Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1856-05-17

own drawlng-room receiving her guests at the
hour Of making calls, or in the evening among
the gay, most splendidly aiiired, sweeping
through the crowd with all the majesty OF a
queen, you would have said she was a cold.
naughty beauty, the creature of fashion and So
cieiy, the aoiomaion Of the stiffest rules Of So
cial life. But had you seen her by the fire Of
the library in the old place, when Philip Wins
low sat by her side and her farther dozed in
the large chair, with his claret bottle close to
his hand, you would have called her the i'm
personaiion Of mirth and loyeliness, OF ease
and gentle beauty.
Bot she dismissed Philip Winslow. And
whyi
She said !; was because she did not love
him
There was dinner party at the old place,
known to the county, from the grove in which
the house stood, as "The Pines" The
Colonel's dinner invitations we're by no means
to be declined. lie did, il is true, invite a
large majority Of bachelors, and there was dan
ger Of a serious headache the next morning 10
any one who did not follow Mary from the din
ing room but the Colonel's cuisine was per-
feet, and his cellar had warm spots TO ripen the
Lahite. and cool spots TO make The Chambertin
delicious and withal there was also wit, inlelIi-
genee, and humor at his table and above all,
there was beauty at its head, that men nigh,
60 across oceans but once to look at, and be
satisfied
After one Of these dinner parties, when Ma
ry had leh very early, and the gentlemen were
at the table still, Philip wnslow followed her
up the staircase, and when she was 10 the draw
ing room, aud before she had rung for lights,
he was at her side, and led her TO a window.
in the deep sea, Of which he placed her and
took his seat at her side.
MARY, wished to see you tonight before
that crowd Of fools come up
"fou are complimentary to our guests"
81 haven't lime to talk Of that. am going
away Tomorrow, or the next day. to be gone
one, two or three years. know not how long.
can not 80 wiihoui--withoat--wit without"
without what, Philipl"
I'VE have been friends very long, Mary"
"Many years.
"Can We ever be more than friends Z"
She looked into his face. II was very dark
but his eyes were fixed on hers. She knew
that. He was close to her She felt his head
bend down TO hers. His cheek touched her
cheek. He had touched it thousand times
before just so, but she never before trembled as
she did now. She was silent; his arm stole
slowly around her. and yet she was silent he
drew her 10 his side, he kissed her forehead
her check, her lips, bu, she did not kiss him
or notice il al all.
Sha trae .ksuLt,. r
pouring through her soul. ], might have been
one, two, three minutes. or not so many sec
onds, while they sat thus, and then a servants
step on the stairs aroused them, and SO they
separated
Neiiner was satisfied lie knew her too
well 10 suppose she was conscious Of his car
resses, and she, though she remembered them,
was unable 10 satisfy herself, that she loved
him, or should longer permit them.
He did not go the next day. They rode to-
gcther as usual, and he renewed the conyersa-
tion. She was prepared for il.
In vain did he argue, and beseech and i'm
plore. Her mind was fixed, she did no, Low.
him except as the dear friend Of many years
She would be kind TO him, woald love him Just
so always, but he must not ask for anything
more.
That evening he wrote to her long letter,
full Of all his love, and ended all with saving
that he could not be her friend; he must be her
husband, or never see her again on this earth
There was. no future for him, aud he left her TO
pronounce the decree of their enternal sepera-
ton
And il came in the letter from which have
given the extract
He was the son Of village clergyman-a
poor man. but one Of the excellent ofihe earth,
and the last friend Of Colonel Pierson from
YOUTH Some said they were natives of the
same village on Long Island, and they certain
ly had been boys together at school, Philip
had no prospects but in his intellect, and no
future except such as he was to carve out for
himself.
The Colonel had never viewed his intimacy
with Mary with any dislike, and it would have
been the pleasantest day Of his life. that on
which he should give his daughter to the son
of bis friend.
Bui--be II said without reproaehing her, and
let no one form an evil opinion Of her for it,
there was in the heart of Mary Pierson great
ambition, which she had never confessed 10 her
self, and none else ever dreamed Of. In her ST.
len, hours Of thought she was given to building
castles in the air, such as few haidens build.
1t was not of beauty and It's power, of the
homage it could command, that she dreamed.
II was not Of wealth and maenfcence, nor Of
any Of the ordinary limits Of female desire.
But she looked to the power Of queen. She
was not content with The life Of loving wo-
man, reigning in one heart and one circle, nor
yet with the realm Of beauty aud wealth, which
were all her own. But scarcely, unknown ey-
en- to herself, she was filling her brain with pic
lures Of the most unsubstantial sort, and vast
ing the present and its joys 10 fancies about
what could never be realized.
! do not wish to be understood as saying that
she indulged herself in any fixed plans or tho's
Of such future. wish distinctly to explain
that all these thoughts were but unbidden fan
cies, which had their day and vanished, to be I
succeeded by others as wild and unreal, and
that she Let than coma Her error was in nof