ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 10526, 2 December 1916, Page 12

ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY.

DRAM-AS IN REAL 1.1 FE, VANISHED ON THEIR WEDDING DAY. An old romance is told of how, in London. 45 years ago, n bride-elect pipped on Imt wedding day with the brother of the uian to whom she was giving her hand. The unhappy bridegroom was u Mr W. 11. C. Nation, a man of independent means, who died in the early part of 1914'. Up to the lime of his death the lonise lie had purchased in Queen's Gate, a fashionable quarter of London, remained just as he had prepared it for the reception of his bride, and unoccupied .save by a caretaker. During all those long years nothing was disturbed. The wedding breakfast was left as ii had been laid, not a piece of furniture was removed from tiie drawing-room, library or dining-room, nor were any ol the. eight bedrooms interfered with. On the rare occasions on which the owner visited the house he never went into any other room but the library. He never slept at the place, and would not allow it to be done up, nor would he have either gas or electric light installed. Candles were the only illiiminaoi used.

Such were the strange conditions prevailing at No. 19 Queen's Cave. Just as much like a chapter from the most approved vollow-haok is the story of a woman's blighted life with which Cambride Hall, out Newtown way. Sydney, was associated. A rather large, but severely plain-looking cottage residence, the Hall, before its demolition about nine years ago, stood at the corner of King and Georgina streets. BRIDEGROOM who VANISHED. It was an intensely dramatic and romantic episode in real life of which the scene is s; id to have been laid in Cambridge Hall, or. says the Sinn. Camperdown Lodge, as it was then called. The story is one ol which many versions have goi abroad, but its main incidents were thus narrated in an old Sydney publication :• "Once upon a time, as i he story books say, Cambridge Hall was tenanted !>}' Judge Dounithotne. wlio.se daughter became engaged to be married while the family resided there. Well, the wedding day arrived, the wedding least was prepared, the wedding guests assembled, and the carriages were at the gates in readiness to convey the merry party to and from the church. Only one man failed to inn in an appearance, and that was the prospective bridegroom, and a.- a bridegroom is indispensable on these interesting occasions, the wedding had to be positponed.

Alas! for poor Miss Donn it borne, waiting so anxiously in her beautiful bridal dress for the arrival ol her lover. She never saw him again. From that day to ill'.- he has never been hoard of, and the mystery surrounding his sudden evajiislnneut will probably remain a mystery now until the end ol tho chapter. How tlich our heroine hoar the blow? Well, it appears to have completely illustrated her. and. il is to bo feared, io some extent, affected her reason. ll.a- habits became decidedly eccentric after thai wedding day on which' there was no wedding, for she never again loft the house. She appears to have losl all interest in life, and the world forgetting, if not hy the world forgot, she became almost as recluse as il she had entered a nunnery. .For mure than thirty years—and lone alter her father and relatives had left the world— did the unfortunate lady reside at Cambridge Hall, Int only solace being books. She became an insatiable reader, and when site died, she left an extensive and valuable library behind her, ANOTHER [INDISTURBED BREAKFAST.

•-.Miss Donnithorne possessed a truly kind heart; die great trouble which darkened her life and wrecked her hopes could not sour the natural sweetness of lier disposition, and she is still borne in grateiul remeinbrance at Newtown lor her many acts of unobstrusivo benevolence. Possessed ol ample moans, she gave freely to allcomers, and was never known to turn a deal' ear to the cry of distress. Even the Sydney mendicants-, organ men. and professional loafers all knew Miss Donnithorne, and frequently Iter garden would be hall-lull of these applicants for her bounty. The front door ol the hall was fastened with a chain, which allowed it to open only a couple of inches. When it was absolutely necessary for the mistress ol the house to convene with any visitor, the conversation was conducted through the Hi arly-elosed door. .Miss Donnithorne being invariably invisible during the whole time, and there are. persons .still living in Newtown who remember speaking to the eccentric lady under the above peculiar condition. ■'The wedding breakfast remained on the dining-room table up to the day ol Miss Donnithoine's death—.she would not allow anything to he disturbed, and so the least gradually mouldered away until nothing was left but dust and decay, lit emblems ol the blighted existence ol the fair young bride thai was to have been."

INSPIRATION FOB DICKENS. { Here, then, i<s the .story of Cambridge (Tall, which, with more or less embellishment has been told and retold lotmore than oi) years. With so much tragedy and romance associated with its history it is not surprising that the old house should have acquired the celebrity that it had. Dickens is declared to have used the incident in portraying the character ol Miss Havisham in "(.'rent Expectations." Curiously enough Dickens's work.- had a great fascination lor Mr Nation, who was a man of literary tastes and with a love for theatrical work*. When only 23 lie took over the management of a theatre and produced "The Golden Dustman," his nun adaptation oi "Our Mutual Friend." He attempted a dramatisation also ol "Great Expectations," in which he saw incidents so closely resembling his own experiences. Miss Donnithorne died in 1886, .'SI years to the month alter her lather, both ending their days' at Cambridge Hall. The secrecy that had characterised the greater pari of her sorrowful life was .such that it seemed as if even her death were going to he kept from the world, for it was not until nearly a week alter her decease that the customary announcement appeared in the newspapers. In St. Stephen's churchyard, Newtown, lather and daughter lie side bv side,