Father Stafford

Father Stafford

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Father Stafford, by Anthony Hope This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Father Stafford
Author: Anthony Hope
Release Date: January 22, 2005 [EBook #14755]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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FATHER STAFFORD
BY
ANTHONY HOPE
AUTHOR OF "A MAN OF MARK," "THE PRISONER OF ZENDA."
F. TENNYSON NEELY PUBLISHER CHICAGO NEW YORK 1895

CONTENTS.
I. Eugene Lane and his Guests
II. New Faces and Old Feuds
III. Father Stafford Changes his Habits, and Mr. Haddington his Views
IV. Sir Roderick Ayre Inspects Mr. Morewood's Masterpiece
V. How Three Gentlemen Acted for the Best
VI. Father Stafford Keeps Vigil
VII. An Early Train and a Morning's Amusement
VIII. Stafford in Retreat, and Sir Roderick in Action
IX. The Battle of Baden
X. Mr. Morewood is Moved to Indignation
XI. Waiting Lady Claudia's Pleasure
XII. Lady Claudia is Vexed with Mankind
XIII. A Lover's Fate and a Friend's Counsel
XIV. Some People are as Fortunate as they Deserve to Be
XV. An End and a Beginning

FATHER STAFFORD.
CHAPTER I.
Eugene Lane and his Guests.
The world considered Eugene Lane a very fortunate young man; and if youth, health, social reputation, a seat in Parliament, a large income, and finally the promised hand of an acknowledged beauty can make a man happy, the world was right. It is true that Sir Roderick Ayre had been heard to pity the poor chap on the ground that his father had begun life in the workhouse; but everybody knew that Sir Roderick was bound to exalt the claims of birth, inasmuch as he had to rely solely upon them for a reputation, and discounted the value of his opinion accordingly. After all, it was not as if the late Mr. Lane had ended life in the undesirable shelter in question. On the contrary, his latter days had been spent in the handsome mansion of Millstead Manor; and, as he lay on his deathbed, listening to the Rector's gentle homily on the vanity of riches, his eyes would wander to the window and survey a wide tract of land that he called his own, and left, together with immense sums of money, to his son, subject only to a jointure for his wife. It is hard to blame the tired old man if he felt, even with the homily ringing in his ears, that he had not played his part in the world badly.
Millstead Manor was indeed the sort of place to raise a doubt as to the utter vanity of riches. It was situated hard by the little village of Millstead, that lies some forty miles or so northwest of London, in the middle of rich country. The neighborhood afforded shooting, fishing, and hunting, if not the best of their kind, yet good enough to satisfy reasonable people. The park was large and well wooded; the house had insisted on remaining picturesque in spite of Mr. Lane's improvements, and by virtue of an indelible stamp of antiquity had carried its point. A house that dates from Elizabeth is not to be entirely put to shame by one or two unblushing French windows and other trifling barbarities of that description, more especially when it is kept in countenance by a little church of still greater age, nestling under its wing in a manner that recalled the good old days when the lord of the manor was lord of the souls and bodies of his tenants. Even old Mr. Lane had been mellowed by the influence of his new home, and before his death had come to play the part of Squire far more respectably than might be imagined. Eugene sustained the r?le with the graceful indolence and careless efficiency that marked most of his doings.
He stood one Saturday morning in the latter part of July on the steps that led from the terrace to the lawn, holding a letter in his hand and softly whistling. In appearance he was not, it must be admitted, an ideal Squire, for he was but a trifle above middle height, rather slight, and with the little stoop that tells of the man who is town-bred and by nature more given to indoor than outdoor exercises; but he was a good-looking fellow for all that, with a bright humorous face,--though at this moment rather a bored one,--large eyes set well apart, and his proper allowance of brown hair and white teeth. Altogether, it may safely be said that, not even Sir Roderick's nose could have sniffed the workhouse in the young master of Millstead Manor.
Still whistling, Eugene descended the steps and approached a group of people sitting under a large copper-beech