By her side walked a young rather handsome man about twenty-five, who
wore tennis flannels, and who had apparently met her at the station.
She was laughing merrily as she passed, while he strode on with a light,
airy footstep indicative of happiness.
"There's a lady just gone past," I exclaimed quickly, turning to the
innkeeper's wife, who had just brought in my glass of beer. "I often
see her about. Do you know who she is?"
With woman's curiosity she went to the door and looked out after her.
"Oh, that's Lady Glaslyn's daughter," she said.
"Lady Glaslyn's daughter!" I echoed in surprise.
"Yes, it's Miss Eva, and the young gent with her is Fred Langdale, the
son of the great sugar-refiner up in London. They both live here, close
by. Lady Glaslyn, a widow, is not at all well off, and lives along at
The Hollies, the big white house with a garden in front on this side of
the way, while the Langdales have a house further on the road to
Hampton, overlooking Bushey Park."
"Oh, that's who they are!" I said quite unconcernedly, but secretly
delighted with this information. "And who is this Lady Glaslyn? Has
she lived here long?"
"Nearly a year now," the good woman answered. Then, confidentially, she
added, "They are come-down swells, I fancy. That they've got no money
is very evident, for the tradespeople can't get their bills paid at all.
Why, only last week, Jim Horton, the gas company's man, was in here,
and I heard him tell his labourers that he'd got orders to cut the gas
off at The Hollies because the bill wasn't paid."
"Then they must be pretty hard up," I observed. "Many aristocratic
families come down in the world."
The name of Glaslyn puzzled me. It sounded familiar.
"Who was her ladyship's husband? Do you know?"
"No, sir. I've heard several stories. One was how that he was a
baronet who led an exploring party somewhere in South America, and died
of fever, and another that he was a shady individual who was connected
with companies in the City. But nobody here knows the truth, I think."
A glance at Debrett or Burke when I returned to my office would quickly
settle that point, I reflected; therefore, having obtained all the
information I could from her I wished her good-day, and left.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account