The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1907-09-06
My Lady Lettice.
BY MALCOLM FURZE.

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She was always My Lady Lettice from
the moment of her birth-the birth which
cost her gentle, fragile mother her life;
and as the years rolled on the title was
none the less hers
The Earl of Cranston, her father, took
very little notice of her-he never quite
forgave her for being the unconscious
factor in her mothers early dcath-and
she grew from childhood to girlhood a
solitary, vet by no means unhappy per-
son, dimly conscious that there was a
latent feeling of luminosity towards her
small and wholly sweet self on the part
of the being who ought to have loved
her more than the whole wide world put
together, but utterly unable to account
for its presence.
She understood that Lord Cranston
preferred to see her at distance-that
he just tolerated her at the head of
table, when her long skirts and turned
up hair precluded once and for all her re-
teEtiOu in the schoolroom.
But the cause was not borne in upon
her until one certain hot summers day,
when in the light of others eyes, she saw
what had hitherto been mystery to
her
A pure accident put it into her pretty
auburn head, and when once she knew
there was no longer any peace for My
Lady Lettuce.
She had been out in the cornfelds that
surrounded her country home, gathering
in her brown arms, barred to the elbow,
great handfuls of regal crimson peoples.
A very glorious picture she made as she
stood ''breast-high" holding her spoils
against her nut-brown cheek.
Had My Lady Lettice's mother been
alive that same cheek had been carefully
shielded from the too eager kisses of the
summer sum- but having no one to take
care of her the girl had wandered at her
own sweet will in her own fashion once
she was emancipated from governesses
and such like impedimenta that surround
ed the ordinary budding young lady, and
her face was a sure index of the use to
which she had put her time and her liber-
tyl
The Earl never inquired for ner; If she
was late for meals he made no comment;
he utterly refused to secure chaperon
for his pretty young daughter, averring
that while he lived his daughter had no
use for one.
He did not intend to present her at
court or give her season in town such
as benefited one of her rank and beauty
and in the country espionage was
necessary for My Lady Lettuce. And his
would-be councillors withdrew, and the
Earl went on in his obstinate way, until
suddenly pulled up short
And his awakening happened in this
wise:
The day that saw My Lady Lettice
breast high among the corn" brought
two ladies to the court on visit to my
lord.
One was Madame Ronteuil, fascinat-
ing little Frenchwoman, who loved ia
belle Angleterre" and had made it her
home, and the other was a friend who
had come to stay with her.
Now, My Lady Lettice was on the ve-
randa arranging the peoples she had
that morning gathered, and the window
being open on to the balcony every word
the two good ladies uttered while wait
ing the arrival of their host carried to
the girls ears as she stood idly caress-
ing her beautiful flowers.
She had no intention of eavesdropping,
but.she also had no intention of making
her presence known in case her father
should object, and it was with sudden
start that she heard his name mentioned
by Madame.
The visitors were evidently discussing
the absent gentleman, and Madame was
enlightening her friend with vivid de-
scription.
And" she wound up. 1.-THE sad part
is that he hates his only daughter-his
only child, in fact, because her mother
died at her birth. Inhuman, call it
but the girl doesn't seem to mind-I
don't think she quite understands"
Visiting the sins OF the father upon
the children, call it." purred the other
lady, mildly. How very shocking
quite case for the Society for the Pre-
vention-"
Her sentence was cut short by the arri-
val of her host. But MY Lady Lettice
had heard, and her checks famed.
So that was the reason-her father
hated her. Oh! she was glad, ever so
glad, that at least she had found out.
What a fool she had been not to guess it!
Many things became clear to her, vie wed
in the new light.
Her mind was instantly made up. Her
father hated her-she would not remain
any longer to remind him so constantly
of his grief She would go away, right