The American Senator | Page 7

two had made his will. Very
much of the stewardship and management of the property had been in
their hands, and they had thriven as honest men, but as men with a
tolerably sharp eye to their own interests. The late Mr. Masters had
died a few years before the squire, and the present attorney had seemed
to succeed to these family blessings. But the whole order of things
became changed. Within a few weeks of the squire's death Mr. Masters
found that he was to be entrusted no further with the affairs of the
property, but that, in lieu of such care, was thrown upon him the task of
defending the will which he had made against the owner of the estate.
His father and grandfather had contrived between them to establish a
fairly good business, independently of Bragton, which business, of
course, was now his. As far as reading went, and knowledge, he was
probably a better lawyer than either of them; but he lacked their
enterprise and special genius, and the thing had dwindled with him. It

seemed to him, perhaps not unnaturally, that he had been robbed of an
inheritance. He had no title deeds, as had the owners of the property;
but his ancestors before him, from generation to generation, had lived
by managing the Bragton property. They had drawn the leases, and
made the wills, and collected the rents, and had taught themselves to
believe that a Morton could not live on his land without a Masters.
Now there was a Morton who did not live on his land, but spent his
rents elsewhere without the aid of any Masters, and it seemed to the old
lawyer that all the good things of the world had passed away. He had
married twice, his first wife having, before her marriage, been well
known at Bragton Park. When she had died, and Mr. Masters had
brought a second wife home, Lady Ushant took the only child of the
mother, whom she had known as a girl, into her own keeping, till she
also had been compelled to leave Bragton. Then Mary Masters had
returned to her father and stepmother.
The Bragton Park residence is a large, old-fashioned, comfortable
house, but by no means a magnificent mansion. The greater part of it
was built one hundred and fifty years ago, and the rooms are small and
low. In the palmy days of his reign, which is now more than half a
century since, the old squire made alterations, and built new stables and
kennels, and put up a conservatory; but what he did then has already
become almost old-fashioned now. What he added he added in stone,
but the old house was brick. He was much abused at the time for his
want of taste, and heard a good deal about putting new cloth as patches
on old rents; but, as the shrubs and ivy have grown up, a certain
picturesqueness has come upon the place, which is greatly due to the
difference of material. The place is somewhat sombre, as there is no
garden close to the house. There is a lawn, at the back, with gravel
walks round it; but it is only a small lawn; and then divided from the
lawn by a ha-ha fence, is the park. The place, too, has that sad look
which always comes to a house from the want of a tenant. Poor Lady
Ushant, when she was there, could do little or nothing. A gardener was
kept, but there should have been three or four gardeners. The man grew
cabbages and onions, which he sold, but cared nothing for the walks or
borders. Whatever it may have been in the old time, Bragton Park was
certainly not a cheerful place when Lady Ushant lived there. In the

squire's time the park itself had always been occupied by deer. Even
when distress came he would not allow the deer to be sold. But after his
death they went very soon, and from that day to the time of which I am
writing, the park has been leased to some butchers or graziers from
Dillsborough.
The ground hereabouts is nearly level, but it falls away a little and
becomes broken and pretty where the river Dill runs through the park,
about half a mile from the house. There is a walk called the Pleasance,
passing down through shrubs to the river, and then crossing the stream
by a foot-bridge, and leading across the fields towards Dillsborough.
This bridge is, perhaps, the prettiest spot in Bragton, or, for that matter,
anywhere in the county round; but. even here there is not much of
beauty to be praised. It is here, on the side of the river away from the
house, that the home