The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1899-12-22
CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER I.
1t wanted a week to Christmas, and
all day long the snow had been falling,
falling, until Barnstaple and its sur
rounding hills were Of bridal whiteness.
At the window of small cottage, on
the outskirts of the towl, sat Hcrry
domestic abbrcviation for Henretta;)
and there for the last hour she had
been pouring over black-letter folio
in the falling light. The folio-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 contained-in the quaintest of
English, the most grotesque Of Cax-
tonian lettering-the tradition of that
Christmas luck given to his race by
IS. Peter and Paul. Yet small CON-
fort had that luck brought to him or his.
In their day the Tawleighs had been
great folk. whose genesis dated from
before the Conquest; but in the pass
ing of centuries the family had
dwindled in wealth and position; until
tempo Victoria-scarcely an acre re-
mained to them, save that upon which
Tawleigh Court was built. Three
years after Hcrry's birth, this remnant,
by ill-fortune, was wrested also from
the race. To-day John Kilvert, some.
time lawyer of Barnstaple town, dwelt
under the lost roof-tree; while Taw-
leigh, his wife ard famil, sheltered in
the miserable cottage, at the window
of which Herry sat reading of her an
cestors and their vanished glories. To
the imaginative child there was food
for reflection in considering the declen-
sion 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 understandings. She believed in
pixies who danced on moon-lit Devonian
moors; she entertained no doubts upon
the awesome subject of Cornish giants,
and to her wooden dolls and dolls of
wax were scntient things. Also, as
was becoming the eldest of a Catholic
family, she owned to a firm belief in
sanity miracles. There had been
miracles aforetime, and what had been
might be again. With all her little
soul Herly trusted in such wonder
ments, and longed that one might oc-
cur to upset the existing order ofthings,
and restore the Tawleighs to Tawleigh
Court. This desire became the more
vehement when-an innocent caves
dropper-she overheard a sadly practi
cal conversation between her father
and mother.
Ignorant that their eldest was en-
crossed with medieval legends behind
the window curtain. Julian Tawleigh
and his wife were discussing domestic
troubles in the tiny drawing room. Il
meagre fire burnt in the CRATE, and
as it was late in the day--played flick
ing flames upon walls and ceiling, and
lpon the worn faces of the twain, who
sat beside it. In low voices they talked
of approaching departure; and Herry
aching with misunderstood sorrow,
hearkened breathlessly to every word.
Her l2-year-old mind could not grasp
the inlinitude Of parental woe.
at is no use crying. Dora," said
Julian sadly; "as things cannot be
mended, they must be endured. | can
not get further work in Barnstaple
and even this wretched shelter will be
denied us-wanting rent to pay for it.
Our sole chance of existence lies in
the London clerkship | have been
promised -
"Tawleigh, Of Tawleigh Court, a
clerk! Oh!'' sobbed the wife, conveying