CHAPTER I

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7088, 2 May 1901, Page 4

CHAPTER I

; ■ : ]te JertkLrfton JfoM'fyta. an 4MftfeP»n£n la Pa& WL, olq^ t^tt |#&»r VLtyfoVaadhfr short #^^figat^ JoplPf* d^vit finwh Vtime, *>d #so at the *ottf of ; .i dio|#r on the, e^r*ntog| whdh he had; «> XL, anrriifctfeft ehHfrwhare. J*ft. had tmce pteuji - tiftf at *ffl«s Bar, and Eked <fa>**Xpiwn*wiat v: • -hp had des&s& bis piofoafiol* *f>© purVVtioiAi'Pfr litqwrftoa. He did aot, t^wever, i •.A'^hraf'on feis aowranft: i» edited. Ho ; v \pjsjw «»3it)'«rij!ohih!g, pTo^a^J»t'& i#as no ' JED^^t !.taub3io . <deim3»kcE for an «lroo» of it. Xi, 'R4jjwkfie«s of present favWir, he '^peMed vW' jgarterifcy— ap gentlemen With piitaiib V, iSjK&a ape <Jste entitled to do." Pfethaps he i^Rde richer high demands on posterity'^ ?,. ' ' WP *ha(fc Vas his hus&ess— ajid it*. At any his SaSte was curious and his'-boriSdienoe fiV^&wP. ' (Be was very (minute ana very ££:.; iSß^ulpus, very painstaking hstii very dtsyyStjjjfft,.hj the exerciße of h& dtrtjSfc. PO6--?.^l(^wyr'mfty perhaps like Ihese qualities in an ' WHi?^ M aiMIi 9 OQTS aJJ( i diaries; for sgtib >^P|§^'-Mr Nedi&a favourite subjects. SdnuS:*F tuh«. ihe , feti into a^ sore struggle between Xj^ofiiy '^d'j&flcretian, having impulses an forboue to attribute to • * <;.#■■* ',r»^^»e wfc.in jusfc sucih ; a fix now— so. h© ; Sp himself— «s he perused the i^iiifiwrolSHpl before huttf; It was the Joimlal -:' SIX ?W deoeaJsed friend Josiah CJholdeiijbn, 1 V^Wammp Bleraber of Parliament' (in *hrf f VJEfflbfral ifrfc#i-est) f6r the (borough of Btobtoan' yyt& Yorlfsmrq, Coimmewsal Befegai^ to ihe VixlspQ&eax oi whiaidh in '64, »nd Inventor of i t m^tt^groj^Brio Metihod of iDressimg Wool. vy.T.vfS^op_der {fyfosterfarr was to he interested ■'"■'•'■ , * l^T > - (^A ti^i e^ °* *hnes— aa^J especi- ;;;: 'iwf] j«S*ag flis visits to the. Continent — MWi^^ 5 * 1 0^ himself dm djj^essidtts encountererfj andffie*»i»---<&1&^« l imtf-2™ * en * dharaote* so Aereoli:«%B?'^ «plsod«8 so P^t4, t>hat ,*m<*«Jtor hfed r^totirte to hi* iblSe i«noii •^^ .'drew ip V*th a s^gh: throxigh page*. • J^*£k he had himself found no smaUk xelioA ;vj|?Bar*he severer record of OhoHerton's scry ilhaea to the Ooimanefcei of his country. Mr '."■•. *^? l e fd sat now with blue pencil judicially ■ported, considering the following passage in fiMr&iend'a recollections. The^entry bore «te,.H«idelb&Tg, 1875. J/v ./'M i the^ widow's" (Mr Cholderton is •ffeaftmg 6f a certaan- (Madame de Kries) . '. "v E**^ 0 * 7sf ! became acquainted with a JMy. ™*° aado something of a sensation in her day, amd whom I rem€niber both for 2?«!<>wn apes and beoause of a curious ocOT Pwfe ctafiected with her. A year and * jhaK before (or theneahouts) society toad »*« by the elopement of Mass T. witt Sir -R. E. They were married, went fyVrasne, and lived togaKher a month or two. (Suddenly Sir R. went off alone; . whqae «he fault was nobody knew, or at X\Uapb J,t never catoe to my ears. The lady : *%s no* long left in solitude, and, when I t J?W* ¥*■>„** Pa®*** as Mrs P., wife c f { Oagtain F. The Oaipt'ain seemed to me an' . J^fT gooo-looking, reckless young 3~Wto*2> wu* Mrs P. was a, more striking VpWttm She waa tall, araoefnl, and very i*s S' feea^ ifal -wanaA {I aaogfet ,ather aay X gm) *»m.d questfion. Talk revealed her as ii.^ awjohite ohiM in a moral aenae, with, a candour, a dhkd?s ii^ke ■\VL^Mi^Js- g^aedi ShT%| hai% 4 ; r^^^jSrs*^ll £_ c m^» ** ""Wto a!* -i^?A. howeter, '^•^l Jllrlor^ #^*?"^ Te creature. lie -^bMSßt^iS^Li?i '^ 110 *W" 9o&»^ i^BPW* , A^«»stood ifiheir feeHiwra ptea %i -F °r c°mea the scene (Wsricat fcas sttaw>--116 perlota- "'wifch hef and ei^ l,o^ rk X^lfi t%^, AY* • • TJ*^; 011 a etitq of (agitation and «f*J^b^'W nj> mean* healthy (I ehemki mofipe) »ri>nS & ihei^jonditfoik She

™ i^ffi.Sffi&Hft™* Bxiaaordiiiary aM igbky oWn. presence an 6 OTlteidsK^, kXm^fp jfciftfted them verbatim. „W 6 ^ *^U^f^° tbe iofa, Majdaapie "%e tihe Imp (ac I tolled th& oJi^C' trHmn I disliked) feared*- 14 he/ v 6pei).-%'ed, wndering no dt?^^bs.i the f tojf Waa about. Directly jfteSif F. dame iri J ilmo^t^as upset as Mrs F., tihe j^Mr between them managed to explain t, ous that she had received a letter from Sir R.« servant (with whom she had apparently maintained some communication), a&nouhcing that his master had, ofte'i- two days' illneje, died of heart complaint oh June 6. ' Think of the difference it makes, the enormous difference!' ifhe. gasped, jumping up again and standing iii' the middle of the tooA. She was 90 full of this idea thit ttie did not epare a thought to tho dead ma& or Ho anything Which "Tnigiit strike' nt as peculiar or distasteful in her own^attitude and the way in which ahe received the news. 'We shall be married direotiy,' she oontinued feth tta^^^fareulge absence of shame or pretenOe which always marked her, 'amd tjhen it'll be alf "fight, and nobody'U be able to say a word in the future.' She went I on in this strain for a long while, until Madame de Erie! at last insisted on her calming herself, and proposed to accomr fany her to her own house. At this point made my excuses and retired, the Imp following m* to the door aaidi asking me, as I went out, wHiy people had to be married again when other people died; she was a child who heeded wiser and firmer bringing-up than her mother gave her. "I did not myself see Captain and Mrs F. again-, as I left Heidelbery the next day, June 22. I learnt, however, from Madame de Kries that the wedding was hurried and took place on the day following my departure; after this the pair went to feaden, and there, a fortnight later, tlje child— a boy— was born. • I mttst cbftltes that 1 was glad the young crti|>le*had avoided the calamity they were in dread of, Although I am not sure <tha* 1 had a right to wish that they should escapd the ftiU consequences cf their fault. "My feelings were abruptly changed when, on paying a flying visit to Madame de Kni* ..a few months later, I heard the sequel hi the story, told to me in the Strictest confidence, and in ; violatywij I fear, of the old lady's pledge of secrecy. (She was a'sad gossip, a; failing with which which I have no sympathy). Sir R. E. did not, in faot," die on the date reported. He fe}l into a collapse, mistaken for death by ttibse about him, and even- by his medical attendant; % after lying in this state for twenty-four honie he revived and lived. nearly « week longer. A Second* letter;, \ apprising • Mrs F. of this fact, and « announcing the correct date of hisl death as June ; l2th, reached her at BidKn cvn the 2»th. By this time she Was married, but the validity of her. new union (Solemnised on the 23rd) did not appear to be affected. 'NoDhin^ more was done, and the boy was born, as I have stated, early in July. Only after this evfent, wl-ich naturally engrossed the parents' attention, did the mistake into which they had fallen come to be discovered. As a matter of form, and to avoid doubts in the future, Captain F. wrote for the official certificate of Sir R.s death. When it came, it came ac a thunderbolt. Sir R. had been residing in a email Russian town near the frontier; he was interested, I understood, in some business the&. The servant to whom I h^ve referred was an uneducated man, and could got write; he had picked up a little Frenbfi, but spoke no Russian. Wishing to inform Mrs F. of what had occurred, he had recourse to a professional letter-writer, who perhaps knew aa little French, <& almost as little, as himself, and w^ entirely ignorant of English. The $ervfait gave, the dites I have set down— June 6th in the first le*^,"the 12th ih, the sec-<Jnd»">.-Th6 letter-writtir put iiheih dotf^; asrdLldxa F. read>and inncSediately aocepWsdi them. It did iiot crWs her ttiind or Captain P.'s thartj. tl^Z da*^ili>ed wejre tfap, dMinaty Ruafiian <|WmK \a %t, 'OM Style/ ah 4 conjabMrently tWdVe . dws bfeMtid the reciohing W Gkitaiahy <M? of I«g%id. They aright 2ifcv»-^ea)']>ltt'4& internal bfetWfen the daW «i the aeath as it w&a gifen $iq tlfe fajpeipt df, the ifews; in thejiffexcittwent th^ paid too he4d to it, hid it dad 'pent CKSOW^enh« , ,,to Madame do Krjefl 6i ayfeH /fo" te&e the hpegtfcm. fodeeii,. Stlio jMW/jyw^'BJ|A te ' '?* mea, iSi 1S& andi I do not &ibk Mm_ MaoSime <k Kries did, *h«te tile faftefotf feme *#i. Mrs F. eaid nothimg about it. . Brayh&l th 4 corticate arrjves—abcrat the'^<Mle df July, as I Understood— &e<ni3te&e%bß clfeatj fWf a

note in the official's hand trainslatedl =,_the dates into New Style for the benefif "_ of the foreigners to whom he w*hi supplying the document. S|r R. E.;' first reported' dead on June 6th Old Style, otherwise June 18th NeW Style, had actuary died on the 12th Old Style, or 24th tfew Style. ".J have altfrays thouglrt this one of the most perverse little incident* which I have met wkh in thfe oounie of ihy life, and I ■thing it such Still, when I oonsld'or Hkw easily it ttjight. htwe. dcoe ijiO term, and how serioiis, a^a^^ed^t^^bfe, its actual consequehc^ Tie niistake as to the date of deatn was the first souroe of confusion, since it caused Mts F.s wedding to take place her husband, Sir R., had still a day to live. But this error would not in itself have proved fatal, since there would still have been timfe to repeat the ceremony and make a valid marriage of it before the birth of the child. Hpre the mraappreh&isicn about tihe Old Style came in.' Led to believe that, although Sir E. lived mx days longer than was originally refarted, yet none the less he died on June 2th, the F.s did not have the oeremony repeated. But- he died, in fact, on the 24th as his wife reckoned tifiie, and her wedding to Captain F. on the 23rd was an idle and useless form; Wheti the discovery was made, the boy was born— and born out of lawful wedlock. " What did they do then? I was pardonably interested in the matter, and inquired of Madame de Kries. She. was reticent, bufc I extracted from her the information that they were hurriedly Aarriedi ag&in. One could laugh if the matter had not been so terribly serious 'bo then* and to their boy. For by wow those events had' actually happened, *nd Mrs F. was not iiiidteed mi possession of, but next in succession, to, a considerable estate and an ancifent title. Marrying again could not metfd the matter. What else they did' to mend or try to mend it, Madame de Kries professed not to know. I myself do anot know either. There is. only one thing to aay. They, could not alter the date of "the dea:Bb ; they couM not alter the date of the wedding; perhaps it' would seem rather more possible to alter the da*6 of the 'birth. At any rate, thait is no business of mine. I hafrfc sot the down beoause it seemed a curious and in : tetesting episode, but it is nothing to me who succeeds or ought to sucoeed to this or that title or «rtate. For ihy awn part, I am inclined to hope <t<hat the baby's prospects im life will not be wrecked hy the Absurd Russian habit of using the Old fefjyle. "To return to serious questions, the cuatdms-barrier between "

• M£> Jenkinson Sfceld laid down his friend's Journal and le&ni.back im hiS fehair.

"Really!" he murmured to himself. "Really, really!" FroWndng in a perplexed fashion he pushed the ni&Atascript alide, and twiddled the blue pencil beftwieen his fingers. The cus-toms-barrier of whidi Josiah ChoMerfon was aboht to speak (nad no power to interest" him. The story which he had read interested him a^gbod deal ; it was ox. odd little nit of hum&n history, a diSfaatrous turn of htunan fortfueg. Besides, Mr iteeld knf* his London. He,shdbk his.heW fy tho Jwtmetl roprovifcgV. * ose &$& cSair, went to his boqkcae^ftnd^tcKi'k dq^m & Peerage. A reminisoehoe wai running ih his head. He turned to tW fettear J those hollowly discreet, painfully indiscreet initials of Josiaih Oholderton's ! Mysteries perhaps in Baxton, Yorks, but none in Pall Mall!) and searched the pages. This was the entry at which his finger stopped— or rather part of the entry, for the volume had more to say on .the family than it is needful either to believe or to repeat: —

"Tristram of Blent— Adelaide Louisa Aimee, in her own right Barpness— 23rl fa. desoe^ti *he barony descending to n'eirft geneial. Born 17th December, 1863. Married first S&v>Rando]ph B%e, Bart. — ho issue. Secoiiwlly, Captain Henry Vincent Fitaherberfc (late Soots Guards), died 1877. Issue I—*ooP1 — *ooP son (and heir) -~.on Henry Austen Fitzherbert Tristram, bom 20th 1875. Tbe name of Tristram was assumed in lieu of Fitasherbert by Royal License, 1884. Seat—Blent Hall, Devon "

Here Mr Neeld laid down the book. He had seen what he wanted, . and had no further oonoern with the anoestry, the tammifldfttions, the abodes, or possessions o. the d^&trams of Blent. To him who knew, the entry itself was expressed in what it said aiid inwhtrti it omitted; read in conjuncfecltt- With JioSiah CHolderton's Journal, it

Wh<? wouldn't be a brainless fool with heaps of glistWg gold, Than some floor scholar fresh from school T* httrtfc homeless on the world? Who #6uldn't rather lose his wealth, Thdii coughs and colds endure? Then be content, «qoy good health, .; take Woods' Great Peppermint Cure. 5

.VV. was yet m6re eloquent. By itself it hinted a scandal — else why no dates for the marriages? With the Journal it said Something more. For the 20th is ttot " early in July." Yet Mr Neeld had never heard I He fehut the book hastily and put it back on the shelf. Iteturning to his desk, he took up the blue pencil. -.-. But on second thoughts this instrument did not content him. Scissors were in his hand ; with Tihem he. oftpefully cub out from the manuscript thefwhole account of Mr Cholderbon's visit to Heidelberg (he would run no risks, and there was nothing important in it), dated it, marked it with the page which it belonged in the Journal, and locked it away in a drawer. He felt resentful towards his dead friend Josiah Cboldenton. If there be a safe pastime, bne warranted to lead a man into no trouble, andi _to 'entangle him in no scandals, it would seem t<s lie in editing the Journal of a member of Parliament, a Commercial Delegate, aj> Inventor of the HygrdxSffo Method of Dre**ihg Wool. Josiah CholdSi-fcoh. : had — not quite for the first time— played^ him false., But it had never been quite so> badfeife this before ! •* ■ " G|obd gracious me !" he muttered. " The/ thin&.is nothing more nor less than an imputation on the legitimacy of the son andf heir!" >•-*•>, ■; ?<*>?&?*s. *£'¥* !fha.fc same afternoon he went, over to. the Imperium to vote at the election of members. It struck him as one of the small coincidences of life that among the candidates^ who faced th 4" lfellot was a Colonel Wilmbtf Edge, R.E. *<*~« "Any relation, I wonder?" mused Mr ! N«eld, as he' dropped dn an affirmative bally Hii^it may,, be added, since- not evert the' e|Brefe of^dliib" ballots are to be held sacred, that he bestowed one of a differedt sort on a certain Mr William Iver, who was des^ oribed as a "Contractor," and whose nauit was familiar and conspicuous on the hoa^ ings that screened new buildings in Londoti, and was consequently objectionable to Mr Neeld's fastidious mind. "I don't often blackball," he remarked to Lord Southend as they were sitting down to' whist, " but, really, don't you think the Imperium should maintain — cr — a— certain level?" " Iver's a devilish rich fellow, and not a bad fellow, either," grunted my lord. i