The Clio messenger., 1921-09-01
~ ETTINA VANDERPOEL v

n ETTINA vANDERPOEL was
ID ten years old when her sister
Rosalie married Sir Nigel An
struthers, an English baronet. Betty
hated Nigel with a child's instructive
hatred for bully, but in spite of his
coarseness there was a certain fasci-
nation about him which blinded Ros-
allie to his real character They were
married in the whirl of gayety which
beftted the daughter of q multi-mil-
lionaire, and left New York for Eng
land. Long before the honeymoon
ended Rosy discovered that Nigel cared
only for her money, and nothing what
ever for her pretty, rather shallow
self, and by the time Stornham court
was reached Rosy was desperately
homesick and frightened. Her life
In the little English village, even while
she was the lady Of the manor, was
made a nightmare by Nigel and his
mother; and when, bewildered and
terrified, Rosy sought spiritual con-
ISOLATION and comfort from Mr.. Ffol-
lott, the vicar, Nigel accused her Of
having a lover. He intercepted her let
ters, lied to her about her parents, and
at last, furious at her refusal to ask
her father for money, he struck her
so that she fell in a heap against a
chair, and cried out, with crazy, aw-
full little laugh:
"Nigel, be careful! You don't know
how valuable / am! 1 might might
have-a son!"
Fifteen years passed, and the Shut
tie of Life, weaving back and forth
between the two countries, weaving
ceaseless web over the ocean, twisted
a thread in the life Of Betty Wander
poel that stirred her with the spirit
Of adventure that had been born in
her Dutch forefathers, and always
voice cried out to her to go TO Rosy,
to see why the letters from England
had been so few and so unsatisfying.
Betty was a lovely woman Of twenty.
five, very different from the gawky,
long-legged little schoolgirl who had
angrily defied Nigel Anstruthers, but
she kept her determination and her
will-power, and booked her passage on
the Mauretania with party Of
threatened to send the ship TO the bot
tom of the ocean, and, rallying the
frightened people who were with her,
Betty had the unexpected assistance
Of one Of the secOnd-class passengers,
a silent, gentlemanly Englishman, who
helped her TO keep order among the
passengers, and then as suddenly as
he came, disappeared into the second
cabin. The storm abated at last, and
England was reached in safety, but
Betty did not see the man again.
When Betty reached Stornham
Court, her worst fears were confirmed.
Rosy was changed from a dainty,
pretty, lovable girl into faded wreck,
timid and dowdy before her time. Her
son Ughtred, was a hunchback, and
with the cringing nature of his kind,
tried to hide himself from the world.
Nigel was on a trip to the Riviera, and
his mother had died, which left Ros-
allie alone in the Court, which was
tumbling down for lack Of repair.
With plenty of money at her call, and
with plenty of courage. Betty set about
her work of transforming Rosalie, and
building up the house, which soon
changed from dingy, gloomy pile to
the stately English country house ii
should have been. She superintend-
ed the repairing OF several of the
houses in the village, and one day,
during her regular drive about Storm
ham, she went farther and visited the
grounds Of the Mount Dunstan estate.
Mount Dunstan was almost as badly
in need Of help as Stornham. There
was a superstition which had come
down through the years that the earls
Of Mount Dunstan were cursed, and
the last earl, James Hubert Saltyre,