CHAPTER XVII. POPINJAY PARLOUR.
Happiest of all, in that her gentle spirit
Commits itself to yours to be directed.
Merchant of Venice.
"It is our melancholy duty to record the demise of James Barnes,
Esq., which took place at his residence at Belforest Park, near
Kenminster, on the 20th of December. The lamented gentleman had long
been in failing health, and an attack of paralysis, which took place
on the 19th, terminated fatally. The vast property which the
deceased had accumulated, chiefly by steamboat and railway
speculations in the West Indies, rendered him one of the richest
proprietors in the county. We understand that the entire fortune is
bequeathed solely to his grand-niece, Mrs. Caroline Otway Brownlow,
widow of the late Joseph Brownlow, Esq., and at present resident in
the Pagoda, Kenminster Hill. Her eldest son, Allen Brownlow, Esq.,
is being educated at Eton."
That was the paragraph which David Ogilvie placed before the eyes of
his sister in a newspaper lent to him in the train by a courteous
fellow-traveller.
"Poor Caroline!" said Mary.
They said no more till the next day, when, after the English service
at Florence, they were strolling together towards San Miniato, and
feeling themselves entirely alone.
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