El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-08

X@lA\NN>, ssSesssg2R
"Do not tear up that piece Of rice paper,
| Miss Derrick"
| Stoke Moreton is fine old Elizabethan
house standing on rising ground. As we
drove up the straight, wide approach be-
| tween two rows of ancient, fantastical-
ly clipped hollies, was impressed by the
stately dignity of the place, which was
not lessened as we drew up before great
arched doorway, and were ushered into
long hall supported by massive pillars
| of carved white stone. A roaring log fire
| in the immense fireplace threw a ruddy
glow over the long array of armor and
cleaning weapons which lined the walls.
and made the pale winter twilight out
side look bleak indeed. Charles, emerg-
ing, slim and graceful, out of an ex-
quisite ulster. sauntered up to the fire
and asked where Sir George Danvers
was. AS he stood inside the wide fire.
place, leaning against one of the pillars
which supported the towering white
stone chimney piece covered with her.
aldic designs and coats of arms, he looked
worthier representative of an ancient
race than 1 fear he really was.
80 they have put the stage at that
end, in front of the pillars" he remarked.
noddiEg at a wooden erection. "Quite
right. / could not have placed it better
myself. What, Brown? Sir George is
in the drawing room, is he? and tea, as
perceive, is going on at this moment.
Come, Col. Middleton" And we fol-
lowed the butler to the drawing room.
l am not a person who easily becomes
confused, but / must own did get con-
fused with the large party into the
midst of which we were now ushered.
l soon made out Sir George Danvers, a
delicate but irascible looking old gentle
man, who received me with dignified
cordiality, but returned Charles greet
ing with certain formality and cold
ness which l was panied to see, family
affection being in my opinion the chief
blessing of a truly happy home. Charles
/ already knew, and with the second
son, Ralph, a ruddy, smiling young
man, with any amount of white teeth, l
had no difficulty; but after that 1 be-
came hopelessly involved.
/ was introduced to an elderly lady
whom / addressed for the rest of the
evening as Lady Danvers, until Charles
casually mentioned that his mother was
dead, and that until the deceased wife's
sister bill was passed he did not antici-
pate that his Aunt Mary would take
upon herself the position of stepmother
to her orphaned nephews. The severe
elderly lady, then, who beamed SO
sweetly upon Ralph and regarded Charles
with such manifest GOODNESS was their
aunt, Lady Mary Cunningham. She
had known Sir John slightly in her
youth, she said, as she graciously made
room for me on her sofa, and she ex-
pressed very proper degree of regret at
his sudden death, considering that he
had not been a personal friend in any
way.
1--WE all have our faults, Col Middle
ton," said Lady Mary, with n gentle
sigh, which dislodged little colony of
crumbs from the front of her dress. "Sir
John, like the rest of us, was not ex-
empt, though have no doubt the soft
ening influence of age would have done
much, since 1 knew him. to smooth acer-
bites of character which were unfortu-
nately strongly marked in his early life"
She had evidently not known Sir John
in his later years.
As she continued to talk in this strain
1 endeayored to make out which of the
young ladies present was the one to whom
Ralph was engaged. / was undecided
as to which it was of the two to whom
had already been introduced. Girls al
ways seem to me SO very much alike, es-
pecially pretty giIls, and these were
both of them pretty. / do not mean
that they resembled each other in the
least, for one was dark and one was fair;
but which was Miss Aurelia Grant,
Ralph's fiancee, and which was Miss Ev-
elyn Derrick, a cousin of the family, l
could not make out until later in the
evening. when l distinctly saw Ralph
kiss the fair one in the picture gallery,
and / instantly came to the conclusion
that she was the one to whom he was
engaged.
l asked Charles if l were not right. as
we stood in front of the hall fire before
the rest of the party had assembled for
dinner, and he told me that had indeed
hit the nail on the head in this instance,
though for his own part he never laid
much stress himself on such an occur
renee, having found it prove misleading
In the extreme to draw any conclusion
from it. He further informed me that
Miss Derrick was the young lady with