Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1901-09-16

pose.
viii Tuesday morning suit you, Sir
Charles?" asked the lawyer.
Yes he replied; and on Tuesday,
the twenty-third of April, the will
which the lawyer had stigmatized as
imprudent'' and foolish" was duly
signed and attested
A spoiled beauty spoiled by a de-
votion such as fall to the lot of few
won en-Iady Rooden did not know
the meaning of the word care" She
was only seventeen when Sir Charles
Rooden wooed and won her; and from
that time he had surrounded her with
such loving care that her lot amongst
women was quite exceptional.
Few knew such unalloyed happiness
as she enjoyed. At times a fleeing
regret that she had no son to succeed
her husband would come over her;
but even that was softened when she
remembered how deeply he loved their
little daughter.
The Roodens of Rood Alley had
been for many generations owners of
that fair and fertile domain. Rood
Alley had originally been the property
/ of a religious order; but, falling vic
tins to the rapacity of the reigning
monarch and the bigotry Of the times,
they had been expelled from
the country, their property con-
fscated, and house and lands
were given to Guy Rooden,
court favorite. whose descendants
had lived there ever since. Many parts
| of the old Abbey had successfully re
sisted the wasting hand of Time, nota-
bly, the massive battlemented towers
and the ponderous old entrance gates
through which king, queen and mitered
abbot had been driven. Many a sol
emn procession had passed through
these portals, many long train Of
armored knights and fair ladies had
ridden through the grand avenue Of
giant chestnuts.
The abbey itself was substantial
| old building of gray stone, the towers
of which were almost covered with ivy.
1t stretched it's tendrils round the great
arched windows; it climbed to the very
| top of the tall towers; it chung in rich
masses to the ancient walls. Rood
Abbey, as seen by the light of the sum-
mer sun or by the moons pale beams,
presented picture at once picturesque
and imposing.
The estate, which was situated in
one of the most beautiful of the Mid
land counties were singularly favored
by nature, and not the least of its
charms was the bright flashing river
Leir, smooth and peaceful in places,
spanned here and there by rustic
bridges and widening in it's course I'M
til it developed into the broad, deep
reach in front of the Abbey itself
Sir Charles Rooden had succeeded
when quite young to the inheritance
of Rood He was one of Fortunes
| favorites, handsome in face and figure,
with genial, kind. CHEEKY manner
that made him universally beloved. He
was the ideal of an English landlord
handsome, brave, generous, a true
! lover of all outdoor and manly sports,
his hand ever open to relieve distress,
his ear ever ready to listen to the sOr
rows of the unfortunate.
| He was still young when he fell in
love with one of the most beautiful
girls of her day, Laura Milroy, the
only daughter of the Ear of Milroy.
The young baronet believed her 20 be
| the fairest, the most graceful, the most
| tender-hearted of her sex, and during
the whole of her married life he dis
covered in her nothing but perfection.
In his blind idolatry he never per-
ceived that she was vain or selfish,
| that she was shallow at heart; he
discerned in her only the attributes of
good and noble woman, and he loved
her with a full and perfect love, be-
| lieving in and trusting her implicitly.
His wife was the center of his hopes
and plans, the one object of his care
and worship; and next to her in his af-
| lection came his little daughter, whom,
because of her beautiful face and
sweet serious eyes, eyes in which
dwelt a sweet brooding seriousness,
| they named Angela.
Dir CndF10S WOTSulpp0u lie CuAIu JUST
as he did it's beautiful mother. He
commissioned one of the leading ar
fists of the day to. paint the picture
of Lady Rooden and Angela, the slen-
DER stately young mother looking
down on the child playing amidst roses
at her feet. Concerning the undeniar
bly, lovely face of Lady Rooden the
artist made no remark-he transferred
it with all it's subtle loneliness to can
vas; but with the face Of the child
Angela he was enraptured.
"They have named her well" he
said to himself. So far as the human
idea can realize an angels face, she
has one. How deeply she will suffer,
and how intensely she will enjoy!
There will be no medium for her. She
will know the very abandonment of
sorrow and the very height of hap
piness. If it be true that the shadow
of the future lies in the face Of child,
this one will have strange life"