Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1851-04-04
Cbnirr litrraturr.


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From Graham's Magazine.
THE "HEAUrIFUL IcICLE."
A TALE or RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE.
BY L. VIRGINIA SMITH.
TcoNTNUED FROM OUR LAsT.1
CHAPTER vi.
Oh leave me not or know
Before thou gOest, the heart thai wronged thee
%,
But wrongs no more. BuLwER.
Months passed rapidly onward, and
Ora Cameron became the loved OF In
gleside. The pleasant city of c..
near which her aun. resided, afforded
that society so congenial to her taste
refined easy and intellectual and Mrs.
Linton's drawing-room seemed nucleus
where assembled all the brave and beau
tiful. the gifted and the good. II Glen
dora failed to find spirit calculated to
inspire the deep passion Of which her
nature was capable, and which it would
have proudly cherished as love iE its
true and sweetest form, she deemed that
it was deficiency of her own character,
she felt herself the object of affection
and esteem, aud gratitude, duty itself
forbade her TO complain.
She held no communication with 9TH
er relatives, and she knew nothing oi
St. Auburn, though his image haunted
her like restless and wretched memory.
The constantly recurring idea. for me
there is no such thing as love-" had grad
ually chilled her enthusiastic tempera-
ment, until her sparkling intellect and
apparent want Of heart obtained for her
In the society in which she moved the
sobriquet of the Beautiful Icicle. -
Thus she passed along her shining way.
and il was only at times, when the no.
bility Of Lyilleton Melbourne's nature
shone out in his conversation, or his
glance rested upon her with proud and
unmistakable expression, that her eye
grew soft with transient tenderness, and
her cheek frightened like white rose
in the dew and sunshine. Melbourne
was what is generally termed 6ne-look-
ing rather than a handsome man. His
commanding stature, easy and dignified
manner, high intellectual brow, from
which the dark hair rolled in a wavy
sweep, bis calm eye, intensely black
and speaking volumes in a glance, all
contributed to render his appearance
eminently striking-excepi, indeed. TO a
young Imagination which had so often
dwelt in silent, almost fearful admiration
upon the superb and Alpollo-hke beauty
Of Paul St. Auburn. His character wa.
asublime blending Of the unbending firm
ness Of man, with the earnest tender,
ness Of woman, generous, yet silent IL
its exhibition, ambitious, yet scrupulou:
as to the means employed in attaining
any desired end, of a depth, an eaten
sion, and an elevation of which ST. All
burn did but dream. With such a ma
tuTe he loved-not distractedly-bu
with that intense and glowing passion
which warns as we'll as illumines all tn
energies Of soul and being. He love,
'Ora Cameron till every impulse Of hi
great soul became entwined with that all
pervading feeling-he had often told hi
love, and yet he failed 10 win an ade
quate return. His love was like som
glorious star. ever beaming from tn
same high heaven; hers Gf love il couI
be called, which love was not) was bl
the wave that rolls beneath, sometime
holding the brilliant reflection, and gi,
ing back the shadow, and again tossin
onward iuto darkness. 1t was not thi
she was unable 10 appreciate the loft
beauty of his character, it was not thi
she doubted his devotion-it was becau:
tie natural calm Of his nature, was tw
much in accordance with the coldne
into which hers had been educated to
able 10 attach itself. Glendora's cha
;acter was glacier and the warmth
,lelbourne's love, if allowed TO rest u
,on il steadily, might in time be able
melt The frozen pinacle, but he had n
the power Of ST. AubuUn, whose streng
could 6Fst shiver the ice-mountain
atoms, then pouring over it the glory
his love, JOY to see its shining purity al
gorgeous beauty rapidly dissolve ava
ana mlRglein The shoreIess ocean Of !
own passionate alteration. MeIbourn
accurate critic of human character as
was mlsiook the nature Of the only W
man he eVet loved. She could not
won by the sickly vanity of beiieyi
herself the idol of a man. She h
been too olten loved, she knew men /
well Tor that; hut had he made her +,
the power 81 his great seul-6ra giyi
up himself, and in that gift fading /
right to her devotion, he would ha
, comPsLIed her 70 love, To be won, Gl,
dora Cameron must be wooed, Ut
abandonment 10 bis passion Melboul