Geoffrey's Victory by Mrs Georgie Sheldon — page 124: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

120 EVERETT MAPLESON RETURNS TO VUE DE L’EAU. deal of romance,” his father replied, with a slight smile of amusement. ‘‘He was a queer old codger, too, aid lived a regular hermit’s hfe for nearly a quarter of a cen- tury. The house is still standing, about ten miles from here, in a lonely spot surrounded by a dense growth of pines. He kept one servant—Uncle Jake, he was called —who was housekeeper and steward all in one—cooking, washing, and ironing, taking care of their one horse and cow, and the chickens. He also attended to all the marketing and errands, and his master was rarely seen.” “*How did Mr. Dale occupy his time?” Everet inquired. “With reading and writing. He had achoice library, the only luxury of which he was guilty; and he left piles of manuscripts, Some of which were quite valuable, treat- ing chiefly upon geology and ornithology. He had al- ways been a great student of those subjects.’ “What became of his library ana manuscripts ?” “One of the trustees cf Richmond College claimed that they had been promised to that institution, and although there was no writing of any kind tound after his death to verify that claim, the books and papers were all made over to the college.” ‘What of his servant, Uncle Jake?” “He died only a few months after his master. He lived on at the Hermitage in the same way, refusing to leave the place, and was found dead in his bed, one day, by some sportsmen, who stopped there to fill their can- teens with water. He was buried therein the woods, the house was shut up, and has remained so ever since.” “This Robert Dale was a relative of vours, wasn’t he, father 2” “Well, yes, I suppose he was, though the relationship is very distant. He was own cousin tomy Uncle Jabez, who was my father’s haif-brother, if you can make that out,” said Colonei Mapleson, laughing. “Humph! There was another family of Dales, who lived somewhere in this region, if I remember right, that is, I remember hearing something about US Everet remarked, after another pause. Colonel Mapleson bent a look of questioning surprise on his son. “Tt appears to me that you manifest an unusual interest in the Dales this morning,” Colonel Mapleson said. “What has aroused it? I did not suppose you were even aware of their existence.” ™~ Comicloookks.€