New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-03-09
NUMBER

Se4ueStefel valley ana could not paas on with
out learning who you may be-
Flattery flies to the heat as swiftly as elec.
tricity along the wire The maiden blushed.
and drew off but slightly. "Florenee May"
said she, /" is known to the whole valley, and
will not be made sport Of nor molested, without
finding defenders. =
Was this affected fear, a cunning device for
telling her name without seeming to answer an
unauthorized questions
g Child 2 replied the stranger, who, perhaps
took this view of the matter, for he smiled,
though kindly, ss you may count on me as one
Of the defenders For the present, let me thank
you, and say farewell
with these words, and somewhat formal
DOW, he turned and went across the fields, leav-
ing Florence bewildered, almost breathIess, with
surprise and excitement, and. to confess the
truth, not little piqued that her ruse, if ruse
| 1t was, had brought the dialogue to so abrupt
termination. She had no wish to parley with
strangers. Her mother had expressly warned
her not to do 50. What a famous Opportunity
thrown away to exhibit the rigidness Of her
sense of duty Indeed, there had been so little
merit on<her part, that the stranger, if he had
rightly read her eountenance, might pretend
that the forbearanee had been all on his side
OF course, she would have gained the victory in
the end; but how much more dramatic if her
prudence had been put to severer test!
These were not exactly her thoughts, but the
| translation of them. She followed the retiring
| figure Of the stranger, as he kept by the path
along the willows, and slightly bit her lip.
Then suddenly, as if remembering that the sin.
gleness Of mind which her attitude expressed was
more beautiful than beeoming-what an odious
euphonism is that word for heartless acting
| she turned with something like Aout, and sat
| down again, with her face ayerted from the now
| distant stranger-averted only a moment; for
soon her attitude would have reminded a sculp-
| tor of that exquisite group.in which the girl
turns to bill the dove that has futtered down on
| her shoulder
Now, take 1t not as an article of faith that
Florence had &c fallen in love- as the saving is,
with that tall, handsome stranger, with the
black eyes and the sun painted conlplexion.
We would have you more careful in the con
| struction Of your credo than that But, at any
rate, an impression had been produced; this
was to be expected. When man falls into the
| water, he may not be drowned, but is sure te
| be wet Florence had never seen any members
Of that category Of ssloveble PERSONS which
is of SO little political and SO much social impor
| tance, except two or three six foot farmers and
the Rev Mr. Simmer, their pale-faced, sandy.
| whiskered young bachelor vicar of fifty. Should
we be astonished, then, that after her first agi-
tation had subsidized, there remained something
more than memory Of the compliment which had
|
| eyes Of that distinguished looking strangers
| Need it be said, moreover, that whilst she re-
/ manned by the margin of the stream, and during
hersauntering walk home, and all the evening
she thought of little else save this very simple
meeting. AS to her dreams, we shall not in
| quire into them; but the moonbeams tell u:
that they shone adj night between the ivy leaves
upon smile as sweet and self satisfied as ever
lived on the lips of a maiden on her wedding EVE
1 dnrr II,
| a foreign person had come to occupy one Of the
wings Of Melvyn House, by permission of tht
family, which had remained many years abroad
| His name was simply Angelo; and mighty fine
gentleman hewas- One could not guess to Iool
at him, that he had ever lived on frogs; or wa.
obligated to he1press hisself in barbarious
lingo" as the landlady of the Jolly Boys Inr
phrased it.
Florence was proud to say casually, to somt
old specialized lady-who observed g sindeed shl
never and told her neighbor that g Miss MaJ
seemed very forward that she had held
minutes conversation with this said painter
}, We take this as proof that she was only daz
zled by him; and that she had not really expe
rienced one pang of love. So much the better
, We must not hestoE the only treasures Of ou
hearts on the first interesting person we ma
f happen to meet under q willow.hedee
And yet there she is at her place again, think
y
of Eros there is he, too, wandering accident
ally IN the same direction with his sketch boo
under his arm. We had no business to b
caves dropping; but &C a concealed fault is hal
pardoned." We were invisible, and heard ever
word they said. 1t should all be set down here
but 1t was dreadful nonsense, at least what h
said; for she, partly in coquetry perhaps, an
partly in pride and prudence, intrenched hersel
). behind the rampant of her maiden modesty an
answered only--by listening
The young man was in a state Of temporar
insanity; at least, if one might believe Ii
words. Like all lovers, he professed to hay
skill in physiognomy. He asked no informatio
about Florence, did not care who she was G
where she came from: all he wanted to kno
was whether she was free He spoke eloquent
y and with Sufficient respect, The young gil
more than once felt her heart melt; and it wa
j great exertion for her at length to reply thn
her mother was away, and that she could nc
listen to another word without her knowledn
. and sanction
She did listen, however, for he went on talk
ing interminably. According to his account
he was an artist who had studied many year
at Rome; but he did not say whether he was {
, English origin OF net and, of course, Forenc
could not ask the question This would hay
been to avow stronger interest in him tha
consistent with her views. We should have like
her better, perhaps, had she been more fran
and artless. Yet, after all, her conduct We
/ not at this time an image of her character, BIT
arose from q struggle between her own simple
ty and her mothers warnings.
1t is needless to say that, after many hesita
tions, she now invariably went every day to he
accustomed seat. This might be interprete
into giving rendezvous; but she had a pre-
criptive right to the place, and why should 81
be driven from it by an intrusive, impertinel
/ stranger' Impertinent! Nay, not so; nothir
could be more reserved and respectful than Il
f demeanor and if he was really in earnest, al
if he turned out to be a respectable man. why.
, perhaps it would be q matter of duty in her n
to repulse his advances. Matrimony was indee
they had told her, an awful responsibility; b
, if, by undergoing it, she could raise her moth
to more comfortable position, would it not
her duty to make the saerifce
) Matters went on in this way for several day
. and Florence began to wait impatiently for Il
8 arrival of her mother, to whom she might rela
| all that had passed. Angelo accustomed, pc
haps, to mora easy conquests, was irritated |
4 her cold caution, not knowing that hers was Il
s hypocrisy of duty. He once even went so far
5 to say, that he blamed himself for wasting tin
l with calculating village coquette, and, risin
G departed with formal salute Florence
j, bosom heaved with emotion, tears started TO Ii
e eyes, her lips trembled, and she was on Il
1 point of periling all her prospects by callir
!, him back. But by o prodigious effort of vii
1 she restrained herself, and kept her eyes firm
3 fixed on the ground until the sound Of his ste-