Part 1 (2/2)
John Burrill;” but Mr. Lamotte was absent; the brothers Lamotte were absent; and until he was certain what steps they would take in this matter, it were wise to err on the safe side. Sybil was an only daughter. Parents are sometimes p.r.o.ne to forgive much; it might be best to ”let Mr. Burrill off easy.”
Thus to himself reasoned the editor, and, having bridled his pen, much against his will, he set free his tongue, and in the bosom of his family discoursed very freely of Mr. John Burrill.
”My dear, it's unendurable,” he announced to the little woman opposite, with the nod of a Solomon. ”It's perfectly _incomprehensible_, how such a girl could do it. Why, he's a braggart and a bully. He drinks in our public saloons, and handles a woman's name as he does his beer gla.s.s.
The factory men say that he has boasted openly that he meant to marry Miss Lamotte, _or_ Miss Wardour, he couldn't decide which. By the by, it's rather odd that those two young ladies should meet with such dissimilar misfortunes on the same day.”
Mrs. Editor, a small woman, who, from constantly hearing and absorbing into the vacuum of her own mind, the words of wisdom falling from the mouth of her husband, had acquired an expression of being always ready and willing to be convinced, looked up from her teapot and propounded the following:
”W-what do you s'pose she eloped with him for?”
”Maria, I believe I have told you frequently that there is no such word as 's'pose.' I don't _suppose_ anything about it. It's enough to make one believe in witchcraft. Miss Sybil Lamotte held her head above _us_; above plenty more, who were the peers of Mr. John Burrill. Last year, as everybody knows, she refused Robert Crofton, who is handsome, rich, and upright in character. This Spring, they say, she jilted Raymond Vandyck, and people who ought to know, say that they were engaged. Why, Ray Vandyck comes of the best old Dutch stock, and his fortune is something worth while. I wonder what young Vandyck will say to this, and how that high-stepping old lady, his mother, will fancy having her son thrown over for John Burrill. I wish I knew how Jasper Lamotte would take it.”
So, in many a household, tongues wagged fast and furious; misfortune had smitten the mighty ones of W----, and brought them within range of the gossiping tongues of their social inferiors; and, while the village oracles improve their opportunities, and old women hatch theories, the like of which was never heard on earth, let us make the acquaintance of some of the ”mighty ones.”
CHAPTER II.
W---- INVESTIGATES.
Wardour Place, the home of Miss Constance Wardour, and the scene of the ”_great_ Diamond robbery,” lies a little east from the town, away from the clamor of its mills, and the contamination of its _canaille_.
It is a beautiful old place, built upon a slight elevation, surrounded by stately old trees, with a wide sweep of well-kept lawn, bordered with rose thickets, and dotted here and there with great clumps of tall syringas, white lilacs, acacias, and a variety of ornamental trees and flowering shrubs.
The mansion stands some distance from the road, and is reached by a broad, sweeping drive and two footpaths that approach from opposite directions.
In the rear are orchard and gardens, and beyond these a gra.s.sy slope that curves down to meet the river, that is ever hurrying townward to seize the great mill wheels and set them sweeping round and round.
The mansion itself is a large, roomy edifice, built by a master architect. It at once impresses one with a sense of its true purpose: a home, stately, but not stiff, abounding in comfort and aristocratic ease; a place of serene repose and inborn refinement. Such, Wardour Place was intended to be; such, it has been and is.
Miss Constance Wardour, mistress of the domain and last of the race, is alone in her own favorite morning room. It is two hours since the discovery of the robbery, and during those two hours confusion has reigned supreme. Everybody, except Miss Wardour, has seemingly run wild.
But Miss Wardour has kept her head, and has prevented the servants from giving the alarm upon the highway, and thus filling her house with a promiscuous mob. She has compelled them to comport themselves like rational beings; has ordered the library and dressing room to be closed, and left untouched until the proper officer shall have made proper investigations; and then she has ordered her maid to serve her with a cup of strong coffee in the morning room; and, considering the glittering wealth she has just been bereaved of, Miss Wardour looks very calm and unruffled, and sips her coffee with a relish.
Presently the door opens and a lady enters: a very fat lady, with florid complexion, restless, inquisitive, but good-humored gray eyes, and plenty of dark crinkly hair, combed low about her ears.
This is Mrs. Honor Aliston, a distant relative of Miss Wardour's, who has found a most delightful home with that young lady, ever since the death of Grandmamma Wardour, for Constance Wardour has been an orphan since her childhood.
Mrs. Aliston comes forward, rather rolls forward, and sinking, with a grunt of satisfaction, into the largest chair at hand, fixes two gray eyes upon the heiress, which that young lady, perceiving, says: ”Well?”
”Don't say 'well' to me. I've just come down from the mansard,” gasped the widow Aliston.
”From the _mansard_?”
”Yes,” fanning herself briskly with the pages of an uncut magazine.
Constance laughs musically. ”Why, Aunt Honor, you didn't expect to see the robbers running across the country, did you?”
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