PLUMBER’S DAUGHTER BECOMES PEERESS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 188, 29 October 1927, Page 24 (Supplement)

PLUMBER’S DAUGHTER BECOMES PEERESS

The Romantic Story of an Elderly Lord 5 ! Marriage to His Charming Horse* * Bridegroom 5 ! Associations With Mew Zealand

SHE people of Byrn, Kinalt, Chirk, Denbigh, Wales, loved and respected Lord Trevor, the ruddy old peer who lived in the castle that

was once the favourite visiting place of the Duke of Wellington, who fought and beat Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo.

Trevor was generous, a sportsman, indly and hospitable to a degree, and reatly interested in the people of the section. They conceded to the 63-year-old nobleman every virtue except one.

He was a bit stubborn on a certain matter. He was a bachelor. There is a legend that when he was a strapping youngster he became en-

Lord Trevor gaged to a beauty in Ireland, and that his love affair with her was a mad, headlong affair of the sort which brings either great happiness or disaster. Nobody ever knew why, not even the most intimate friends of Trevor, but the match was broken and the dark-eyed Rosaleen never came to live in the big old castle at Byrn Kinalt. The good mothers of pretty girls in the neighbourhood were outwardly sorry that the young lord’s first romance had turned out so; but secretly they rejoiced, for why should he go out of Wales to get his bride when there were so many lovely girls within a stone’s throw of the castle? But Trevor, while not wasting away as the result of his disappointment, began to exhibit unmistakable signs of a resolute bachelorhood.

Up to the time he was 40, the people of Chirk rather approved the bachelorhood of Trevor. But after he had passed two-score, they began to wonder. By the time he was 50 most of them had given up hope. By the time he was 60, he was accepted as an incurable bachelor. At 63 nobody dreamed he would ever take unto him-

self a wife. Least of all did Lord ] Trevor himself suspect that such a thing could be possible. The feminine influence was not missing altogether from the castle. Over the bachelor quarters of Lord Trevor presided his sister, the Honourable Leila Hill-Trevor. Long ago she had given up all ideas of seeing her brother marry. “Why should i, dear Leila,” he would ask, “with such a lovely woman as you around to keep the old place in shape?” Then one day Miss Leila became seriously ill, and from the Duchess Nursing Home came Miss Phyllis Sims, an attractive brunette of 23, to nurse her back to health. The young girl made a deep impression on her patient—not only because of her efficiency as a nurse, but because of her native charm, wit and manners. She found that Phyllis was the daughter of a plumber in Kriton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire. The plumber's daughter and the nobleman’s sister became warmly attached to each other. And then, by a curious coincidence, just as Miss Leila had been completely nursed back to health, Lord Trevor fell ill. It was the first time in his life that he had ever been sick. The doctor who called to see him could detect no alarming organic symptoms. Frankly, he failed to diagnose the earl’s ailment. He prescribed rest and quiet. At the request of Lord Trevor, Miss Sims remained at the castle to nurse him. To her parents in Kriton-in-Lindsey, the young nurse wrote: “Nursing Lord Trevor is the most pleasant of tasks. He was delighted to find that I could play chess, and for hours we sit over the chessboard—he is able to sit up, of course —and play. I do not play as well as he does, but I win frequently. He is being gallant about it. “When we are not at chess, I read to him. He is particularly fond of the novels of Sir Walter Scott, and as those are my favourites also, I enjoy this phase of my work very much. It is odd that we should care so much for the same things. “His sister —she is so sweet to me

that I sometimes think she is my sister or mother-—has fully recovered her health. She does not seem to worry about her brother, although the doctor has been unable to find a name for his complaint. From the daily chart there seems to be nothing wrong, yet Lord Trevor says he believes his heart is affected. Cardiac cases are very delicate to handle, so I am doing everything I can to humour him, but that is not hard at all, for he is the most pleasant and generous of patients.” Lord Trevor, who, by the way, was once in New Zealand on the staff of the Earl of Ranfurly, lingered mysteriously ill for a long time, and for weeks Miss Sims continued to nurse him. One day the patient discovered for himself what was wrong. “I know what’s the matter,” he said to his charming nurse. “It’s you, my dear. I’m sure that if you could be induced to marry me I’d recover in no time at all. Do you think you could possibly learn to care for me?” “I’m awfully fond of you,” admitted Miss Sims. “Then will you marry me?” “I should like to consult my parents first.” “By all means.” Back home went the young daughter of the plumber and told her mother all about the proposal of Lord Trevor. Mrs. Sims received with equanimity the offer of marriage of the peer. “You’re silly to have come to tell me,” she said. “You’ve reached the age where you’re old enough to figure things for yourself. I’ve heard nothing but the best about Lord Trevor. If you love him, marry him, and be happy. If you don’t love him, don’t let his position or his wealth influence you in your decision. That’s all the advice I can give you, my dear.”

Miss Sims returned to the castle, accepted the offer of marriage, and in due course became Lady Trevor of Byrn Kinalt.