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Chap. XIX.] The Story of a Clock. 263
of great value. That clock may now be seen at Castle Cary in Somersetshire, and may be considered as worth £100 at the least. I mention that sum because I have seen the clock, and been able to compare it with a clock presented a great many years ago to a local doctor by the old Duke of Devonshire and his brothers and sister for special services rendered to their mother. This last clock was in my keeping for some years at Northfield Grange, and when it was noticed on an occasion by a local jeweller, he offered me £100 for it. Of course, I could not sell it because it did not belong to me, but the price put upon it was an index to the value of the clock at Castle Cary, whose romantic history I have detailed.
Perhaps I may here mention a relic of the French Revolution which has been in my possession for 60 years and more. An old nurse who ended her days in 1856 in the Brodie family at The Gore, was in her early years a servant in the employ of a French General Trapaud, an emigre of the Terror period. Amongst his property brought from France was an oak box. That box, which cannot now be less than 116 years old, I have fitted up as a muniment chest, and it is now doing useful service ; and it promises to be as sound and seaworthy a century hence as it was a century ago. The name ' Trapaud,' written in ink, is still decipherable on the outside.
Links with the Past.
The following letter, dated from Normanhurst, Compton Street, East-Bourne, appeared in The Times of July 15, 1910 :—
" Sir,—A year or two ago there was some correspondence in your journal on the subject of "Links with the Past." You may possibly think it worth while to insert my case. My father was born in 1750, and I was born in 1819 (when he was 69). I attained my 9lst birthday on the 3rd of last month (June). That is to say, our joint lives have extended 160 years. My relations think this is unique, and I have been persuaded to let you know, as I am told that it, at any rate, is a record which beats anything that has yet been made public. I am, yours faithfully, LETITIA JANE FORDE."
This letter evoked others in competition, but none came near it. Some of them might be paraphrased thus : " My grandfather's great aunt's grandmother was a |
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