumor. Shortly
afterward the man emigrated to Australia
and no more was heard of the insinuation.
The baronet was in a few months as
popular as he had ever been He was now
a rich man. for his cousin had died intes-
tate. and the mortgages on the Abbey
estate were thing of the past.
Before many months had gone by il was
known that SIR Gaspard was to succeed
10 his cousins matrimonial as well as his
financial interests. In other words Juliet
Etheridge had been ordered by her par
ents TO transfer her affections 10 the in
heritor of the late Jermyn stocks and
shares.
TIE marriage was announced 20 take
place in the last week Of January, just
twelve months after the accident which
had deprived the bride-elect of her for
mer lover Some were of opirion tha, 4,