Dynevor Terrace, vol 1 | Page 9

a year at the utmost.
But you know, dear Jem, I would do nothing you did not like.'
'That's nothing to the purpose,' replied James. 'Though it is to be
considered whether Ormersfield is likely to be the best preparation for
Clara's future life. However, I see you wish it--'
'I confess that I do, for a few months at least, which need interfere
neither with Clara nor with you. I have not seen Lord Ormersfield so
eager for many years, and I should be very sorry to prevent those two
from being comfortably together in the old home--'
'And can't that be without a chaperon?' exclaimed James, laughing.
'Why, his lordship is fifty-five, and she can't be much less. That is a
good joke.'
'It is not punctilio,' said his grandmother, looking distressed. 'It is
needful to be on the safe side with such a man as Mr. Ponsonby. My
fear is that he may send her home with orders not to come near us.'
'She used to be always at Ormersfield in the old times.'
'Yes, when my sister was alive. Ah! you were too young to know about
those matters then. The fact was, that things had come to such a pass
from Mr. Ponsonby's neglect and unkindness, that Lord Ormersfield,
standing in the place of her brother, thought it right to interfere. His
mother went to London with him, to bring poor Mary and her little girl
back to Ormersfield, and there they were till my sister's death, when of
course they could not remain. Mr. Ponsonby had just got his
appointment as British envoy in Peru, and wished her to go with him. It
was much against Lord Ormersfield's advice, but she thought it her
duty, poor dear. I believe he positively hates Lord Ormersfield; and as
if for a parting unkindness, he left his little girl at school with orders to
spend her holidays with his sister, and never to be with us.'
'That accounts for it!' said James. 'I never knew all this! nor why we
were so entirely cut off from Mary Ponsonby. I wonder what she is
now! She was a droll sturdy child in those days! We used to call her

Downright Dunstable! She was almost of the same age as Louis, and a
great deal stouter, and used to fight for him and herself too. Has not she
been out in Peru?'
'Yes, she went out at seventeen. I believe she is an infinite comfort to
her mother.'
'Poor Mary! Well, we children lived in the middle of a tragedy, and
little suspected it! By the bye, what relation are the Ponsonbys to us?'
'Mrs. Ponsonby is my niece. My dear sister, Mary--'
'Married Mr. Raymond--yes, I know! I'll make the whole lucid; I'll
draw up a pedigree, and Louis shall learn it.' And with elaborate
neatness he wrote as follows, filling in the dates from the first leaf of an
old Bible, after his grandmother had left the room. The task, lightly
undertaken, became a mournful one, and as he read over his
performance, his countenance varied from the gentleness of regret to a
look of sarcastic pride, as though he felt that the world had dealt hardly
by him, and yet disdained to complain.
KING ARTHUR - Pendragons and Dynevors innumerable - Roland
Dynevor, d. 1793 - 1. 2. 3.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
- - -
Catharine, m. James Frost Dynevor, Esq. Elizabeth, m. Jocelyn, 3rd
Earl of Ormersfield Mary, m. Ch. Raymond, Esq. b. 1770 b. 1765 b.
1772 b. 1760 b. 1774 d.1802 d. 1816 d. 1835 d. 1833 d. 1800
1. 2. -------------------------------------------------- Jocelyn, m. Louisa
Villars, Mary, m. Robert Ponsonby Esq.,
Henry Roland m. Frances Preston Oliver J. Frost 4th Earl of b. 1805 b.
1796 British Envoy Frost Dynevor b. 1802 Dynevor Ormersfield d.
1826 in Peru. b. 1794 d. 1832 b. 1797 b. 1792 d. 1832
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. ------------------------------------------------------------ James
Roland Frances Catharine Oliver Clara Louis Fitzjocelyn Mary
Ponsonby Frost Dynevor b. 1826 b. 1827 b. 1829 b. 1831 Viscount
Fitzjocelyn b. 1826 b. 1824 d. 1832 d. 1832 d. 1832 b. 1826. Fellow of
St. F. College, Oxford.
'Since 1816,' muttered James, as he finished. 'Thirty years of drudgery!
When shall I be able to relieve her? Ha! O. J. F. Dynevor, Esquire, if it
were you who were coming from Peru, you would find a score to

settle!'
He ran down stairs to assist his grandmother in the Latin lessons of her
little school, the usual employment of his vacations.
Catharine Dynevor had begun life with little prospect of spending
nearly half of it as mistress of a school.
Her father was the last male of the Dynevors of Cheveleigh--a family
mounting up to the days of the Pendragons--and she