ASHCLIFFE HALL
A TALE OF THE LAST CENTURY.
BY
EMILY SARAH HOLT
"No joy is true, save that which hath no end;
No life is true save that which liveth ever;
No health is sound, save that which God doth send;
No love is real, save that which fadeth never."
—REV. HORATIUS BOMAR, D.D.
SAINT PAUL
D. D. MERRILL COMPANY
CONTENTS.
CHAP.
I. Old Cicely has her Thoughts
III. Alone in the World
IV. My Lady Ingram
VIII. Wanted, Diogenes' Lantern
XII. Traitors—Human and Canine
XIII. Lady Griselda's Ruby Ring
ASHCLIFFE HALL.
I.
OLD CICELY HAS HER THOUGHTS.
"I ask Thee for the daily strength
To none that ask denied,
A mind to blend with outward things
While keeping at Thy side;
Content to fill a little space
So Thou be glorified."
Miss Waring.
In a large bedroom, on an autumn afternoon,two girls were divesting themselvesof their out-door attire after a walk.They were dressed alike, though theirages were eleven and nineteen. Their costumeconsisted of brown stuff petticoats, over which theywore cashmere gowns of a white ground, coveredwith brown-stemmed red flowers, and edged withquillings of green ribbon. These dresses werehigh in the back and on the shoulders, but werecut down square in the front. The sleeves reachedto the elbows, and were there finished by whitemuslin frills. The girls wore high-heeled shoes,the heels being red, and brown worsted stockings,which the petticoat was short enough to showplainly. On the dressing-table before them laytwo tall white muslin caps, called cornettes, abundantin frills and lace, but having no strings. Thehair of both girls was dressed high over a frame,standing up some three inches above their heads;and when the elder put on her cap, it increasedher apparent height by at least three inches more.
The chamber in which they were dressing waslong and low, two large beams being visible in the