United States or Caribbean Netherlands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
There was little discussion as to which of the young ladies of the Grange was the enchantress and the elect Lady Willerton. "Surely," said the gossips, "it cannot be that gypsy niece of the Squire, that odd, black-browed girl, who scours over the country in all weathers, on that elfish black pony, with her hair flying, for all the world as though in search of her wild relations.
It was toward the close of the second act, when Sir Harry Willerton, of Willerton Hall, entered his box, accompanied by three or four dashing companions, who, it was soon whispered about, were titled young bloods from London.
As he sprang up, the little silver bells on his collar tinkled out his master's secret; Sir Harry Willerton was still in the drawing-room with Bessie.
On her first night in this play, Zelma was startled by recognizing among the audience the once familiar faces of her uncle Roger, her cousin Bessie, and Sir Harry Willerton. They had all come up to London to draw up the papers and purchase the trousseau for the wedding, which would have taken place a year sooner, but for the death of Bessie's mother.
The village gossips declared that they had always foreseen some such fate for "that strange girl," and sagely prophesied that the master of Willerton Hall would abandon all thought of an alliance with a family whose escutcheon had suffered so severely. But they counted on the baronet, not on the man, and so, for once, were mistaken.
Sir Harry Willerton was a fresh, frank-looking young gallant, fast, from the fiery impulses of youth and a high spirit, not pricked on by vanity, nor goaded by low passions, not heartless, not blasé, the only kind of a rake for whom reformation is possible or reclamation worth the while.
She has one of her miserable headaches, poor thing; but she'll be better, she says, in the afternoon, and hopes to come up here to see you, and Miss Brandon, this evening. Lord Chelford and I had a pleasant walk that day to the ruins of Willerton Castle. I find in my diary a note 'Chelford tells me it is written in old surveys, Wylderton, and was one of the houses of the Wylders.
Bessie returned to Arden, married the master of Willerton Hall, and slid into the easy grooves of a happy, luxurious country-life; while Zelma rode for a few proud years on the topmost swell of popular favor, then suddenly passed away beyond the horizon of London life, and so, as it were, out of the world.
It was finally, for Zelma's sake, through the unsolicited influence of Sir Harry Willerton, that "Mr. Lawrence Bury, Tragedian," attained to a high point in a provincial actor's ambition, a London engagement.
Heaven bless you for that! And, dear, when you are Lady Willerton, a proud wife, and, if God please, a happy mother, put me away from your thoughts, if I trouble you. Rest in the safe haven of home, anchored in content, and do not vex yourself about the poor waif afloat on wild, unknown seas. It is not worth while."
Word Of The Day