



Produced by Demian Katz and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images courtesy
of the Digital Library@Villanova University
(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/))









  LANCASTER'S CHOICE.

  BY

  MRS. ALEX. McVEIGH MILLER.

  COPYRIGHT, 1884, BY GEORGE MUNRO.

  HART SERIES No. 47

  PUBLISHED BY

  THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK COMPANY

  CLEVELAND, O., U. S. A.




LANCASTER'S CHOICE.




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER I.
  CHAPTER II.
  CHAPTER III.
  CHAPTER IV.
  CHAPTER V.
  CHAPTER VI.
  CHAPTER VII.
  CHAPTER VIII.
  CHAPTER IX.
  CHAPTER X.
  CHAPTER XI.
  CHAPTER XII.
  CHAPTER XIII.
  CHAPTER XIV.
  CHAPTER XV.
  CHAPTER XVI.
  CHAPTER XVII.
  CHAPTER XVIII.
  CHAPTER XIX.
  CHAPTER XX.
  CHAPTER XXI.
  CHAPTER XXII.
  CHAPTER XXIII.
  CHAPTER XXIV.
  CHAPTER XXV.
  CHAPTER XXVI.
  CHAPTER XXVII.
  CHAPTER XXVIII.
  CHAPTER XXIX.
  CHAPTER XXX.
  CHAPTER XXXI.
  CHAPTER XXXII.
  CHAPTER XXXIII.
  CHAPTER XXXIV.
  CHAPTER XXXV.
  CHAPTER XXXVI.
  CHAPTER XXXVII.
  CHAPTER XXXVIII.
  CHAPTER XXXIX.
  CHAPTER XL.




CHAPTER I.


Old Lady Lancaster had twenty thousand pounds a year of her own. She
had brought that much dower when she came to her husband, the late Lord
Lancaster, and now, when he was dead, and she a childless widow, she
was like the Martha of Holy Writ--she was troubled over many things.

The possession of great wealth usually entails trouble, it is said,
and Lady Lancaster's case was no exception to the rule. The greatest
anxiety she had was that she could not decide what she would do with
her fortune when she died. She was eighty years old, and although she
did not want to die, she knew that she would have to do so some day,
and she wanted to make her will before that grewsome event.

The title and estates of Lancaster had descended to the late lord's
nephew, young Clive Lancaster. It was but a barren honor, after all,
for there was no money to support the dignity of the position. The
deceased incumbent had been a spendthrift, and so had his father
before him. They had dissipated all the property that was not strictly
entailed with the title, and the present heir had little to live on
except his pay as a captain in the army, where he still remained after
his accession to the title, while at his express wish and desire Lady
Lancaster still reigned lady paramount at his ancestral home, and kept
up its wonted dignity and state. She said she should leave all her
money to Captain Lancaster if he married to please her. If not--and she
shook her gray head ominously, not to say viciously, at this point, and
remained silent.

Lancaster Park was one of the loveliest places in Devonshire, as
Devonshire is one of the loveliest counties in England. It seemed
almost a pity that the young lord could not afford to marry and bring
home a beautiful bride to grace his stately home. No one doubted but
that when the time came he would espouse the bride his aunt selected
for him. It would be folly, it would be madness, if he refused. No
one supposed that the handsome young soldier could be capable of such
rashness. He did not dream of anything but obedience himself. He only
hoped that it would be a very pretty girl whom his aunt chose for
him, and also that the matrimonial hour was yet in the dim distance.
He was only five-and-twenty, and he did not care to surrender his
bachelor freedom yet. He was amazed and confounded, therefore, when
in a year after his uncle's death Lady Lancaster sent him one of her
characteristic letters--short and to the point:

  "MY DEAR CLIVE"--she wrote--"try and get leave to come down to
  Lancaster Park for a month or so this fall. I have invited a lot of
  people for that time, among them the girl I have chosen for you. Do
  not fail me. Delays are dangerous."

It was rather a command than a request, and the last words sounded like
a threat. The young lord-captain was taken by storm. His heart sunk to
the bottom of his tall cavalry boots. He did not want to be married
off-hand like that. He secretly rebelled against a forced surrender of
his soldierly freedom, even though he gained twenty thousand pounds a
year in exchange for it. He took counsel with his ch