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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 1904)
IP. Jl r rj. n ,1 2l i ? r, V Bit -if T lord the earl of Severne sat In his 'great library in hie fine new house in Golden square, and, perhaps because he had the gout and his foot was swathed In bandages, he scowled more ferociously at the logw burning oh the hearth than he would otherwise have done. Also, the lackey who mostly sat out In the passage all day long, except at the numerous bout fifty In the day when his lordship beat upon tlm the silver gong by his side to call him In was enduring tor tures from my lordis temper and wishing that for once only for once he could summon up his courage to return his mat I ter's abuse and curses with Interest But the poor wretch knew that this meant loss of place and of fine feeding below ( stairs, and good drinking, too which would be doubled and trebled and quadrupled next week, to say nothing of vails nd presents when Christmas came and he reflected that all these. Including love passages with the maids In not only this house but also others In the square, were better things than poverty and hunger also at Christmas! Likewise, he recalled that his old bedridden mother had a musty proverb to the effect that " curses were like chickens and came home to roost," and 'another "that hard words break no bones." ! and still another that " fine words buttered no parsnips," all of which pithy and Indisputable saws, as well as many others, ' tha old dnms was In the habit of muttering In her bed day by day when the spirit moved her. Wherefore the fellow mumbled to himself, ' Curse on, an' you will," as he heard my lord roaring and grunting within, while, being a philos opher, though 'he did not know It, and, It may be, had never heard of such a thing as philosophy, he told himself that. If fine words did not Indeed butter any parsnips, neither did rough words do anybody any harm, and thereupon lifted a bottle, which he kept undeir the chair, to hie lips, and drank well salvation to his master within. But, now, fresh roars came from out the library and the oen -was atrucK upon, anil " Dlessings ' were bellowed out upon the varlet's body and other portions of his frame, so that, slipping the bottle back Into a convenient drawer be neath the seat of the chair, the man rose and entered the library with an attitude of extreme alacrltv. " Fellow," the noble lord exclaimed, " what are you doing without? Sleeping or guzzling, or what? Don't dare to answer, or, I' fags, I'll havs ye whipped. Where Is my Lady Mllllcent?" " My lord, I do not know" " Not know! What In the name of the fiend are you kept hers for? Look out In the square and see if she Is coming. Look. I say." " My lord," the man said, fawningly. " In truth her lady shtp is coming. Tour lordship Is a necromancer. The coach rounds the street corner, her ladyship Is wrapped in her great fur cloak, and she descends." But he did not tell his master that her ladyship had el ready descended from the coach nine houses off, at which pot she had been Joined by a bravely appareled, handsome young man, who had kissed her hand, and, as the lackey thought, had looked much as though he would like to kiss her face. But It was broad daylight this he had not done. " I do not hear the wheels," the Irascible old peer said, .Iter two or three minutes' pause. " My lord will remember the ground is heavy with snow." "Bah! Has she come Into the house?" " She is coming, my lord," the servant replied, tie having seen her ladyship tear her hand out of that of the handsome young man, walk swiftly towards her father's house, and, looking round once, wave that hand towards the admiring cavalier. This also he did not mention to his master. Wrapped still in her long fur houppelande, her three cor nered hat upon her head, and her long fur embroidered gloves upon her hands. Lady Mllllcent Thame entered now her father's presence, while bringing with her, as It seemed to the servant if not to the master, an air of freshness and youth that was altogether delightful. For my lady was but two and twenty, and aha was fair and sweet; her cheeks were ' soft and had a bloom upon them such as a peach on a south wall possesses -when at its best hi summer's prime; her eyes were cool and gray, her hair a lock of which had escaped from beneath her wig was blonde com me le ble. The grunts and gurgles emitted now by the gouty old fhan cannot be represented on paper by any combination of the letters of the alphabet, therefore let them be Imagined, with, since In his heart my lord loved his child full well, an accompanying belief that they were Intended to repre sent some form of welcome and endearment. Then, after further choking and grunting, the earl said: "Well, what Is a-dotng in the town? And the thieves; has aught beten heard of them? And you, whom have you seen, and what done? Hey? Oo!" (This latter being ad dressed to the footman, 'who promptly went, since none waited for his lordship to speak twice.) " There are no tidings of the thieves as yet," tils daughter answered, sitting down by him after the man was gone. " The news letters say the robbery was committed In the house by some vagabonds who knew what they were a-dolng. Others say " " What others?" "I met Luke Rivers In the Mall, and and Bertie War grave ten minutes ago in the square. And he " " Bertie Wargrave! A wastrel, a dissolute youth; dlsso lute as his debauched old cavalier of a father. And poor as Job's cat" " Maybe," Lady Mllllcent said, unmoved at this melan choly statement. Then, looking her father In the face, she dded, " I love him, nevertheless." " Love away," said Lord Severne with a wheecy laugh, the first he had given vent to that day and surprising his daughter by doing so, since she had expected something that waa not well! a laugh. ' Love away, and be happy, only be no foot, nor think of marrying him. His father loved a many when he was young; so, too, for the matter of that did I. But we only loved them, and we knew where to marry. My life and soul! In the days of merry King Charles we" . j " We are not in his days now, the Lord be praised!" Lady Mllllcent replied " And we, the women of today, have some touch and spot of modesty within us now. Faugh! your merry King Charles and his French ways, and the ways of the women of his daysi I do hate their very names the women of his days and their multitudinous lovers! My Lord This one day, and my Lord That another, and a broken down cavalier the next, and so on, till a footman or a scrivener's cleric or a shopman served at last Bah! for your King Charles." "We lived our lives and lovedem, too." his lordship ; said, stni wheesing and chuckling, " and once this cursed gout hath departed, I'll enjoy mine again. Only I would I had not been robbed of 30,000 guineas, and I would I had a daughter who did not wish to marry a beggarly officer in Peterborough's Horse." "You are deceived," Lady Milllceot said to her father, she being the only creature who dared to argue with and defy, and. what was worse, generally to vanquish him. "Bertie Waigravs Is no beggar. He has 200 guineas a year from " "Two hundred devils!" " Enough to keep a wife on, at least If he leaves off Campaigning. He Is no beggar, and he wants nothing from you. He would not even have taken your 30,ooo guineas' worth of valuables which the thieves have robbed you of as a git. And, to conclude, I love him, and always shall." These were the days th Christmas day that was draw ing near so blueterlngly was one of them that are now, to us, so full of perfumed memories of " The teacup times of hood and hoop, Or while the patch was worn." Also they were brave, bold days In many ways; days of great storm and strife by sea and land, when Russell had not long ago defeated our enemies our only great enemy at La Hogue, and when Marlborough had Just done the same thing at Blenheim. The days when men wore scarlet coats nd wigs, and red heeled shoes, and lace that was some times worth a fortune on their breasts and their wrists, and carried Ivory and gold hilled swords, and fought and loved women, and fought again and then loved other women and oft drank too deep, though, when they were sober, they could writs poems Imbedded now In many a sweet anthology, and plays that were full of life and movement and had no problems to propound. The days when women were more prettily clothed than ever iney nave oeen sinoe; wnt-n im Dioua ran ires a no, -run through their veins; when. If they loved men a man one man they said so and were not ashamed, while. If they had a latter day capacity for Icvlng a dosen. they did not say so but did It, assuming thereby a virtue If they had it not, tor decency's sake. Yet days, too, when villains flourished as now they never could flourish outside the boards of fifth fate theaters, when wills could be destroyed with open scoutlngs and derisions by the powerful; when duels were fought In daylight in the park, and sometimes fought unfairly, too; when men were murdered by kinsmen for their wealth, and others kidnaped and sold to the plantations by relations hungering for their inheritance, and Women abducted and deceived into mock marriages; stealthy midnight murders done and either never known "of or the murderers never discovered. Now. In these days of good Queen Anne of which I tell, some of these things were still a-dolng. Lady Mllllcent Thame loved a man who, In solemn truth, was not, perhaps, her proper match, and said openly tint she did so; and there were villains, thieves, highwaymen, housebreakers all about. and villains in high life, t,oo; men were being hanged dally at Tyburn and Execution dock, and Kennington common, and other delectable spots for stealing shillings, and horses, and dogs; and the earl of Severne had recently had his bouse broken Into, and his strong box robbed to the value of 30,000 guineas. Tet the wonder was how it had been done. The box of iron, having in it a lock which required for Its works the whole of the lid of the box it had been made a hundred years before by Ventiml of Florence stood in the cabinet, or dressing room, opening out of the bedroom of the noble tarl. The door leading from the bedroom of his lordship to the onblnfet stood open all night; the key to the lock reposed beneath the pillow of Its august owner. Tet still, a week ago, the lackey, coming In one morning to pull the hang ings of the bedroom windows, saw that the ltd of the strong box was open, and that the box had been rifled of all Its contents. Let us pass over the earl s roars and terrible ejaculations the gout was ontilm then the awful hubbub In the hou. the flying hither and thither and yon of the scared domestics who, hearing their master, thought a thunderbolt bad struck the roof. Pa.ons aussl (but sorrowfully, since, indeed. It was rather a sight to dwell upon), a delicious vision of Lady Mllllcant, with golden hair all tumbled and disheveled by sleep, running into the room at the noise It would have waked the dead! clad in some fleecy, flowing gown or robe de chambre of clinging material, which as she ran showed fair white arms In the loose sleeves, and little feet hastily thrust Into gold thread, pearl embroidered mules. "Ten thousand pounds In guineas," the earl was yelling as she entered, " ten thousand in African Elephant guineas, kills on Sir Joslah Child and Matthew Decker, and many drafts! O, my heart and liver! All gone, and most of them as ready money in hand, with, too, your sainted mother's pearls! Ah! O! 6tap my vitals! O! no one In the house ever, except ourselves and the domestics!" " Excepting only Luke Rivers, who called so often to make Inquiries after your palns--" " Luke Rivers! A youth of parts, a godly man, a church goer " " Bah! One who says he Is, yet at church time Is walking In the Mall with many a saucy quean. Church Indeed!" while pretty Lady Mllllcent muttered to "herself : "A fawn ing, canting knave who pretends to be at church because his godly uncle hath much money to leave." , ' " A righteous youth," the earl went on, " and; therefore one" " Whom you admire, and would have me wed. Tet never will I!" "Minion!" the earl raved, "would you accuse him of robbing me? 111m! And he never alone in the house by day or night and sick, too, in his rooms, at the time! "Twaa more like your beggarly lover with his gambling, dissolute habits, and need of money than Luke." To which Lady MilHoent said nothing, but, tossing ner pretty head mighty high, walked out of the room. Now, whenever her ladyship walked out of the room or, at least, when mostly she did so she as often as not walked out of the house, too; the earl knowing nothing of her movements since no servant of his would tell him aught of what the girl did, they all loving her and being afraid of him. And when she walked out she went ever one way, which was down towards St. James' square and In to It and towards the tamarisk tree which had been planted by Mme. Davis, who was. In truth, that Moll Davis of whom no more was known than that King James, when duke of York, loved her and gave her a house in the square. And, beneath that tamarisk tree would ever be found awaiting La-dy Mllllcent perhaps by rendezvous, since lovers have ever done such things and ever will. It Is to be supposed that handsome young man in the scarlet coat whom we have heard spoken of as Bertie Wargrave. And soft words would be whispered end hands clasped, and If there was a fog or the night was nigh, or the watchman was asleep or drunk their lips would meet and murmurs pass between those lips. And so you who read do now know enough to understand, or at least as much as a poor scribe knows how to relate from what books and telltale lovers have revealed to hhn. " My precious soul, my sweet, my love, my life!" Bertie said the day after the roobery, as he slipped his hand be neath my lady's long furred cloak, and put It In under her arm and held her hand aftar those things written above had had their happenings. "What is it?" And then he listened to his lady love's story. ' But, sweetheart," he said at last, " 'tis passing strange. Luke Rivers ill In bed at -his time! He ill In bed! he, the only man who. prior to tlie robbery, had been admitted to your father's house!" I " Is't not so?" Lady Millicent asked, pausing In her walk. Ah, Bertie, fond love, what know you to the contrary? Tell me, tell me, my heart?" while, bidden as much by the look in her eyes and 'the bloom on her cheeks, as by her words, Bertie went on: " Last night," he said, " I sat In Luke Rivers' lodgings down by the river. And and he told me he muwt go forth that .instant, only only -he knew not how to compass It. He owed much money to his landlord who waited beneath to pounce on him If he attempted to dement, and waited with a Bow street man to serve a warrant on him. Tet still he aid he would go an' he could. He had a dicing debt to pay that night. O! if. he could but go. Then, suddenly, he be sought of tne a favor. If I would tend him my coat and cloak and hat and would call out ' good irigrhtt' &s he went down the stairs, the Catchers below would think It was the visitor going forth and not he. and so he could go and would soon return and release me. Also, he said, if I would walk about the room now and again, then would the obdurate ones below think he was still In 't. and so he could creep back in safety to his hole and I could go." " And thou did st It! Risked thyself for that canting, hypocritical sewer rat?" ' I did It. heart of my heart In truth I did. And he went forth clad In my clothes, which well became the royster kig, doystering ne'er do well your revered father calls me, but not the sober, pious churchgoer, Luke Rivers. And a sweet fool he looked In them. Yet still he went. And, my lady fair, 'twas vastly cold when I was left alone with nought but a guttering rushlight to cheer me. Now," said JJurile to Lady Mllllcent, " listen to me, and " , ' " Do I not ever listen to you, no matter what you speak upon? Am I not your slave your loving slave, but still that same? Is there a thing you do or say. that makes not sum mer In my heart?" " Sweetest," said Bertie, stopping the words from issuing "out of he pomegranate Hps by a process that he who writes this narrative has been told, ss effective on occasions, " listen to me. Walking about the gloomy den. holding the rush light on high so that I might see, I did perceive upon bis mantelpleo a key." Bloundelle Burton. s' jo ... l1 'I f '-X 4t WOT YETf YOU WILL "A key! The dastard, treacherous knave! Oo on why do you stop and break off? ' " 'Tis you who stopped me. Still, it matters not. Mllly, that key was a strange one, cunningly wrought and devised. And and and " " But my father's key never leaves his room. That, too, lies ever on the high mantelshelf." " Does he, thy father, never leave his room? Has he ne'er done so, leaving Luke Rivers there alone one single moment; long enough to make a wax Impression?" " But, sweetheart, if he had gone to our house to rob the strong box, then would he not have left the key in his rooms?" " It was a broken key. Doubtless one that had failed and so was flung aside. Another, a second, or a third, sufficed better, and that he took, SeeBt thou?" " O, Bertie, Bertie," Lady Mllllcent exclaimed, her blood on fire, "bring It home to him; let us bring it home to him. Get you father's goods back to him he loves his possessions and It will soon be Christmas; we will spend It together. A masterful, exacting man is my father; but I have a touch of his condition. I, too, am masterful. Had my lord not wanted to find his master he should never have bred me. Give him his money back end he shall give you your wife. Trust me. Now come. See, my precious love, the wintry night draws in H Is nigh dark and, O, the watchman sleeps again. Dost thou see that, Bertie?" " I see, and, seeing, understand. Thus and thus." -f Christmas eve in London. A fine, clear night, with, nevertheless, (leaks and flakes of snow blowing through the air as though driven forward by the cold north wind as avaintt couriers of what was on the way from that stormy north. Yet still fine and clear, with a half rusty moon banging low In the heaven anjl lighting up the faces of the passers by; lighting up the faces of the mummers and the maskers dancing round his grace of Northumberland's house at Charing Cross, and singing of carols and scrambling for the small silver pieces thrown out to them by the duke's sumptuously clad menials. Lighting up, too, the faces of men and women passing along, many of whom bad already anticipated the drlnkings and feastlngs of the morrow, and the faces of debauched gentlemen" night hawks, mohocks, owls, etc.," as they termed themselves who lered into every young woman's face, and, as often as not, got the leer returned with interest. Through this crowd weat two young men, one tall, dark, handsome, covered up in a heavy roquelaure, and with his laced hat pulled well down over his brows; one, who was leading, helping-, guiding another, wl surely was his younger brother. A stripling lad this, with eyes blue as the periwinkle and cheeks pink as the Bourbon rose, with fair curls tucked well up under his slouch felt hat; a youth at whom every woman's eye was directed with an approving gltuve. Leading, guiding this youth, whose sword got vastly in his way, the other went on, until at last, turning down a street leading to the river's edge, both paused beneath the stoop of one of the ancient houses. " Put on thy visard mask now, sweet one," the elder said. MHs must be upstairs since the landlord .would never let him oome down. The door staads open, ths stairs Invite. Tread softly, or shall I carry thee up them?" " Nay. let me walk. Bertie. Cut down your feet heavily. I will plant mine lightly.' " you are not afeard?" "Afeord! with you by my side! Nay, never. Not of ths fiend himself." Up the stairs, therefore, the two went, while, sinoe the landlord seemed to be carousing within with some friend- 41 ISSS ) Y jr I " V v HAVE ONE IfltlDE TONIGHT. perhaps the Bow street runner he heard them not. Nor would It have mattered much had he done so, since he had some days before been paid his bill by Luke Rivers, who was now as free as air. -But this neither my lady nor her lover knaw as yet They knew It soon, however, when, tapping gently on the door of Rivers' room, they learnt by the silence that was the only answer for silence can answer as well as words sometimes that the man they sought was not within. "You understand?" Bertie Wargrave whispered in her ladyship's ear. " He is out. Therefore he has paid his bill. "Pis well. We know where he got the money from. Now to open the door. Thinking it most like he would do this, I have brought these." Whereupon Bertie produced from his pocket a bunch of picklocks, and In five minutes they were In the rooms. High and low they hunted for half an hour by the aid of the rushlight they kindled after some trouble, and then, at last, they found that for which they sought though found t only when they had begun to despair. Thrusting his hand up tlhe large open mouthed grate. In which no Are had been hind led for many a long day, they found all. The bags of guineas one being open, doubtless for the thief's needs the drafts, the bonds, all. " We have gotten them," Bertie said. " We are man and wife." " Not yet," a voice exclaimed, while at the same moment the ruahlight was knocked to the floor, my Lady Mllllcent was thrust aside, and a pair of sinewy hands seized Bertie by the throat, and, flinging him down on the bed, began to throttle the life out of him. " Not yet! You will have one bride tonight, and that is death! Afterwards this stripling, who Is a woman, doubtless, can Join you." And again Luke Rivers, Who had returned from Rummer's coffee house for more money with which to gamble, pressed harder and harder on Bertie Wargrave's throat. " And then," he added. " the river can have you both.'' Yet, think not that the bold heart of Lord Seveme's daughter hed stood still. 'Twaa not of such mettle this masterful brood was made. The candle was knocked out 'tis true, but the moon, whose rays streamed through the window Into the room, Illuminating It brightly, could not be served thus. And, through her rays, there flashed now something on whioh they sparkled and gleamed, something that, bright one Instant, was gone the next. The small, lithe rapier the girl had carried at her side with muoa discomfort to herself, caused still greater discomfort to Luke Rivers as it hurtled against his ribs and, gilding in between two of them, caused him to utter one piercing yell, to quickly. In his agony, un clasp his hands, and then fall senseless on the bed by the side of his expected victim, while the fair young slip of noblwee hissed, " Dog! Beast! Jackal In the lion's hide, you would have put It on him. On him, my one, my only love. Die, an' thou wilt." By 10 o'clock on Christmas night the earl of Severne's Hood ran high. A-many a glass of Lisbon and Oporto had he drunk since morning, mar.y a weird song of old Carolinian days had he favored his listeners with When they would listen the domestics had been bidden to eat and drink their fill, and the gout had gripped hire worss than sver. Tet, still, my lord was at his best In one way. No matter whether his heart was softened by ths bold recovery of his precious treasure, or whether his daughter bad worsted him In one final conflict, at least shs was now ths affianced wife of fhe man she loved. -1' fags!" the earl grunted to Bertie Wargrave as he drank again. " If you're no good at aught else, you are good at making a fool girl love you. Also you havs a touch of ths bulldog In you. You uhall havs her. 'Fore gad, you ; '1 i " i A- 7 t. I 'A V Ml. a. S shall. But I'll have you out of Peterborough's regiment, and buy you one for yourself, If you must go a-soldlerlng. Buss her, man, buss her, though I doubt me If your lips know ths way to a woman's, unless i be those of some saucy waiting maid's." Then, as Bertie stepped up to his future bride and kissed her long and tenderly, his arm around the silken dress shs wore now, the old man seemed mightily astonished. " He might be his dissolute father," his lordship mut tered, "or me when I was young. Sounds! I do believe he has kissed her before. I should, had I been he." So, in spite of his lordship's gout and In spite of his tem perand his terrible loss, which was now retrieved, they kept high revels hi Beveme house that night That bowls of spiced wine and other drinks should be consumed bravely by all need not be told, remembering that these were days of wassail and carouse, nor that the servants reeled about un steady and my lord slept In his chair, nor that Bertie and her pretty ladyship sat behind a vast Indian screen at Inter vals, there to talk! Nor that the ghl sat later at her spinet and her lover sang a soft song to her made by my Lord Pem broke, having for refrain the lines: " Silence In love hetrays more wo Than words, tho' ne'er so witty. Ths beggar that la dumb, you know. May challenge douMe pity." i And Lady Mllllcent hummed, out of keeping with the tune, " I love you, I love you, I love you," as shs aoooro panled him, and the bells of St Martin's and St James' rang out their Joyous peals for ths laM trme as midnight struck; and my lord slumbered stertorouxly. And Luke Rivers lay tn ths watchhouse wondering whether Tyburn or the plantations would be his doom.