Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1874-12-05 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

THE ALLM7P3. Master Poynings was seated in his on, •e, at nimble covered with letters, accounts, and leg d mire of various kinds, nmstly.written in a ial , sty of black letter, familiarly known as old 'En ish,•and soaled with red seal of portontouddimensions. Between the table and the door sat the ...man whom Colonel Aylmer me.' in the neighbourhood of Croydon, a few any.. before his murder, and whom be quostioued concerning his long-losf-cla tighter. The lawyer looked grave; the countenance of Dame Gray bore witness tea struggle in her mind between a fals.. sentiment of vide, the dawning consciousness of past wrong-doing, and the twinges of a tardy remorse " You desire now to make such reparation to your grand-daughter as may be in your power, supposing her to be still in existence?" said Master Yoyniu,gs, as the old woman paitsed at the conclusion of a statement she had made of the relations between the Gray and Aylmer families, with the leading points of which the reader has been made ac- . quainted. " She is the sole representative of two families of good descent and repute," rejoined Dame Gray, without giving a direct reply to the lawyer's implied question. "The Aylmem were loyal and true in the olden time, when the contentions of Crown and Parliament, Conformity and Nonconformity, were unknown, and a child's first lesson Was 'Fear God, and honour the King.'" . "The sad • and terrible events which have happened since I last saw Colonel Aylmer have produced a confusion which has not been favourable to the prosecution of an investigation with which I was then charged by him," observed Poynings, with a sigh. 'lf you can give use any clue whereby your grand-daughter might be discovered, that investigation would be much aided." Dame Gray shook her head. "She fled, or was decoyed, from my house several years ago," said she, "and I have never seen or heard of her since." "We must endeavour to trace her," observed the lawyer. "Colonel Aylmer left all his property to her, in the event of her proving to have been living at the time of his decease, subject to the payment of an annuity of a hundred pounds to her cousin, Walter Mowbray. If she should prove to be dead, and to have left no legitimate issue, it will then all become Mowbray's, Townley, the Colonel's other sephew, to whom it was bequeathed in that event, having died intestate, and by the hands of the law." At this point in the conversation, the door was opened by a clerk, who announced Master Mowbray tnd Miss Aylmer. The lawyer looked as gratified as surprised II this announcement, and glanced quickly from the clerk to Dame Gray, whom it had caused to start and to utter an ejaculation of surprise. "Miss Alymer!" said he. "This is most opportune ! Shall they come in ?" "Certainly, Master Poynings," returned Dame Gray, recovering her composure by an effort, and snatching a hasty glance at herself in a mirror. Violet entered in a few moments, escorted I,y, Walter Mowbray, who, after cordially shaking hands with the lawyer, proceeded to introduce his fair companion, whom Dame Gray was, in the meantime, subjecting to a keen scrutiny. - "Miss Aylmer is most welcome," said Poynings, bowing to the young lady, whom he regarded with much interest. "The introduction will save a great deal of trouble and expense, for the will of the late Colonel Aylmer would have made it necessary to search a for her, even if his .commission to that effect had not been one of his latest instructions to me. May I ask how you discovered the young lady?" , "We became acquainted through one of the ordinary incidents of the streets, before the late sad and terrible events," replied Mowbray: "Richard Townley, for some purpose of his own, busied himself in the discovery of my uncle's heiress, who, by the inquiries of a tumbler engaged at Jacob Hall's