Pocahontas star herald., 1908-08-28

AT this thought Struch me auu
turned to Vincent, and you had bet
ter wire the good people at Damers
farm" / said, "to inform them OF our
change of plan"
Indeed you must" said Mrs Arm
istead, "and. by the way Mr. Terhune,
IL you and Lord Vincent wish, | can
provide you with a copy Of the will
It is difficult, ! think, to remember all
its conditions
Perhaps that's good idea, ! an
swered. 1T is certainly an extraordi-
nary document; and what an extraor-
binary man this Fletcher Boyd must
have been, Mrs. Armisteld, to conceive
such plan as that
Mrs Armistead laughed, 81 think
he was" she said. 81 saw my brother
inlaw only once in my life, but that
was enough to impress me with the
strength of the mans character and
his eecentrlcity. He was intensely
American-what they call 'self-made
man over there, imaglne-and 1t
was his determination that his step
daughter, the Honorable Agatha, in
spite OF her English birth, should be
educated in America. To this her
mother agreed on condition that she
should be allowed to bring her daugh-
ter out in England and that she should
make that country her home when her
schooling had been completed. Ac-
cordingly, when Lady Wyckhon died,
the child being about IL years old,
Fletcher Boyd promised his wife to
carry out her wishes In that respect.
A few years later he began the work
OF building up this old castle Of Wyck-
hon and putting in every modern con-
venience, as you see, so that 1t should
be ready for his daughter to live in
temporarily, before he established her
in London with some good lady to
oversee her presentation into society,
according to her mothers ideas"
This was long speech for the
good Mrs. Armistead, and she paused
for breath.
II see" commented ''He made a
very excellent job Of It. Then, as
understand It. his daughter has never
been in England since her early child
hood2'
NO said Mrs Armistead Poor
child it's practically all new to her.
But ] mustn't pity her! Tie way she
and those friends Of hess take hold
Of things passes my understanding.
"And where did she find SO many at
tractye girls, each bearlag The Chris
tian name of Agatha," inquired. "It
is an unusual name sui should have
thought that part OF the wlil difficult to
fulfill"
They're all Americans" replied the
accommodating lady-"eveu my sec
retary, She was at my Aiece's board
ing school, and by nay arrangement
chaperoned the partE of giNs On theiC
trip over. When mex her she seemed
such bright, capable Nttte thing en-
gagged her at oace for my secretary,
as my eyes are bad, As for the Agath-
as, one Of them rooned vita my niece
at school, another shs Met white visit.
ing her friends In hssidag time, auoth-
er she became acqHSta+ed with quite
by accident on the traia, aad the 9th.
ers came in answer 10 an advertise.
ment."
Wonderful that 20 mNag girls could
be found who were al SO attractive"
| said again.
"They are attractive, Cat they"
she assented and thstr hrooks are
pretty, too made them get colored
things TO wear this second year Of
mourning for my hrnther.inlaw do
50 hate to see young girls wearing
black, and every article they put on
comes from New York city"
Il thought as much, I said n
thought they seemed more Ike Amer.
ican than English girls. And how
long has your niece been hore?"
| asked the last question because I
was afraid the conversation was going
to stop and l felt that in another mo.
ment Mrs Armisteod might mad.
vertently drop a hint as to the Identity
of the real Agatha. It was vers OK.
citing
Nearly a year This is the last six
weeks Of the second year Of mourning.
aud the first OF the two years she is
to spend with her girl companions at
the castle. You know my brother.in.
law disapproved Of girls coming out
as they call II, and placing themselves
on the marriage market, He'd rather
have the young men come to see them
in their own homes, so he put of my
niece's presentation as long as he
could, hoping she'd be married before
that time, | think"
And have you entertained many
young men as yet?'
my dear man. | should think we
had nearly two dozen at least And
they were too funny, unobtrusively
trying to discover which was the girl
with the money although that is really
against the spirit Of the whole thing
as it is contrary to the object Of the
will"
At this point I grew rather thought
full
Dear, dear" she went on. how
cautiously they aid go about their
eourtships! They were an after tbt
money. I fear This is a mercenary
world! An the girls have received