Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-03-12

her husband with less curiosity, but
as our motor car toiled up the drive
| could not help seeing the neglected
condition of the hand. with boughs of
trees lying where they had fallen in
the storms. as well as broken gates
half off their hinges and swinging to
the wind
The house itself, when we came IN
sight of 1t, was a large castellated
building with many lesser turrets and
one lofty octagonal tower, covered en-
tirely with ivy which, being appar-
emily unshorn for years, hung in long
trailers down the walls, and gave the
whole pile the appearance of a huge
moss covered rock of the sea planted
on a promontory of the land
Neglect and Decay.
As our car went numbering up 10
the great hall door nearly the whole
of the servants and some of the ten
ant farmers (under the direction of
the tall, sallow man who had been my
husbands guardian in former days,
and was now his steward were wait
ing to welcome US, as well as Lady
Margaret Anselm, who was still re-
served and naughty in her manner,
though pleasant enough with me.
My husband nodded to all, shook
hands with some, presented Alma to
his aunt as "one of Mary's old school
friends" Ga designation which, as l
could see, had gone ahead of herr, and
then we passed into the house.
I found the inside corresponded
with the outside In its appearance of
neglect and decay, the big square hall
having rusty and disjointed armor
on its wainsoted walls and the mark
of water on the floor, which had come
from a glass dome over the we'll of
the stairs, for it had rained while we
on the sea
The drawing room had faded cur
talns over the windows, faded vel
vet on the square sofa and stiff
chairs, faded carpets, faded samplers
and faded embroidery on faded
screens.
The dining room (the sedate origi-
nal Of my fathers rather garish copy)
was a paneled chamber, hung round
with rubicund portraits of the male
O'Neills from the early ones of the
family who had been lords Of ELAN
down to the bad Lord RaA." who
had sworn at my grandmother on The
high road.
l felt as if no woman could have
made her home here for at Least a
hundred years, and l thought the gen
eral atmosphere of the house was that
of the days when spendthrift noble
| men, making the island a refuge from
debt spent their days in gambling
and their nights in drinking bumpers
from bowls OF whisky punch to the
nameless beauties they had left in
| town"
They were all gone, all dead as the
wood of the worm eaten wanscot-
! ing, but the sound of their noisy
| merrymaking seemed to cling to the
rafters STILL and as / went up to my
rooms the broad oaken staircase
! seemed to be Creaking under their
drunken footsteps.
| My own apartments. to which Lady
| Margaret conducted me. were on the
southern side of the house-a rather
stuffy bedroom with walls covered by
a kind of pleated chintz, and a bou-
| doir with a stone balcony that had a
flight of steps going down to ter
race of the garden, which overlooked
a glen and had far view of the sea
On the opposite side of the landing
outside (Which was not Immediately
off the great staircase though open
to the view of it, there was a similar
suite of rooms which l thought might
be my husbands, but l was told they
were kept for a guest.
On the Balcony.
! Being left alone had taken off my
| outer things and was standing on the
balcony, listening to the dull hum of
! the water in the glen, the rustic of
| the trees above it, the surge of the
| sea on he rocks below, the Creaking
| of a rusty weatherCoCk and the strik-
| ing of a courtyard clock. when | also
heard the toot and throb of another
motor car, and as soon as il came up
| saw that it cntained Aunt Bridget
in he half-moon bonnet and Betsy
Beauty. who was looking more than
ever like a country belle.
When I went down to the drawing
room Lady Margaret was pouring out
tea for them, and at sight of them
Aunt Bridget cried
"Sakes alive, here she is herself"
But how pale and pinched and
thin" said Betsy Beauty.
Nonsense, girl, that's only nat
ural,' said my Aunt Bridget, with
something like a wink; and then she
went on to say that she had Just
been telling her ladyship that If felt
lonely and a little helpless on first
coming home Betsy would be pleased
to visit me.
Before l could reply my husband
.. came in. followed shortly by Alma,
who was presented as before, as
"Mary's old schol fellow" and then,
while Betsy talked to Alma and nv
husband to his knswoman, Aunt
Bridget, in an undertone, addressed
herself to me.
You're that way. aren't you?
. No? Goodness me, girl, your
father will be disappointed!
lust then a third motor car Carna
throbbing up to the house, and Bet
sy, who was standing by the window
cried
IT'S Uncle Daniel with Mr.. Curley
and Messy"
Messy. of course" said Aunt
Bridget grumpily, and then she told
me in confidential whisper that she
was a much injured woman in re-
gard to that ungrateful stepdaugh-
ter who was making her understand
the words of Scripture about the pang
that was sharper than serpents
tooth
AS the newcomers entered | saw
Messy had developed an old maids
idea of smartness. and that my ia
theirs lawyer was more than ever like
an over-fatted FISH; but my father
himself Except that his hair was
whiter) was the same man still. with
the same heavy step, the same loud
voice and the same tempestuous
gayety.
"Ali here? Good Glad to he
home, | guess Strong and well and
hearty | suppose? Yes, sir.