MR WHITEHEAD'S WILL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 2040, 21 September 1874, Page 3

MR WHITEHEAD'S WILL.

{Chambers' Journal.) (Continued.) At length matters reached their climßx ; for Miss Elspeth Gordon, pulling off her gloves, placed one lily hand on Sam's slioul ier, and with the other began patting his fat white cheeks, saying iv a coaxing tone : "Ducky musn't be frightened. Ducky will learn ti leap a five-barred, won't he ? and to ride steeple-chase, won't he, to please Ellie?" Blushing scarlet, Sam eluded her gentle touch, and rushed from the room, while Mrs Scrope, bewildered and miserable, persuaded her singular guest to adjourn to the chamber prepared for her reception. She re-issued thence in the same attire, merely having erst aside her slouched hat, and substituted a velvet cap of conical form in its stead, beneath which her hair was not visible, whsle the green spectacles rested on her nose as before. After the rep- :t was over (a repast most uncomfortab'e to Mrs Scrope and Sam, who scirc2ly tr.ited food or uttered a syllable, the young lady t Iking incessantly, all the time about horses, dogs, firearms, her own wonderful feats, and what she would do when she became her own mistress), Ellie took out a cigar cese and hande i it to Sam, inquiring indifferently : " Do you smoke ?" Too much astonished and embarrassed to reply, the young man looked at his mother, who with grave looks answered for her son : . <f No, miss, Sam doesn't smoke ; and allow me to say, it is remarkable to see a lady oarrying and offering such things as those." "La I ma'am ; Aunt Pamela said to me : 'Don't forget your cigar-erse, Ellie,'" replied the guest with simplicity ; " and so you see I didn't forget it." " I don't allow smoking on my premises, miss," said Mrs Scrope authoritatively. " We'l, well, ma'am, don't put yourself iv a passion." rejoined Ellie sweetly ; " I'll wait till they're mine, and then see if I don't smoke you out I Ha, ha, ha 1 But perhaps Cousin t^am is a Bnuff-taker " — handing to the wretched Sam a unique gold box full of " Prince's mixture." "No miss, my son does nothing of the kind," replied Mrs Scrope, ehe alone being the speaker— Sam's heart was too full for Bpeech — " and allow me to remark, that snufftaking is another singular habit for a young: lady." "La ! ma'am," responded Ellie, smiling imperturbably— •' Miss Pamela said to me : ' Don't forget your snuff-box, Ellie,' and so you see I didn't forget it. I'll teach Sam to snuff -famously wben he is my husband. Won't we snuff and smoke, Sam ? Are you fond of home-brewed, Sam P You should ccc our groom Tom drink it." " You're a water drinker, I observe miss," Baid Mrs Scrope stiff! r, by way of saying something. Elspeth looked very sly, and smacking her pretty lips, replied t " Ab, I ain't thirsty today 1 you should see me sometimes 1" " And this iB the young lady of Miss Pamela Gordon's bringing up I" said Mrs Scrope, when she retired for the night, tears of vexation ready to start from her eyes ; " this is a wife for my poor Sam. She'll marry him perforce ; I see she will, she's so desperately in love with him already. They say opposites often fancy each other in this way; but if she had a million, instead of only forty thousand pounds, she'd never do for Sam. I see her eyes sparkle through those green glasses ; she'll smoke me out — O to be sure !''... Mrs Scrope, in the habit of thinking aloud, did not remark that her maid Martha loitered in the roc n, as if desirous of speaking out t something which burdened her: mind; and' unable to keep it any longer, the handmaiden broke in with : "O missus, 'xcuse me, but Tom,' Miss Gordon's groom, as come with her, says— at least he hints, which is much the same— that Miss Ellie won't never do for Master Samuel. She's a regular lass of spirit, be says, and he means more than he says. And he says outright, with such a broad grin on his red face, that if Miss Ellie ever marries Master Sam she'll horsewhip him to a dead certainty, and turn the old one out of doors. Yes, ma'am, she calls you ' the old one I' " " Alas I" thought Mrs Scrope, as she laid her head that night on a restless pillow, «« what is to be done? There is near forty thousand pounds at stake. What could Mr Whitehead mean by making such a will ? and knowing this odious mist too I" Eor one whole week did Miss Elspeth Gordon turn Scrope Hall completely topsyturvy; never was such a din and racket be;rd; the servants grinned, and ran hither and thither, and Mrs Scrope was nearly out of her mind with fright and vexation. Miss Elspeth also made euch desperate love to Sam, that Sam, flattered and bewildered, was inveigled out on a wet dny to walk with the Amazon through the woods; and following her steps through brake and brier, fairly stuck in a dismal swamp, got soaked to the akin, and took to his bed at once, putting his nose out of the blankets, only to ask " if that Jezebel had gone " " No, my dear," said his anxious mother; "your cousin Elspeth is not gone yet; she wants to see you." "To see me I" cried Sam; " what I would she follow me even into my sick chamber, the impudent hussy? 11l never see her again, mother; you may tell her so — she'll kill me; tell her to begone. Ob — oh — what a twinge ! I wish she had it, the Jez bei ! and she laughed at me too. I'll never forgive that." " But the forty thousand, Sam," said Mra Scrope, sighing deeply; "think of that, Sam." " I do think of that, mother," said the miserable Sam ; " and it almost breaks my heart, it does, to give it up. I wish she'd give me up; I wish with all my heart that she bad taken a dislike to me." " AJi, my darling," said the fond mother, "you cannot wonder that she does not do that. The mortification will be severe enough when she has to return to that precious Miss Pamela with the tidings that you have refused her. But, after all, she may improve, t-am, my dear, and perhaps ifc is worth while to try; for though you possess forty thousand pounds of your own, it would be very convenient to have as much more."

! (To be continued.)