Year: 1872

nd hers were not expected til iate Once
or twice during ''iE.l1r she rather alarmed
HE by mentioning the dangerous country
| they would ride over. She hoped all was
safe We ladies were just rising to go, &c
the evident delight of the doctor, the rec
tor, and the solicitor, when we heard 9
sound of voices in the hall, a scu,,,ing
and then a groan. At that moment, Sir
Edward Lawfurd, in soIled scarlet coat,
entered hurriedly, looking pale and anx,
ious, and with one arm i'm sling.


MIR. Dobson," " said he to the doctor,
who instantly pricked up his ears, eve
| want your help at once. A poor fellow
has been thrown and good deal hurt
Then, seeing me, his face grew graver
he advanced TO me and offered his hand.


My dear Mrs. H." he said, "you
mustn't be alarmed, but your husband has
been thrown in trying gate; his
shoulder is put out, and one of his ribs
I'm afraid off-but it will be right di-
| rectly."


1 remember no more they told me af-
| terward that | tainted. BY nature | was
strong but from Sir Edward S
that my husband was dangerously injured,
and SO indeed it proved,
1t was week before my husband was
out of danger He had dislocated his
shoulder and broken two ribs, besides re-
ceiving a painful injury on his knee cap.
l watched him day and night, and gave
| him myself the narcotics that were re-
| quired to give him the necessary sleep, for
neuralgia affection attended some of the
contusions, and low fever followed, to
allay which rest was indispensable.
| 1t was the ninth day, if l remember
right, that, pale, anxious, and exhausted
by want of sleep, l came for the first
time slime since my husbands accident to
take my doleful seat at the dinner table.
Sir Edward was very frank and cordial ;
untiring in his attentions to me, and in
his sympathy for me.


"Most unfortunate % he said, "and
Just Mt the beginning of the hunting sea-
son, toO-at the end one would not care
and / was so anxious to show him how
straight our set rode Tell him, poor
fellow, when he gets better, that We have
had to shoot Parepa-she'd broken her
leg, just above the fetlock-but I'd rather
have shot all my stud than have him
bowled over like that"


There is no danger now, l assure
YOU" said the everlasting country doc
tor, who seemed perennial at Lawford
Hall banquets. II assure you on my
honor, as a professional man, if he is
only careful, and we can keep up this
artificial sleep without injury to his
sanguineous circulation and digestive or.
gans.''


"Ah. this riding, like the driving of
Jehu, the Son of Nimshi, Sir Edward -
said the equally perennial rector, is very
much on the increase with our country
aristocracy, and is likely, l fear, to be at
tended with the most terrible casualties :.
Where do you get your Moselle, Sir Ed
ward ~


The inevitable old maid sisters uttered
their usual exclamations whenever the
shocking Oh, dear, it is dreadful to
think Of"


l bore it as long as l could, but that
vast evening" century in itself-was no
bad preparation to a year at the hulks.
Oh, that never -ceasing sonata of BeethO-
ven, beaten out with remorseless exacti-
tude by the rectOrs conscientious daugh-
ter; OH the wearisomeness of that strict
ly scientific rubber at which assisted as
in a dream. At last the playing grew
sleepier and sleepier: Sir Edward, tired
with fox hunting, fell asleep as the cards
were being shutfled, and l gave an inter
nal three times three when the servant an
nounced the first carriage, and Lady Law
ford said:


"Well, l think we are all getting
sleepy together; perhaps we'd better go
to bed"


Could this be the Lady Lawford had
known in Paris, thought, as mounted
the old staircase, and, with half alarmed
look at my own shadow, entered the long
corridor, in which our room was the only
one inhabited. A miserable visit it had
been. If past trouble weighed upon the
house, was the shadow of that crime to
cast gloom upon the race forever? 1
could not account for the change in peo
.r.1<a Il l.
l puzzled myself in vain to invent a rea-
son. Extravagant might have expected
to find them, their life a ceaseless whirl of
excitement but careworn, humdrum-it
seemed impossible. One would really
have thought that Sir Edwards father
had been the murderer, instead of some
grandfather's cousin, who had left no
children. Oh, that George was well! l
thought that we could get away from
this dreadful place.


uttered these words aloud as l opened
the bedroom door, SO loud that 1 almost
thought they might have walked George /;
but there he lay in deep sleep, breathing
heavily, and with one bandaged arm rest
ing upon the counterpane. There was
no lamp lit in the room, but a cheerful
fire burned in the crate, and the merry
shadows glanced upon the ceiling. The
medicine bottles were drawn up in ghastlv





careful servant had left jelly and meat es-
sence and some fruit ready for use on the
side table.


Threw myself into great carved chair
that stood by the fire, and listened to my
husbands breathing. There was no sound
but that and the measured ticking of an
old clock in the corridor, a bolt shot, a
door slammed far away in the same dis
tant wing of the house, then the house
seemed to fall into the profOundest sleep.
1t was still as the family vault. Once a
bough of clematus at the window tapped
against the glass, as if IL fairy was beg
ging admittance; once a cold breath of
air-spread from / know not where, and
going no one knew whither-crept from
under the door, and flowed in cold, in
visible current through the room in a
ghostly sort of way. Half an hour later,
as l sat and watched, the wind seemed
to spring into "a sudden sort of rumbing
and bluster in the great chimney, then
sank again to silence; gagged by some
secret power which it could not resist
was looking at the fire, thinking of
know not what waiting for half-past one,
when | was to try and rouse George to
give him the strengthening medicine
when my eyes all at once fell on II picture
in row of portraits had not before es-
pecially noticed it was one of four that
hung in dark corner of the room, very
dark by day, and within the shadow of
the heavy crimson curtains; but now
the freight cleaned full on it; and
could see its features as if sun
beam had fallen upon the spot. 1t repre-
sented a man about thirty; the features