MR WHITEHEAD'S WILL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 2038, 18 September 1874, Page 3

MR WHIT EHE AD'S WILL.

4» : (Chambers' Journal.) When the wealthy middle-aged bachelor, b'amuel Scrope, espoused the penniless young widow Eardly, who had one child of her first marriage living, & little boy of three yeirs old, folk*, as usual, expressed various opinions on the snbjeet ; while of course the happy couple, knowing nothing and carng less of what was said about them, in process of time shared the common fate, and, when gossiping had exhausted itself, were al owed to glide down the stream of time unheeded. Mrs .-crope presented her second husband likewise with a son, the nurse declaring th t the child and his father were as like a3 two peas. This, perhaps, was not flattering to the baby, though the declaration might be based on truth— Mr Scrape being a fat, .white, flabby-looking personage, with halfclossd eyes and a clean-shaven face, whereon stray hair was never permitted to rest, presenting, in short, the semblance of a huge overgrown «' flabby dabby babby." The likeness between father and son continued to increase as the latter grew up, an 1, long after Mrs Scrope was left a widow for the second time, contmued to be pointed out by those who had known the deceased. And this likeness was not confined to outward appearance ; for in disposition and character young Samuel greatly resembled his father — in excessive timidity, approaching to aeryousness-; in shy and embarrassed manner ; in all sorts of old-womanish propensities such as putting his feet in hot water, and taking basins of scalding gruel to cure colds, which, somehow, he was always catching ; in fidgety neatness, and detestation of fire-arms and all offensive or defensive weapons— in thtse particulars he was indeed, as friends remarked, his father's own son. Prom his mother he inherited a l«ve of money, of parsimonious saving and hoarding, a tolerable share of suspiciousness, and a large amount of prudence ; a cold and perfectly unimpassioned temperament, calculating even his indulgences, and a rather obtuse brain, were singularly combined } and what he wanted in sense he made up in deliberation and wari- . ness. Such was Samuel Scrope the younger, the heir of his father's large fortune, the idol of his doting mother, and the pampered, spoiled boy of the household. She never could part with him for the purposes of education ; he was too delicate for any school— it would kill Sam to be buffeted and rudely treated 1 So Sam had a tutor at home, whose situation was a real sinecure, so far as teaching went the young gentleman having it much his own way when and how his lessons were to be acquired and repeated. Mrs Scrope, like many weak mothers, cared not much for her son's acquirements, except those which barely sufficed as a passport through society in general. What did it matter, she said, for Samuel to toil and moil over bioks, when he had a large fortune ready made to enjoy ? It was all right and proper that her eldest born, Francis Eardley, should strive to win prizes and be a great scholar, because he had only his own exertions to depend upon ; besides, Frank was highspirited and boisterous, had fine health and energies, and was altogether of a different nature from Bam. Of a different nature indeed !— - brave, generous, self-denying, affectionate, and warm-hearted, Francis as little resembled his younger brother in disposition as in person, for that was preeminently graceful and agreeable. Sam's cowardice and sluggish intellect presented such a contrast to the bold, daring, and splendid abilities of Frank, that even Mrs Scrope could not fail to see it, despite her partiality for the former ; though why that partiality existed, it were hard to fathom, unless it arose from Sam's more closely resembling herself. Frank was sent to a public school, and was a favourite with every one, making friends wherever he went ; but at home, the home where his younger brother reigned paramount, there grave faces always met him, there he was chided and rebuked by his mother, and avoided by the fat pampered Sam, whe looked askance on the fine yonth, whose noble and manly bearing roused feelings of envy and dislike. What right had Frank to laugh and joke, and ride and sing, and conduct himself in so off-hand a way, when he never had a farthing in hia pocket ? — for Mrs Scrope kept poor Frank very low in pocket-money, though she had a moderate life* jointure ; and Sam, whose hands were alwaf s in his pockets, turning over his gold, which he seldom changed, skulked about, with nothing to do and nothing to say, and feeling quite ill at ease before hia gay, handsome brother. Among the visitors at Scrope Hall was a Mr Whitehead, an elderly bachelor of grave and taciturn demeanour, reputed to be enormously wealthy, and of privileged eccentricity. A miser ia the literal sense of the term, sly, observant, and prying noiselessly into the concerns of everybody and everything. Mr Whitehead visited about from one house to another, living in clover at them all. It was rumoured that he was not quite sound in his mind, and that an early love-disappointment bad turned hia brain ; however, those who now contemplated his dirty flaxen wig, and tall lank form, arrayed uniformly in threadbare black, found it difficult to realise the idea of a romantic passage in snch a life and such a being I Mammon was the god of his worship now, at all events. Mr Whitehead had been a crony of the deceased Mr Scrope, and it waa apparent that he transferred to the younger Samuel much of the approval and liking he had bestowed on the elder. At Scrope Hall, Mr Whitehead was always a welcome and favoured guest ; his ways were in unison with their ways ; and Samuel was bo great a favourite with the sour-visaged old man, that Mrs Scrope indulged pleasant dreams of an accession to her darling's fortune. As to Frank, ha had become Mr Whitehead'a abomination, for Frank would neither bend nor fawn, nor flatter nor learn. There waa another dwelling to which Mr Whitehead had access, and whose inmates were of a rery different character from those of Scrope Hall ; and yet, strange to say, these two domiciles were the old bachelor's favourite resting places, and he resorted from one to the other with infinite satisfaction. Many miles of hill and dale, rivers and woodlands, divided the hostile houses, and Miss Pamela Gordon had not seen Mrs fccrope \ face to face since the widowhood of the latter ; -but unspoken animosity existed between the ladies ; and Mrs Scrope called Miss Pamela "a masculine spinster 1" while Miss Pamela denominated Mrs Scrope " a screw 1" Mr Whitehead heard what each said of the other, laughed in his Bleeve,and enjoyed the good things at both houses. Perhaps, unconfeaeed by himself, the childless and lonely man found an attraction at Miss Pamela's pleasant home, which he vainly Bought for

IT" - ii ii i i- |i nm _v l elsewhere; for Miss Pamela" had "a young niece resident with her, whose laugl ing dark eyes brought memories to the old man s heart he vainly essayed to dispel; andElspeth Gordon became to Mr Whitehead a sort of loadstone, whose attractions ifc was not posBible to resist. Yet who played such pranks with the cross old miser as little Ellie ? Who cajoled him out of a silver crown so easily for the purposes of charity ? Who said and did such impudent, and yet such tender and charming things as Ellie Gordan, the orphan niece of the strong-minded Misa Pamela. Miss Pamela Gordon was the ha f-sis'er of Elspeth's father, who had married the only eister of Mr Scrope, to that gentleman's lasting and inexorable displeasure. Captain Gordon died soon after hisillfa'edmairiage, leaving his broken-hearted wife and infant daughter ill provided for. Mrs Gordon at length, in deep distress, appealed to her brother's widow for assistance, but Mrs Scrope turned a deaf ear to her request ; she had Samuel to take care of, and Francis to educite and provide for. The dying woman then turned towards her sister-in-'aw, Miss Pamela, as a last resource, for help in her extremity. Miss Pamela was considered a person not to be imposed upon, and by no means soft-hearted. She lived on a handsome life-annuity, a fact which she took care to render public ; "as it was better folks should all know," B he said, "thut she had nothing to b queath in her will, and lived up to hi r income I ' Miss Pamela and her half-brother had never been on very good terms ; they had squabbled and differed on every possible and impossible topic ; moreover, Miss Pamela had Btrongly set her face against his alliance with Mary Scrope, and she was in the secret of Mr Whitehead's romantic devotion to that lady, who, however, preferred the insinuating captain. Notwithstanding all these bygone reminiscences, when poor Mrs Gordon meekly entreated a small sum to extricate her from pressing difficulty, the good spinster, burying all the past in oblivion, set herself earnestly to the task of comforting and supporting the widow and fatherless ; and at length received Julie as her own child, into her own home, when Mra Gordon sunk to rest in the grave. Mr Whitehead, in conversation with Miss Pamela, had recently begun to hint very strongly, about the valuable qualities of Mr Samuel, and the good-for-nothing character of his half-brother— a proceeding which always set Miss Pamela in a blaze of indignation, while her appeals to Ellie brought a corresponding colour into that young lady's cheeks. " I wonder what the old miser has taken in his head now ?» thought Mies Pamela, as on one occasion of the kind she watched his retreating figure ; "he looks wonderfully bent and withered of late ; he cannot last much longer. I hope he'll leave a legacy to poor Ellie, for her mother's Bake. Ah, he was very fond of Mary Scrope. Whoever would believe such a being as he appears now could ever have played the fool, and raved when she married poor Ned ! Ellie is very like her mother, full of life and animation. Bless her, she's a good dear girl; I don't know what I should do without her. She's a clever-spirited puss, too, and after my own heart !"

I (To be continued.)