Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-07-27
NY
LUCKY
ESCAPE.
How Man Came Near Losing a
Fortune.

Z How Man Came Near Losing
:. Fortune. <
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
A lucky fellow? Well. yes; no doubt
am. To have come into this fine
place and 5000 year is a bit of luck
for any man.
You never saw may uncle and aunt.
They were two nice old people, ex-
tremely kind and good natured, but a
trifle eccentric. My uncle was self
made man. He amassed his fortune at
cotton spinning. My aunt, before she
married him, was a draper's assistant
in Manchester.
You really should have seen John
Simmonds, the butler, a dear, delight
full, faithful old creature, perfectly de-
voted to the family, but one of the odd
est men you ever saw.
He never took liberty or presumed
on the affectionate regard with which
he was treated by them. Yet he often
said to them things which II spoken by
any other servant or in any other man
ner than his own would have sounded
inexcusable and even outrageous.
"Doan't thee be a fule, masterw
have often heard him say IN his broad
Lancashire to my uncle when the lat
ter was proposing some step of which
his butler disapproved.
When my uncle died-an event that
nearly broke Johns heart-the faithful
servant constituted himself more than
ever a guardian of the family interests.
He looked after my aunt almost as If
she had been a child. 1t gradually be-
came evident that she needed some
looking after too
Her intellect had begun to fail lit
tie since my uncle's death. And this
weakmindedness of hers assumed a
most absurd and, for an old lady, a
most incongruous form.
She imagined herself still suscepti-
BILE to the tender passion-at 70. She
discovered quite a penchant for flirta-
tions. Really it was downright laugha-
BILE at first. But the time was not
long in arriving when the laughable
aspect of the matter grew less pro
nounced-
There had lately come into the neigh
borhood a certain retired major, by
named Mallaby, a we'll kept individual
who looked 40 and was probably 65-
tall, handsome and of ingratiating
manners and address. Anything so
fiagrantly absurd as an affair between
my aunt and this elderly bachelor l
had never imagined.
And if it had not been for John, my
eyes would probably have remained
shut until it was too late. One morn
ing, however, John came into the libra
ry, where / was alone reading. with a
very perturbed expression on his sol
emn face.
Master Charlie" he blurted out.
coming close up to me and dropping
his voice to low. confidential pitch.
'this won't du."
"What won't do. John?"
"This what's going on between thy
aunt and yon major"
'You don't really mean that you
think anything serious is likely to come
of these foolish fIirtations with Major
Mallaby?''
depends what thee calls serious.
Some folk might call marriage serious.
Some mighn't. That's what's coming
of it. anyways"
Pooh. mani Impossible. Why. aunt
is 10"
"If she was s5 and the marrying fit
took her. age wouldn't be no hindrance,
as it hain't a-been to many silly old
women before now" answered John
sententiously. "And I %arn thee sol
emnly Master Charlie. that If you or
or both of us doant interfere at once
Major MaIlaby will marry the mistress.
which is the same thing as saying that
he'll get her to leave i'm the property,
she being in that weak. foolish state
as she'll do anything at the word of
one who gets an influence over her."
Johns solemn words were beginning
to alarm me knew he was a shrewd
old fellow. by no means the sort to take
fright at nothing.
I'VE nun think. Master Charlie-we
mum think what can be done. I'll give
the matter my attention. and thee mum
give 1t thine. In the meantime" he
added. keep aboot the hoose, Master
Charlie. and If the major calls doan't
on any account leave him alone with
the aunt"
The major did call that afternoon.
and carried out Johns advice. taking
care to be present in the drawing room
all the time Very glad, too. felt that
| had not neglected this preeaution. for
from the way the major kept looking
toward me and from the various at
tempts my aunt made TO get me out of
the room by transparent subterfuges |
found myself wondering that had
hitherto been so completely and culpa-
bly, blind In the matter.
Next morning Iohn came TO me again,