Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1910-02-09
A ROYAL GOLFER,
ex cLlFFoRp G. SPENCER.

copyright. 1909. by American Press Assoc
ciation.l
Mistress dorchester, landlady Of the
Blue Boar tavern. in Leicester, Eng
land, was sitting on the porch Knitting
when an old gentleman rode up, dis
mounted and asked for entertainment.
The Iandlady looked him over and, be-
lieving him to be of the gentry, took
him up TO the best room in the house.
The bedstead was a. ponderous four
poster with hangings of date a CEN
fury later than the bedstead itself, the
other furniture corresponding with the
latter. On the walls hung two badly
painted portraits, the one of the then
reigning monarch. Elizabeth, the other
of King Richard Ill.
AT supper the guest was waited on
by Dorothy. the landlady's daughter,
comely lass of eighteen.
Can you tell me. child" he said,
whence came the bedstead in the
room l occupyT
Indeed. sir. / can. Put first tell me
why you ask
1T originally belonged TO some great
! parsonage. That l know from the
carving and the remains of gliding"
/ lit did, sir 1t was near the end of
| the last century when one day the
servants of King Richard III. came
to this house preceding the king with
his running wardrobe and set up that
bedstead in the room they chose for
his majestys bedchamber. The king
! himself arrived later. slept in the bed
and the next day was killed on Bos-
worth field. No one ever came to claim
the furniture. My reat-grandparents
who then kept this inn, took down the
rich hangings. They care now stored
in a chest in the attic. and the bed
stead has remained in its place ever
since"
The stranger remained at the Blue
Boar for some time. He wrote much
in his chamber and made excursions
into the neighborhood especially to
Bosworth field. He and Dorothy be-
came great friends, and he told her
that he was writing history. She
confded to him that she had a lover.
the son of a farmer whose family
| WOuIu uOls pei I'LL A1Lu W ACL
because she had no dowry. The guest
sympathiZed with her, but could do
nothing to comfort her.
The young lover did not come to the
inn, nor did the lovers meet clandes-
! timely But one evening while the
. old man was sitting behind a clump of
trees, studying some scraps of paper,
! h0 hooTA(l unianS tho road nv
A mans voice was saying:
81 have at last quarreled with my
) father, Dorothy, about this matter.
There is no hope for us. In a few
. days / shall sail for the new land Of
. Virginia. If l return from there
Don't talk thus. Joel. Virginia is
far away and wilderness. The for
tunes said to be there are dreams"
"Then. Dorothy, goodby. and goodby
forever. | shall always
|, The voices were lost in the distance.
; The next morning while at breakfast
the stranger said to the landlord:
Mr. Dorchester there is in this
house a property sufficient for dowry
for your daughter. 1t has been my
: good fortune to discover it, and, though
. it is not mine, l will not declareit till
l have your promise that 1t shall be
. used as | direct
Now, the landlord was a misery
man. who thought more of his own
= gains than his daughters happiness.
whats in my house is mine," he
v said
"When you have discovered it"
"Then | will discover it at once"
That day he ransacked every room
in the house and dug about every tree
in his yard, but no property did be
find except what he had always known
n to be his own. In the evening ht
|! sulked and the next day continued
e, his search. At the noon meal he Of
> fered the stranger a third of the treas
= ure if he would declare it. But thu
q stranger said that none Of it was his
t and he would have none of it. Be
:, ing the discoverer, he simply claimed
= 1t for one member Of the family II
a whose possession it happened to be
s At last the father yielded and with hi
4 wife signed a paper making over al
o the unknown property to his daughte
I Dorothy. Z
e Now come TO my room," said tn,
4 stranger when the matter had beer
r settled. Whereupon the father. mofhe1
and daughter accompanied the CUES
upstairs and into his room.
Take off the bedding" he said
: pointing to the old four poster.
They did as he directed. He ther
: lifted portion of the bottom. which
Y was double. and revealed a heap OF
shining gold pieces.
His three companions stood looking
> at the treasure in establishment Al
last Mistress Dorchester asked how
3 he had come to discover it.
ga few nights ago." be said. mot
being able to sleep, I tossed about the
bed. After one of my thrashings ]
heard something drop on the floor, roll
for snort distance and stop with a
: sound for all the world like a coin