Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-04-21

and sunny smiles? Out came my father
and bowed like gallant Of 30. Out
came my mother and swept the floor
with a grand courtesy. Mistress Lyons
cried, "Bless her dear English facet
and kissed her.
All, thought l. Castletree is an Eng.
lish name, is it. and gracefully pre-,
sented Harry, who could not have come
faster to meet the court lady whose
hand he had kissed.
I ran and released my prisoner. who
came down and received that little
form-silks and curls. great hat and all
into his. arms with cry Of joy. He
told her how kind we had all been to
him-a foreign outlaw, leader Of rob-
bers-and we blushed and wished we
had been 30 times kinder.
Then the maiden was taken off under
my mothers wing, and we men held
counsel in the little dining parlor.
81 am clear of the robbers, " said the
big captain, land I swear"-he did in
English-''th 1 would plow like a
peasant sooner than return to them
"You are worthy gentleman, sir,
said the baron. land how you came to
mix and fight with such dogs cannot
see."
"That-my reason for it is closed
page of my life" answered the Eng
lishman. Enough, my lord. that
was once happy in my own castle in
Devon, with a sweet wife. honor and
wealth, and now And he burst into
tears
The sight Of a strong man in the
agony of weeping is ever pain to me-
When he recovered himself, my
father offered him position in the
household, to make him and Mistress
Castletree of the family. My heart rose
at that
The captain looked up proudly. "Can
l earn our bread, my lordf Is there
work for me to do2"
The baron, who was slightly the
elder of the two, took his hand.
"There is work, my friend. for true
gentleman with a true sword in the
house of LISTENS. Will you swear to be
loyal to this family until this family
or some member of it is disloyal to
your
81 swear it on my honor" said the
captain.
slipped out and getting his surren-
dered sword from my room returned
op6 plooa5 ~ in b;o bop6o
"Not this sword" he said. ~ will
purchase a new one from the house of
LISTENS" And he broke the 1.-THE blade
across his knee and handed me back
the two pieces.
"It was not the sword I used in the
service of my old king. Neither will !
use it in the service of my new lord,
the Baron LISTENS" he said. smiling
sadly.
And thus the house of LISTENS was
increased, and life seemed to be mer.
rier and more worth the trouble inside
the gray old walls.
The captain knew great deal about
farming and even more about weapons
and the drilling of men. Soon all the
people on the estate, including old Red
Harding, looked up to him with love
and respect. and some Of them whis-
pered that he had been a prince in his
own country.
Blithely, like red petals blowing from
bush, went the days through May
and June, The brigands lay close in
their mountain fastnesses, evidently
crushed by our brave defense, the
slaughter at the gates and the hanging
of the captives.
The peasants returned to their work,
the fol esters and keepers to the woods,
the plowmen and sewers to the fields,
and the young grain was green over
the uplands Captain Castletree was
everywhere For three days he tramped
about in the forests with squad of
axmen marking the lumber to be cut
for building and where the underbrush
was to be cleared out for frewood. l
wondered if he ever thought Of the
LISTENS fagot he had tried so heartily
to use over my head.
There was a second ditch to be run
through the swamp, and the captain
marked the hest course for it, and even
helped at the blasting out of rocks with
his own hands. And yet finer and
prouder gentleman could not be found
in Wassmark, where it is said the no.
bility cannot bend to pick up their
gloves should they happen to fall.
It did not take me many weeks to
discover that I was deeply in love with
Mistress Castletree Her other name
was Marion. which both Harry and
thought very pretty My brother made
verses about it and read them to Us on
the south terrace. Sometimes my heart
ached that I, too, could not write dane
ing rhymes to bring smiles to her lips
l looked at Harry through green light
and said all manner of unpleasant things
to him, and for answer he would only
eye me and smile.
One day 1 caught him by the shoul-
der-we were alone-and cried. "Do
you love her. viscounta"