The Washington herald., 1914-08-02

there will be light hearts and smiling
faces among the Bayards now the wars
are over and young MAI LittlepaSe has
come back"
What in the world" said Mordaunt,
as he and his sister rode on, "can my
return have to do with the happiness
of the Bayards? I know they are
| rich and ancient family living up the
river a piece. But why should they oe
interested In Mai. LittlepageF
We'll, brother" replied Kate rather
| pertly, ''the fact is that / am engaged
| To Tom Bayard That is, / am not
really engaged until you give your con-
sent. / told him he must wait for
final answer until your return So II
you have no objections-and I suppose
you have none. nobody else has-I shall
marry him.
And then Tom has a sister-just q
dear. Her name Is Priscilla Priss Bay
ard would make just the wife for you"
Picked Out for Him.
"So," said Mordaunt, my little sis.
ter has not only arranged for her own
marriage but for mine during my alb
sence. / suppose the whole neighbor-
hood has me already afianced to thi,
Miss Priscilla Bayard. That was tbs
occasion of that old gossip's talk
In reply Kate launched out into q
long eulogium of Priscilla Bayard, and
at the end of It Mordaunt caught him.
self thinking: We'll. she might do"
The next day they all went over to
i Satanstoe, Grandma Littlepage's place or
The Neck" and there Mordaunt met
Tom and Priscilla
Tom he liked immensely. Tom was
retiring and did not seek to shine in
the effulgence Of Mai Littlepage
i As for the girl who had been picked
out for him by his sister end the rest o.
the family. Mordaunt considered hel
rather forward"
The Bayards were, as a family, wha'
was known in those days as strictly
neutral" But Priscilla posed as an out
and-out patriot, and condemned King and
Parliament with a warmth that was only
equaled by the fervor with which she de
Tended everything American, appealing
every now and then to Mordaunt with
rs it not so. major?''
| Two Great Estates.
WELL" thought the young coxcomb
this is being sufficiently managing. Bu
| must let her see that I am on my
| guard and must meet management with
management II a man OF my age IRE
member, he was twenty-one) cannot get
the best OF a girl Of twenty-I. who has
commanded a company Of Continentals-
the devil is in it,
4 It was, perhaps, Just as well for MAI
| Mordaunt Littlepage that his father soor
I shipped him of to investigate the con,
ditions existing upon the great proper
ties Of Ravensnest and Mooseridge. dr
4 the central part OF the State
The Ravensnest property consisted ot
| about 1900 acres and the Mooseridgt
4 property was Of about the same size
i VAR resnacfah hla farms Ipdae6 evap IN,
!, those days.
Ravensnest was Mordaunt's own prop.
erty. His father had decided It to hin
i when the boy became Of age. Mooseridg,
was owned by Gen. Littlepage and hi.
old friend, Mai Pollock, as tenants IL
common.
Together, the two estates would hav,
made a fair-sized German principality
But. unlike a German principality, tn,
lands had never paid q cent OF income
to the proprietors-
Il though Ravensnest had 1000 acres LEASED
out in farms, the income from the leases
and more than the income, had beer
spent in improving the estate.
Starting for the wilderness.
The War Of the Revolution left the
Colonial gentry poor. Those who had
lconfscated and those who had stood by
the Congress had left their lands and
little else besides.
| Chainbearer was ALREADY up in the will
derness organizing a surveying party. II
was time the Ravensnest property was
paying some dividends.
| The great Yankee invasion Of "York
State" had begun and the New England
ers were sweeping across the Hudson to
find homes in the fertile valleys Of what
was. to them then, the West
When Mordaunt took leave of Priscilla,
telling her he was going up State to
meet Chainbearer. she said: Did you
ever see Duss Malbone, Chainbearer's
lniece?'
Where in the name OF all that is Gu
rious did you ever hear of Ursula or
Duss Malbone?" he replied. "old Chain
bearer was always speaking to me OF
his niece-but I did not know that you
knew her"
Duss MaIbone.
20, yes, she was at school with me.
Poor Ursula or, as she is more often
called. Duss-is of good family, but poor
enough.
"She was at our boarding school more
like a dependent than a pupil. But
proud. o, very proud, with all. We are
Z
| Capt Coejemans calls Duss his niece.
But her mother was only half-sster to
the captain-they had different fathers. -
Then, blushing and seemingly dis
turbed that she had shown such an init
mate acquaintance with the Malbone
lgenealogy. Priscilla plucked a rose and
walked away. smelling the flower.
Certainly a peculiar young woman, "
thought Mordaunt. and then began tc
speculate as TO what Duss Malbone would
be like.
Many a night during the war. under
the silent stars in trench or bivouac, had
IChainbearer discoursed to Mordaunt con-
cerning his niece: of her perfections OF
character and beauty of form and fea-
ture.
And now he would see this paragon
for she was with her uncle at the little
settlement of Ravensnest.
4 Voice from the Thicket.
So up the river he went and plunged
into the woods. Jaap was with him and
some lumberman. They Travelled in a
cart westward from Albany.
Just before reaching the boundaries OF
his own lands he stopped at little tav-
ern, where the Iandlady complained bit
terly of the price of pork, saying that
she had been so poor at times that she
was absolutely obliged to live on veni-
son. wild turkey. squad. and bear steaks
! Tired of the landlady's garrulity. Nor
daunt walked on alone down the trail
leaving his companions to follow at their
leisure
As he came to a place about a mile
beyond the inn-a place where the trees