Southern standard. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1851-1856, 1853-01-08
The Coauette,s Punishment,

The COquettc'S Punishment.
A TALE OF LOVE, JILTING, SUICIDE AND RETRmUr1oN.
Every person has his particular way Of telling a
story. | have mine; and with this short preface
| at once commence my simple-but, unfortunate
~, too true-narratYe. | must, however, OBJ
serve that | have purposely altered names, with a
view to avoid affecting family with whom | was
once-as will hereafter be seen-upon terms of in
innate friendship
My tale commences in the year 1895. The he
rome is Isabel Athelstan, beauty and an heiress
1.-THE close intimacy which subssted between our
families first led to our friendship and though she
was several years my senior, we were almost in
separable. have since thought -perhaps have
wronged her-that Isabel made m her chosen
companion less for my good qualities than for my
defects. L certainly must have been an admirable
foil to her, for nothing could be in greater contrast
than my dumpy figure, my deep red cheeks, and
my gray eyes, with her stately form, her pale rich
cream like tinted complexion her perfect REGULAR
ty of feature, and her raven black eyes and hair.
Nor the disparity in our dispositions less strik
ing. Educated in retirement, | was merely d
supplemented, afeetonate girl with the spirit OF
child softened down into the mirth of uninter-
rupted cheerfulness, and actuated by impulse rath-
er than reflection or calculation. But Isabel was
as calm and cold as some exquisite piece of sculp-
AOdIC1J SAClCCu CiIuGI W ptdSuIc Vi pam,
her brow was always placid a summer lake;
and the bland smile which safe on her beautiful lip
was as unchanging as if carved in stone.
ISabels exterior afforded the best Of all con-
ceaments for her real character. She seemed
rather to await than seek admiration; and it was
scarcely possible to believe that the cold and pas
sloness beauty in heart consummate CO.
quette. Even as the dark tide flows on unceasing-
ly, though the icy fetter of winter has sted It's
surface SO beneath her calm Indifference was hid
den restless and Unsuitable desire for admiration.
But the adulation and homage which young beau
ty can always command in society were not enough
Tor Isabel. Her vanity was not to be satisfied by
any ordinary sacrifice. She required her admirers
to become lovers, and an offer of marriage could
alone be received as sufficient evidence of her
power.
AT the time l first entered society she had al
ready rejected many suitors, and it was one of heI
favorlte pastimes to gather few of her young
friends around her, while she carelessly tossed
over for our inspection copies of verses, billet douX
letters, and other testimonials to the power of her
beauty.
If there be anything which ought to expose a
woman to lasting contempt it is such an unpaf7
donable breach of confidence as that in which
Isabel INDUCED.
IsabePs tact in playing her victim was un-
O4ud4Cu. W lliS SIG never u6pdTGGO 1TOH lGI
quiet MANNER she vet managed to adapt herself
SO we'll to the peculiar character of her admirers,
that each believed her to be studying his tastes
and moulding to his standard of perfection Then
she was matchless maneuverer in the arrange
ment of time and place for securing her prize
In the gay party and amid the excitements Of
mirth, the snare was laid for the frivolous-the
moonlight walk and the destinations of sentiments
were lures for the enthusiastic--the quiet house
hold circle, and the rational pleasures of home
were traps for her more practical admirers.
Isabel had reached her twenty fourth year
without having formed any attachment likely tc
end soberly and nationally in. marriage, when she
became engaged in a filtration which proved more
serious in the end than she had designed. Some
body, | have forgotten who introduced to our ac
quaintance young man who bore the name o.
Ernest Leclerc, and was said to be the son of
rich West Indian. His delicate health, which
had been seriously injured by grief for the recent
! loss of his mother, had induced his father, who
doated on him with love almost approaching t.
idolatry, to send him to London in the hope tina
change of scene, and the bracing air of northern
cline might restore him. This was all we knew
of him, and as he brought letters from well known
mercantile house in Jamaica, and appeared to have
an almost unlimited command of money, we haC
no reason to doubt the truth of the statement
age; small, slender, and pale, with nothing to at
tract attention IN his personal appearance, excep
a pair of dark luminous eyes, which seemed Il
CLEAN with almost supernatural brightness from
beneath his overhanging brows. His characte
seemed as feeble his physical nature. Pos
sessed of highly poetic temperament, and NOR
! bid sensbity, which led him to pour fourth hi
exaggerated feelings in verse, he was yet utter
deficient in the higher attributes of genius, whic
alone couldsgive him rank among the gifted son
of song. But bred up in strict retirement beheat
) the eye of fond mother, his studies directed b
one of the most unworldly scholiasts that eve
wore priests cowl, and his selfesteem exagge
rated by the love OF his father, he had learned
consider himself a poet Of no order Hi
t sensibiIity to his personal defects and his be
lief in his own unappreciated superiority, gave
e degree of awkwardness IN his demeanor which Of
: ten exposed him to the ridicule of his associates
: Bnt unprepossessing were his manners an
IS appearance, he was not too insignificant for Iss
v bel's rapacious desire of conquest. Her superic
e knowledge of the world gave her a decided &C
e vantage over the Impractical boy, and she did NJ
of fail to avail herself of it. We were in the hab
!, at that time of passing part of every summer
: Brighton; and when we left town Ernest Lecle
was so far infatuated with his beautiful mistress
IT to follow US and take lodgings in cur immedia
, neighborhood. Here Isabel had full leisure
u rivet her chains upon her romantic admirer.
q guielessness of character rendered her task
easy one and she found but little difficulty in adaI
n ing herself to his tastes and habits She becaI
st an earnest admirer of poetry, passionate Low
y of the pursuits of literature deplored her WASH
ir time, and lamented her want Of talent; and /
all this with an inimtabe grace which could pot f