The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-08-03
CHAPTER I.

h Which a Young Man Trespasses. mg=1Esjust an internal dude, your HAN lordship, and I'll throw him 4 HHt in the river if he says word a too much" : .aHe has already said too much, Tompkins, confound him, don't you know." Hc,:
 Then I'm to throw him in whether he says anything or not, sir?'
 l ..HGre you seen him T
 'sNd. sDnr lordship, but James has, James says heTwears a red coat and'- { -<N6Ser nnnd, TonpKihs. Helhas no right to fish on this side of that log. The insufferable ass may own the land pn the opposite side. but, confound his anuerfhence. own it on this side" 7 This concluding assertion of the usu- ally placid but now irate Lord Bazel- hurst was not quite, as lppmentous as st ssurae6s nAesYA maftHr of fact, the fitie 1fo the land was vested entirely ln his young American wife, his sole possession, according to report, being n title much less substantial but a great deal more picturesque than the large. much handled piece of paper fiown in the safety deposit vault lying close and crumpied among a million sordid, -homely little slips called cou- pone. ~
 It requires no great stretch of imagi- nation to understand that Lord Bazel- hurst had am undesirable neighbor. That neighbor was young MT. Shaw Randolph Shaw, heir to the Randolph fortune. It may be fair to state that Mir. Shaw also considered himself to be possessed of an odious neighbor. In, other words, although neither had seen the other, there was feud be tween the owg1nets of the two estates that had all the earmarks of an ancient romance. ~s g
 Lady Bazelhurst was the daughter of a New York millionaire She was young, beautiful and arrogant. Nature gave her youth and beauty. Marriage gave her the remaining quality. Was she not Lady Bazelhurst? What odds if Lord BazeIhurst happened to be a middle aged, addlepated ass? So much the better Bazelhurst castle and the Bazelhurst estates (heavily cucumber. ed before her father came to the res cue) were among the oldest and most coveted in the English market. Her mother noted, with unotuous joy, that the present Lady Baze1hurst in baby hood had extreme difficulty in master ing the eighth letter of the alphabet certainly most fattering sign ot natal superiority, notwithstanding the fact that her father was plain old John Banks (deceased). formerly of Jersey City, more latterly of Wall street and St Thomas.
 Bazelhurst was a great catch, but Banks was a good name to conjure with, so he capitulated with a willing ness that savored somewhat of sus pended animation, so fearful was he that he might do something to dis turb the dream before it came true That was two years ago. With ex quisite irony Lady Bazelhurst decided 10 have a country place in America Her agents discovered a glorious sec ton of woodland in the Adirondacks teeming with trout streams, game haunts. unparalleled scenery. He1 Iadyship Instructed them to buy with nut delay. It was just here that young kf.sSIlaw came lhtef prominence.
 His grandfather had left him a for tune. and ne was looking about for ways in which to spend portion ot it. College, travel and society having palled on him, he hied himself into ihe big. hills west of Lake Champlain searching for beauty, solitude and life ns he imagined it should be lived. He found and bought 800 acres of the nest beautiful 5laits of, syilderness in the rnount4knsz 7s:tE- .s2 ofs go
 The. same streams coursed through his hills. and dales that ran through those of Lady Bazelhurst, the only dis finction being. that his portion was the more desirable. When her ladyship's agents came leisurely up to close theil deal they discovered that MT. Shaw sad snatched up this choice 500 acre: of the original tract intended for theil client ,At-least thousand acres were left for the young lady, but she was
 
 Overtures were made to MT. Shaw but he would not sell. He was pre- pairing to erect a handsome country place, and he did not want to alter his plans. Courteously at first, ther somewhat scathingly, he declined te discuss the proposition with hel agents. After two months of pres sure of the most tiresome persistency helost his. temper and sent message to his inquisitors that suddenly termi- nated all negotiations. Afterward when he learned that their client was n lady he wrote a conditional note of apology, but if he expected a response he was disappointed. A year went by and now with the beginning of this narrative two newly completed coun- try homes glowered at each other from separate hillsides, one envlous and spitefuI, the other defiant and a