MY POOL: SCENES AND SEASONS AT AN INLAND RESERVOIR POOL, MY: SCENES AND SEASONS AT AN INLAND RESERVOIR THE UNCANNY BAIRN: A STORY OF THE SECOND SIGHT TREPANNING, PREHISTORIC UNCANNY BAIRN, THE: A STORY OF THE SECOND SIGHT HA LONDON: SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE. [The right of publishing Translations of Articles in this Magazine is reservedne is ni JUL 11 1892 LIBRARY. THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE. JULY 1892. MRS. CURGENVEN OF CURGENVEN. BY S. BARING-GOULD, AUTHOR OF MEHALAH,' COURT ROYAL,' ETC. CHAPTER I. ON THE TERRACE. 'EXCUSE me-I am Mrs. Curgenven of Curgenven.' 'I beg your pardon, madam, I did not say—of Curgenven.' 'There is but one Mrs. Curgenven, whether of Curgenven or of anywhere else. Perhaps you meant the late Mrs. Percival ?? 'I did mean the late Mrs. Percival Curgenven. I make a thousand apologies.' 'There can be but one Mrs. Curgenven. If my husband had had nine brothers, and all had married, there would have been a Mrs. Jack, and a Mrs. Tom, and a Mrs. Will, and so and so; but I alone would have been Mrs. Curgenven. You understand. I do not care about this myself, other people are more particular. I do not make a point of this, others do; that is why I have spoken, to prevent your falling into the mistake again, which in certain quarters might give deadly offence. If we are anything at all in this world, let us be exact.' The lady who thus put to rights the person who had addressed her, was tall, stately, good-looking. The person addressed was small, undignified, ugly—a man with a face like a pug dog. Who she was the reader has been informed by her own lips. He was Mr. Physic, solicitor, agent for the Curgenven estate as well as for two or three other properties in the neighbourhood. VOL. XIX.-NO. 109, N.S. 1 |