THE SKETCHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2812, 5 February 1908, Page 78

THE SKETCHER.

THE STRANGE CASE OF LORD

FERRERS.* (T.P.!s Weekly.) Very often as I sit in the House of Commons gazing listlessly around, my friend, Swift M'Neill, seated beside me, calls attention to some fellow member on the benches opposite or above where I sit. Then, as I remark that the person so indicated does not seem, to me to pos-' sess any very striking characteristics — at least externally — Swift, closing his eyes or looking up to the glass ceiling, says, "There's an extraordinarily interesting story connected -with that man's family," and out he pours from his inexhaustible repertoire und his marvellous memory some one of the many pages of romance with which the history of Old English -families is associated. The book before ,nic Tfi an attempt to collect some of the stories ; and many of the most interesting are included. The book will be a revelation to many people, perhaps ; it may, help them to realise what ■&, wonderful mine of romance and adventure there exists around every one of us if we only look to see. In this tiny volume of fewer than 200 pages there are plots for -a dozen melodramas, a score of novels, and the plots only differ from those of the actual drama and the actual-novel in sup- ' plying incidints more extravagant, mi.possible; incredible than even the most daring writer of imagination and imaginary facts could Teach, or dare to invent. I. 01 these stories I choose — not because' it is the most interesting, but because it thas certain permanent -elements in' it — the strange case of Lord Ferrers. 1 ihave more than once hinted to my readers that there is always a, certain fascination to me in studying tbe lives of bhe-dreat Liars of the World. Some of my readers may remember that H spent several weeks in th? -society — the spiritual society — of Madame Humbert ; perhaps one of the very -.greatest of the tribe who ever lived. Indeed, who is there that does 'not ieel the fascination of the great liars~; especially the great liars vthat have appeared in literature? Falstaff is of all figures in Shakespeare the one that is the most uni.veTsally popular ; the rascal is -positively loved ; with his lewdnees, his .drunkenness, his cowardice, his shameful mendacity, he has a bigger place in the 'hearts of most of us than the most heroic or the noblest figures. Of all the many short stories and characters in the now opulent library of Henry James's works, the one that stands out in my affection and admiration is the .story entitled "The Liar." Gil •Bias -is an adorable Kar ; Sanoho Panza is an adorable liar; in short, to exhaust the list of adorable liars would be to rrecapitnlatetnejiaraes of the mei-Ty .figures in the literature >of all tie .nations and all the ages. . • • Tbe Mar in- this particular" case is a ■lady. Heie we come upon a curious .problem in psychology ; the feminine liar as .distinguished from • the masculine. Hysteria, self-deception, the theatrical element that is latent in so many women — all fche curiosities of their complex nervous .make vp — mark 'them out .as quite a distinct class from the mole .members, of tbe same .great family. To Bay 'wlren a woman is deceiving -others, consciously, and without deceiving herself, is imp-cssibfe — at ■least for a jman. Lard Ferrers at -21 years -of -age was an enviable young man. He had good looks - f was an Earl ; had vast estates ; and, too, was doubtless the target for attack" by every dowager of his own class with a marriageable daughter. Lord Ferrers, however, had done iis lovemaking, and was already in love before anybody could -either intrigue or cajole or bully him into casting his eyes on any of the other young ladies of his class and time. Judge,' then, of fbe surprise of this good young man — already head, neck, and ears in love — to receive one fine .morning in the year 1842 the following communication ; — My Lord, — 'Strange it seem to yon, no doubt, to receive a note from • a- stranger, aed a. lady, too, but it .signifies little to .me, as I know well you never knew the writer of this, never saw her. 'Now, for what 1 have to tell you ;it is this : There is a. .public ball .ai Tamworth every Christmas, generally •about the iilh or Bfch 'of January. Go, I advise you, go. There will to my knowkdge be a young li>dy at the ball whom "I wish you U> see and -dance with. She is very beautiful, has dark hair and eye£ — in short, she is haughty and .graceful as a -Spaniard, tall and majestic as a Circassian, beautiful as .an Italian. I can say no more. -You have only to sco her to love her — ihat you must -do. She is fit for the bride of a Prince. 'Go, look well round the room. You wfll find her by this description. She may wear one white .rose in 'her dark hair. Go eariy. If you £cc her not thew you will never see her, as -she is like violet, hid Bmidai maii> leaves, -only to be foutd wh-on sought -for. 3 ufcnow she is young, and it -is my wish -she .should have -some one to protect ber. iFsoxn what I have heard you must -be that 5ne — you, and you alone. It is yo-jr destiny — therefore, go At all risks. Ask her to dance with you. Fear not. If j yon, like other men, love beauty, you will love ber. Adieu ; burn this, trod remember -.she is any les;aey to youJ Fou lrave hirrt your -hand, I heajr." il am sorry. Farewell 'for ever. — -lea. HI. Lord FiTrers — as has bden sai<J — was a good young man, 'but he -was not a silly one j and he did not attend the ball, alluring though the 'bait -set -before him was. He- had liis reasors; the chief .of which was that t.his was not the only letter he ' ' • '"Romantic Stories of Famous families." (George Nf^mes, lit<L*

had received couobed in terms of equal ardour. Most, of these letters b© had thrown into the waste paper basket ; as it turned out, lie nad, very fortunately dor himself, preserved one or two. These letters were signed by different names ; sometimes the signature was "Isa," sometimes it was "Marie" ; but the handwriting and the style always appeared to be very like. Another of the letters ran in these terms-: — — Washington, beloved, one (one of tbe Earl's Christian names was Washington), when shall I see you — when behold the form of one so dear to me? Hope lingers, on, days jpass away, -and, alas! I only hfiar of you. Do you never sigh for one to 'love you — one whom you could put faith and trust jn? Guardians- 1 you have had — they may still advise you, but they have their own children! ' I cannot tear you from'my heart. Your image is ever jpresent there, your welfare first thought of. -Beport .says that you are going to wed with a lady from Wales ; S so, may you be blessed and happy. T. am aware we may never meet — never join hands together, and yet I can never forget you. My lieart of hearts is yours, and with you will Test. I am no Welsh lady, £ut an Engliihwoman in thought and .action, word and deed, and as an -English' woman do I love you, think of you. Alas ! in secret I .writ© to you — in secret I adore you. Would we could meet. Did you never visit Stauiiton? Will you "be there after the approaching LichfMd review, alone? Beloved one, adieu — adieu. — Ever, -ever your friend, Marie. TV. Cautious though he was, Lord Ferrersdid not attadh sufficient importance to these extraordinary productions to make' any attempt to trace them, or find out Avhait lay behind them ; and so, with light heart and doubtless a brisk ait, he was jnarried in July, 1844, never suspecting that anybody feould set -up any claim against him. He was still in the midst of .his 'honeymoon when, to 'his surprise., •he received 'a 'letter from a firm of solicitors .charging him with treachery to an hmoeent and trustful young lady whom •ho had promised to marry. . As time went on the solicitors were instructed to de- „ clare that the -young lady .had several 4 love letters of the unworthy and treacherous lover in her ; _nfey, "that she could show that she had gone to a considerable amount of expense in preparing for the wedding.; for all of which reasons .the gentlemen of the law demanded satisfaction! Lord Ferrers, like the sensible young -man he was, went at once to his own solicitors, and there told them that all he knew of Miss Smith was that- a couple of yeans before Jiis coming of age he had met her — she lived with her parents in a village a few .miles distant from Shiptley Castle^ his Home in Leicestershire ; that there haS jiot been even an approach to love-making between ; -them, and that, going on the Continent soon after, and being absent for two yeaxs, \ he bad. forgotten all about her. „ As .she was- only 18 at the time he had assumed that she had forgotten all about .him, too. He had never proposed marriage to her ; he had never" asked her to order things for the marriage ; . he bad never writien to her. V. The case, however, went on ; as Was, indeed, natural, for the young lady was able to produce to ber -Lawyers and to her counsel -a, .number of letters in passionate language which she declared she had .received from her unfaithful suitor. Naturally it attracted great .attention, and c»wds besieged the law courts. The! law officers were brought into the -case f by j both sides ; the .Solicitor-general represented the lady -plaintiff ; the Attorney^ ; general represented Lord Ferrers. The Solicitor-general told the story of the <youug lady. "Unless," said he, "the case ] of my client is as she represents it, then you are asked to believe what surpass anything among the possibilities of Tinman life." And then he proceeded -to tell 'Missi Smith's story to this effect : — Earl Ferrers, while- a boy of 18, had, when in residence at Cbartley Park, met the Smith family. Mr and Mrs Smith were folk in a good position, and Miss Smith was a young and romantic girl of considerable beauty. Mr Smith was her stepfather. The young nobleman had shown some regard for the- fascinating girl, and Mr -and Mrs Smith, discovering it, had expressed their -disapproval of it to her, and 'hrd packed the young lady off 'to a- boarding school in London, and to tmother afterwards .in Paris. As to the Earl, he was on the Continent. The affair 4jad been, Mr and Mrs Smith congratulated themselves, nipp:*"~in the bud, ior Mice Smitb, though of respectable family, *could -nob be regarded as a .suitable 'bride "for a wealthy nobleman. Then came a -discovery. The young lady was -found in .possession of -dressse and hats that none could 'account for, 'and later on T>ills came rolling in for them. She was aSked to explain. i - With tears and -sobs tlie young, 'lady ■ declared that the articles were presents from her secret lover, Washington, Earl Ferrers. He arid -she had been writing to one .-mother in secret. The Earl loved ' her. He hnd p.sked her to order things she would like, and had promised to >pay , for them. The bills for the "gifts" amoimted at last to over £200. Mr Smith was astounded. Se'^wrote to the .jEari expressing 'his amazement -and .anxiety, -and. handed the letter *to Miss Smith to post. In "reply there promptly came a note: — • "Sir, — It is nay will -said wish to im- . -stantly ior -all at -Tamwcirth .as soon .as itoslj be. Tins much I say, acd feel very grieved that .any 'such indiscretion of mine should iave caused vexation to Tdscry. — -Allow me to remain, truly yours, 'Ferrers," •But the iEctl «ent mo .money. Mr SWth and 'bis -wife spaid sbhe bill*. %fo

-doubt Uie.Earl was a young and for* getful man. It would all be right 4a the end. Sfeither Mr nor Mrs Smith bad seen the Eari in their house for a long time—* not since those years ago when he was there as a boy. But bow could they, doubt Mary's word ' that be passionately in love with her when «ho showed them bis letters? She had 4 bundle of them. One of .them read:*— "Dearest Mary, — If wishes could transport me to you there would be no need of writing. Won't the old- ball' be bright and happy when its iuture mistress takes possession of it? Pray take care of yourself, deaxest ; forget not that you are the only hope of one io whom a palace would' be a desert and England no -home without you — you, dearer to me tham each earthly blessing, without which .no one, or any, would be o? value." - . „ _ This letter and a boat of others were signed "Washington (Ferrers." There -was another letter instructing the Smiths to make ready a wedding breakfast for a day namecL when the Earl would -come "to claim his 'bride. sHow anxiously -was, be looking forward to that -day .' In another letterZiie wrote asking Mr Smitb to .order .more bride cake. The cake came— 4be day earned— but the Earl did not. A few days later ' he jnarried another. • ' "In "the fa«je of these letters, gentlemen," said the Solicitor-general, "I Tank you to *ay that- tie defendant is HsSde in 'damages for the cruel wrong be ias done fhis young lady.' r VI. ■Such" was the -story; it seemed t[uit» convincing -until the case for fine "defendant; ' was -opened. The answer, however, was very simple : Lord Eerners -had not written any 9f the letters attributed to ithn ;' he 'knew nothing about 'any one n3 t&em. "The whole <thing is a plot and a fabrication," said the Attorney- general. "Myi client never wrote one of the 'letters. They we^e, we say, written by the gia3 iersetf." The Aitorney-general had, iwwßver, to face the -^act that ~tihe handwriting oi f bo letters did certainly resemble fie handwriting of i3ie Earl ; and* that -more "than one -witness had expressed his 'belief that ' the letters were in H,he handwriting of Xord Ferrers. However, there was one fact T^hich, on the otber Hand, seemed to 1 corroborate the Earl's strange story ; tbo letters were not backed up by envelopes showing a post-m«fk. But 'to this objection the ready and fertile imagination of the young lady 'had an answer ; the letters, she declared, bad not been cent through the post ; they Jiad been delivered to her by secret messengers from ier lover. The -Attorney-general met the argument drawn, from ihe youth of €he girl face to face : — "You will say that a girl of her age could not thave 'Conceived and -carrisd out such .a plot," .said the Attorneygeneral. Xhe annals pf our courts of justice, which .contain j&ome of the most curious details .of the numan mind, ~wJU ' inform -you .that instances .have occurred which render -it not impossible that such a scene <as .this -may be contrived by a person young in years. "Macs Smith was only !21," be went ,on, "but even at that -Bhe 'had written -the letters ierself , imitating the Earl's handwriting. 'She, too, had written the anonymous lettera which shad bo puzzled the (Earl, from !&a, J "Marie,* and 'A. B. ;She bad artfuilv laid waa'ti aaid the letters written 'by ■her stepfather demanding explanations of the iEaxl, .and she had written replies to him .in the name df 'Washington ■Ferrers.' " vn. What ultimately rained tbe young lao^; was -that she tried to prove too n>uch. Not satisfied with showing fetters she alleged to have come -from Lord TeTrers, she brought his -brother on the scene ; and ■producea letters signed "Devexeux Shir-ley"-^the name of the brother *yi Xord Ferrers. One of these 'letters, said to have come from Chartley Castle, delivered by the 'hand of b, secret messenger — added the young fedy— contained the statement •that the 'Earl was lying ill -and delirious "at Charttey Castle, and that he raved alt •the time about Miss Smith: "Poor fejlow, he is very ill— delirious," wrote the alleged Devereux Shirley; "he utters but one word. It is '"Mary.*"" Here, fortucatelv, the statements could ■be disproved by -direct evioVnce. iJoid Ferrers -was no. " 3 11, either then or at anw other -time, aftei |he fashion .described-; and Mr Devereux Shirley, who -was .an officer in- the armj., : nstead of l»ing at Ghartley Castle wheii letter was .alleged to have been written, was .in .another part of llie kingdom. "Further, the 'W letter, -which has "been set *orfch, .was proved to have been written by 'Miss Smith; for on the nigbt -of the .ball. .at Tamworth, wbich was mentioned, «he attend ; she .bad Sark hair aiia-.dark eves, ana, sure' enough, she wore T-hiie rose. ■Everybody will .anticipai the ti-ua story. The -exposure of tin -tiers at-tribut-sd to TDevereux Shirk,- '»w the whole plot to fragments-; the 'oitor*hrew -up his brief— i. ■Smith was no-stated. And, -finaHj -. is (the ejcplanation of 'the •whole legci.. The -explanation of lilies Smith's I»eak seems to 'be that s*he, in the first place, amused berself with writing letters to herself from her imaginary lover; ihat the 4iee6very -of the unpaid-far iate and dresses she had treated iherself. tp prompted her to an .utrue excuse loir ncr coiaduct ; and that then, ' in the words of the Attorney-general, "enmeshed m" a net ol ial«iheod, sic went on." The disclosure of the fraud occupied a judge and the "best legal' talent in the kingdom =four days,, a^d -cost tbe •unfortunate Earl close upon £5000. T3M. Tbe .second case -otf n great feminine 3iar which as -to the found un 13ns .interesting i collection i* «yen mope tenant. It ; i* «•

Teoent as the seventies. One day there was to be seen, in the House of Lords a little boy with light yellow hair and. blue eyes; and beside him. a- pale-faced, talL, handsome woman ; and her claifn was that the child was hers, and as such entitled to the name and the property of tshe Earls of Wicklow. Herr story was that she and her husband had taken lodgings in Brunton street ; that she had been, confined of this child, in. these- lodgings- six years before ;s; s and now, pennilasa and' friendless, and a> widow., site demanded' justice for herself and her offspring. No less a personage thank Sir Jaba -Duke Coleridge: — then. Solicitor-general, and afterwards Lord Chief Jfuatioe — advooated heir cause. It had gone on iors days, witfe varying prospects:; several of ifae- fellow lodgers of Mrs- Howard supporting her story, several denying that they had. seen or beards anything to make mem think, that there had. been, the birth of a child in the house in Bruntoxt street. In tie midst of- the case oame a strange* new development ; Sir Boundell Palmer — afterwards Lard Selßorne — astounded the court by the declaration that the child was not the child of Mrs Haward, but of another and. a very different woman«j and. then, he, produced Mary Best; and this wap, Mary Best's story. : „ .. Sax, years ■ previously, in -1864, Mary. Best had .been, an inmate oi, Liverpool Workhouse-- Hospital,, and; in her. asms Lad rested a- newly-born — a- boy with ' blue eyes- and' fair hair. There were- many other patients- in< that ward" — women with- 1 - their babies — and on a bright August day the place had" visitants. They were two ladies, and -their errand there was- a strange one. One of them wanted to meet with a- baby that she might take- aavay and adopt as her own! _ • "They looked) round," Mary Best told' the listening judges^ "and! paid' attention, to many of tne children, but there seemed- to be something wrong- with every- one of them. Then they- came towards where I* was lying." . Tie- eyes of one of the women had lighted, on. tie child that, lay on Mary Best's bosom. They drew near "and' examined' the- infant. It would, one of the ladies remarked, just suit them. WouTdi Mary Best part with the child? He would be well brought up., the strange lady- assured' her^-clot-bed, fed and taught like a gentleman. The mother hesitated . .\ . but at last she consented; , "Bartsfr you- ever since seen the, lady wio* took 'tfie child away? I*1 '* asked' Sir Bounifelb Palmer. -- "I have," answered the witness. *Thafc is the lady." 1 She identified Mrs Howard, the* pale lady standing there in court with that little boy beside her, as the woman who had come- to< her that August- day and departed with the ohild in her > arms ! Hows was* she lifeely to forget the features of tha* lady? This was the* end of the- claim; and Airs Howard and the pale-faced' boy- disappeared; and were doubtless- engulphed in London's big. and eTcr-running stream of "hunger and' despair. But how daring*— how inventive — how like, one to the other, are those supreme liaw.— T. P:.