Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-02-24
Ny Mysterious Servant
IOriginal.1

Wing walked off, remarking that there
was ''tOo muchee woman" l wrote a
note to an intelligence Office in the city
and when the coach came along told
Pete, the driver, through whom / al
ways sent my messages, to deliver it.
While l was adding some instructions a
Woman's face appeared at the coach
door and asked in broad Irish voice if
l wanted.a servant. 1t ended in my en-
gaging her. She alighted, a large trunk
was removed from the boot, and before
the coach was out Of sight Bridget
O'Toole, as she gave her name, was get
ting our supper.
When my husband came in and learn
ed what had done he shook his head
ominously, for l had taken a servant
without a recommendation.
Bridget was dressed better than serv-
ants usually dress, but like my serv-
ants to be tidy, and this did not trouble
me- She was about twenty-five years
old and very pretty woman. Had she
not been Irish she would surely have
been Swedish, having the fairness of
the Swede mingled with the rosy color
of the Irish.
Bridget was a mystery from the mo-
| ment she came into the house. Ny hus-
band warned me to look out for my
valuables, and l soon came to suspect
| that my servant was deceiving me-
What mystified me was that occasion
ally when she forgot herself she would
drop into a refined English accent But
l was not surprised that she was able
to talk thus, for many English servants
have such an accent. 1 was puzzled to
know why she used both the English
and the Irish
One morning took advantage of her
being in the kitchen to go into her
room to investigate. I tried the closet
| door where her trunk was, but it was
! locked, and the key was gone. What
induced me to do so 1 can't explain,
but turned down pillow on the bed.
There lay a beautiful little watch stud
ded with jewels, ticking away just as
I if it were in the boudoir of a lady. /
took it up to look at it, and on the
| back was a crest. l put the watch
| back where had found it and when
| my husband came home told him that
he was right-we must have a thief in
the house. When / mentioned my find
| he said that he didn't know what we
could do in the matter unless we dis
charged Bridget, which we must do
merely on suspicion, besides depriving
ourselves of an excellent servant. The
result was that we did nothing, though
put everything valuable in the house
under lock and key It was rather
singular that Bridget and her mistress
should be locking their belongings from
each other.
Bridget received letters occasionally,
and we considered the propriety of
opening them. But there is something
about opening other peoples communi-
cations that refined people shrink from.
Besides, the letters coming thus in our
/ care somewhat diminished our suspi-
ciOns. l examined the writing on sew
eral Of them addressed in a coarse
hand and suspected that it was dis
guised. But Of this was by no means
sure.
One evening a man alighted from
! the coach. He said he had business in
the neighborhood, and since there was
no hotel within miles he begged that
we would keep him overnight The
latchstring is always open among
ranchers, and we took him in. He was
dressed as became the country, but
his accent indicated that he was we'll
bred Englishman. He arrived an hour
before supper, and my husband told
him that we suspected we had a cOun-
try woman of his in the house who ap-
peared to be sailing under false col
Ors, end we would be obliged if he
would advise us what to do in the mat
ter. He replied that he would look
her over when she waited on us at ia
| ble
| Supper being announced, we took our
seats, and in a few moments Bridget
came in with a tray Of dishes. l had
my eye on her and saw her start as
soon as she saw the stranger. He
| looked her over cOolly, she keeping
her eyes on what she was doing and
going out as soon as she had finished.
The stranger explained her starting at
seeing him as arising from the fact
| that living IT cOncealment, she would
start at seeing any stranger. He said
/ he believed she was above the condi-
| ton of a servant or a thief and if we
would permit him a few moments with
her, being a countryman of hers, he
would try to get her secret.
After Bridget had finished her even
ing work 1 sent her into the living
room, where the stranger was waiting
for her. They remained in the same
room for quite awhile conversing in
low tone. Meanwhile we waited in
a room across the hall. Presently they
came in together where we were
''There is no longer any necessity
for secrecy" said the stranger "Your
maid is the daughter Of Sir Henry
Tomkyns of England and till a few
days ago was the wife of a British
rancher who had much better be called