Wynn

“ Among others, her gracious behaviour to himself, so gratifying; but more, her distant manner towards his rival, which he could not help observing, and saw with secret satisfaction.
And still thus reflecting on it, he enters the gates at Llangorren, to be stunned by the strange intelligence there awaiting him—Miss Wynn missing! gone away! run away! perhaps carried off! lost! and cannot be found! ”

“ They were Wynn's own words, and Wynn was a gentleman who for no consideration on earth would have torn little Edna into those vividly coloured strips and strings. But this thing hunched under the oak-tree had done that thing. It was no question of reading horrors out of newspapers to Miss Fowler. Mary had seen it with her own eyes on the 'Royal Oak' kitchen table. She must not allow her mind to dwell upon it. Now Wynn was dead, and everything connected with him was lumping and rustling and tinkling under her busy poker into red black dust and grey leaves of ash. ”

“ That land of Llangorren belonged to his grandfather, but now is, or soon will be, the property of his cousin—Gwendoline Wynn. Were she not, it would be his. Between him and it runs the Wye, a broad, deep river. But what its width or depth, compared with that other something between? A barrier stronger and more impassable than the stream, yet seeming slight as a thread. For it is but the thread of a life. Should it snap, or get accidentally severed, Lewin Murdock would only have to cross the river, proclaim himself master of Llangorren, and take possession. ”

“ Earle, he wishes, and Miss Wynn, she—well, she don't say much. I suppose she knows a fellow can't stand it; but she means it. I think most every Sunday that she will bring some of us around before long, in spite of ourselves. ”

“ The sun has gone down upon Gwen Wynn's natal day—its twenty-first anniversary—and Llangorren Court is in a blaze of light, for a grand entertainment is there being given—a ball.
The night is a dark one ”

“ More than one of them, observing the anxious expression on his face, believe it but a semblance, a mask to hide the satisfaction within his heart, to become joy if Gwen Wynn be found—dead.
It is not a thing to be spoken of openly, and no one so speaks of it. The construction put upon Lewin Murdock's motives is confined to the few, for only a few know how much he is interested in the upshot of that search. ”

“ But further on, it once more flows in gentle tide along the meadow lands of Llangorren.
Before turning the bend, where Gwen Wynn and Eleanor Lees were caught in the rapid current, at the estuary of a sluggish inflowing brook, whose waters are now beaten back by the flooded river, he sees what causes him to start, and hang on the stroke of his oar.
“What is it, Wingate?” asks young Powell, observing his strange behaviour. “Oh! a waif—that plank floating yonder! I suppose you’d like to pick it up! But remember! it’s Sunday, and we must confine ourselves to works of necessity and mercy.” ”

“ Wynn, as you have told me your secret, I see no reason why I should withhold from you mine. I, too, am about p. 216to contract a marriage; I do not find it good to be alone; I am going to be wedded to my first love. Strange to say, her name is Wynn. Do you know any lady in your parts of North Wales of that name?”
“Indeed, sir, I don’t at present recollect any lady of the name of Wynn.”
“Try, Cadwgan, and remember. My impression is you must remember; she is acquainted with you.”
“Surely, Mr. Roberts, you don’t refer to my aunt?” ”

“ John Wynn, became a student of the Inner Temple in October 1576, and probably supplicated for B.A. at Oxford on 10 June 1578. He is supposed to have also travelled abroad in his youth, as he is referred to by his kinsman and neighbour, Archbishop Williams, as having seen ‘multorum mores hominum et urbes.’ On the death of his father on 10 Aug. 1580 he succeeded to the Gwydir estate, to the development of which and the advancement of his own family he thereafter devoted himself almost exclusively. ”

“ Never went boat down the Wye carrying freight more fair. Both girls are beautiful, though of opposite types, and in a different degree; while with one—Gwendolyn Wynn—no water Nymph, or Naiad, could compare; her warm beauty in its real embodiment far excelling any conception of fancy, or flight of the most romantic imagination.
She is not thinking of herself now; nor, indeed, does she much at any time—least of all in this wise. She is anything but vain; instead, like Vivian Ryecroft, rather underrates herself. ”

“ It was enough, however, to put a new light in his eye and a faint color in his cheek.
“Could it have been Miss Nellie?” he asked, with half-boyish hesitation.
Mr. Wynn was too much of a Christian not to bow before what appeared to him the purely providential interposition of this suggestion. Seizing it and Low at the same moment, he playfully forced him down again in his chair.
“Ah, you rascal!” he said, with infinite archness; “that's your game, is it? You want to trap poor Father Wynn. You want to make him say 'No.' You want to tempt him to commit himself. No, sir!—never, sir!—no, no!” ”

“ The more he ponders upon it, the surer grows he that Gwendoline Wynn has been the victim of a villainous murder. And it is for this reason he has returned to the Wye, first to satisfy himself of the fact; then, if possible, to find the perpetrator, and bring him to justice.
As no robber has done the drowning, conjecture is narrowed to a point; his suspicions finally becoming fixed on Lewin Murdock. ”

“ Slightly troubled, in spite of Wynn's hearty manner, Low, with his usual directness however, said, "I do not want any one to deny that I have seen Miss Nellie."
"Certainly, certainly," said Wynn, abandoning his method, considerably disconcerted by Low's simplicity, and a certain natural reserve that shook off his familiarity. "Certainly it's a noble thing to be able to put your hand on your heart and say to the world, 'Come on, all of you! Observe me; I have nothing to conceal. I walk with Miss Wynn in the woods as her instructor—her teacher, in fact. We cull a flower here and there ”

“ A cry from Gwen Wynn—a cry of real alarm, now—the first she has uttered! But before she can repeat it, her fears are allayed—set to rest again—at sight of still another rescuer. The young waterman has leaped back to his own boat, and is pulling straight for the strugglers. A few strokes, and he is beside them; then, dropping his oars, he soon has both safe in the skiff. ”

“ It appears Mademoiselle Wynn and her companion Lees, were out on the river for a row alone. Unusual that! Thus out, some fellows—Forest of Dean dwellers—offered them insult; from which a gentleman angler, who chanced to be whipping the stream close by, saved them—he no other than le Capitaine Ryecroft. With such commencement of acquaintance, a man couldn't be much worth who didn't know how to improve it—even to terminating in marriage if he wished. And with such a rich heiress as Mademoiselle Gwendoline Wynn—to say nought of her personal charms—there are few men who wouldn't wish it so to end. ”

“ CHAPTER XII. A LESSON OF WAITING.
"Shall we grow weary in our watch,
And murmur at the long delay,
Impatient of our Father's time
And his appointed way?"
"How do you like your new clerk?" asked Mrs. Wynn, as she poured out the coffee one morning few months later.
"Pretty well," replied her husband. "He is teachable and improves; he has made some good sales already. To be sure he is not quite so prompt nor so industrious as Herbert, but then few boys are. I will say that for Master Herbert, if only he had not been quite so certain that his own way was the best. ”

“ In the earlier part of the year Wynn had been in a quandary regarding this series of gatherings. His own summer residence was situated on the east coast of Scotland, and was merely a very commonplace marine villa, without either the room or the servants to take care of more than one or two guests at a time. Another objection was the distance from London and the expense of the journey.
Those whom Wynn wished to meet were in the main poor men, and the question even of railway fare was to many of them a serious one. ”

“ As for Mr. Wynn, he was more disturbed by the event than he cared to own. He had been pleased with Herbert in most respects, and had resolved upon promoting him as fast as practicable, with a view to giving him a permanent position in the store.
"Queer, isn't it, that a fellow would spoil his prospects by such a bit of nonsense?" he said that day at dinner time. "I suspect, Mabel, it is some of your work."
"What, father?"
"Why, that boy Herbert thinks he knows all about the principles of business, and in carrying out his theories has forfeited his place, that is all." ”

“ I called to cheer him up to-day” (Mr. Wynn had in fact tumultuously accelerated the sick man's pulse) , “and he talked of you, as usual. In fact, he said he had only two things to get well for. One was to catch and hang that woman Teresa, who shot him; the other—can't you guess the other?” he added archly, with a faint suggestion of his other manner.
Miss Nellie coldly could not.
The Rev. Mr. Wynn's archness vanished. “Don't be a fool,” he said dryly. “He wants to marry you, and you know it.”
“Most of the men here do,” responded Miss Nellie, without the least trace of coquetry. ”

“ He would scarce be human not to think of all this. And being human he does—has thought of it oft, and many a time. With feelings too, beyond the mere prompting of cupidity. These due to a legend handed down to him, telling of an unfair disposal of the Llangorren property; but a pittance given to his mother, who married Murdock of Glyngog; while the bulk went to her brother, the father of Gwen Wynn. ”

“ By midday the alarm has reached its height—the hue and cry is at its loudest. No longer confined to the family and domestics—no more the relatives and intimate friends—people of all classes and kinds take part in it. The pleasure grounds of Llangorren, erst private and sacred as the Garden of the Hesperides, are now trampled by heavy, hobnailed shoes; while men in smocks, slops, and sheepskin gaiters, stride excitedly to and fro, or stand in groups, all wearing the same expression on their features—that of a sincere, honest anxiety, with a fear some sinister mischance has overtaken Miss Wynn. ”

“ He does not visit, nor would it serve him to show his face there—least of all to Gwen Wynn. She might not be so rude as to use her riding whip on him, as she once felt inclined in the hunting-field; but she would certainly be surprised to see him at her home.
Yet it is one within her house he wishes to see, and is now on the way for it, pretty sure of being able to accomplish his object. True to her fashionable instincts and toilette necessities, Miss Linton keeps a French maid, and it is with this damsel Father Rogier designs having an interview. ”

“ That Miss Wynn should have taken her own life—made away with herself—is equally impossible of belief.
Some time is occupied in the investigation of facts, and drawing deductions. Witnesses of all classes and kinds thought worth the calling are called and questioned. Everything already known, or rumoured, is gone over again, till at length they arrive at the relations of Captain Ryecroft with the drowned lady. ”

“ Intuitively, as if whispered by an angel in his ear, he says, or thinks to himself: "This man knows nothing of Gwendoline Wynn. If she has been carried off, it has not been by him; if murdered, he is not her murderer."
"Captain Ryecroft," he at length cries out in hoarse voice, the revulsion of feeling almost choking him, "if I've been wronging you, I ask forgiveness, and you'll forgive ”

“ By her deft manipulation, stewed rabbit becomes as jugged hare, so that it would be difficult to tell the difference; while she has at her fingers' ends many other feats of the cuisine that give him gratification. The old servitor of Squire Wynn is in his way a gourmet, and has a tooth for toothsome things.
His accomplished niece, with somewhat of his own cleverness, bears the pretty name of Amy—Amy Preece, for she is his brother's child. And she is pretty as her name, a bright, blooming girl, rose-cheeked, with form well rounded, and flesh firm as a Ribston pippin. ”

“ It turned out quite as Miss Wynn had designed; Mr. Grey, the tailor, gave Bles some points on dressing, and made him, Southern fashion, a frock-coat for dress wear that set off his fine figure. On the night of the gathering at Miss Wynn's Bles dressed with care, hesitating long over a necktie, but at last choosing one which he had recently purchased and which pleased him particularly. ”

“ This lady, his mother, was a great-granddaughter of Sir John Wynn [q. v.] of Gwydir, whose grandson, also named Sir John Wynn, of Watstay (which he changed into Wynnstay) , died without issue on 7 Jan. 1719, leaving his estates to his kinsman, Watkin Williams, who thereupon assumed the arms and the additional name of Wynn, and became the real founder of the great house of Wynnstay. Wynn (as he therefore came to be called) was born in 1692, and was educated at Oxford, where he matriculated as a fellow-commoner of Jesus College on 18 Dec. ”

“ Besides being himself a good scholar, Wynn, like his father, was a generous patron of learning. In 1594 he joined several of the gentry of North Wales in petitioning for a royal commission to hold an eisteddfod similar to that held in 1568 at Caerwys (Gwenogyryn Evans, Report on Welsh MSS. i. 293) . ”