Litchfield enquirer., 1857-07-02
Now, had good Lieutenant Hjalmar pursued

| hto AShCttlOAS lCT uSt IuliutpS lHStSdu vi Oiie
be might possibly have acted less precipitately
than he did but Just at that instant Annette,
starting away from the thought, or the word
that brought blush to her check, looked ur
to meet the very eyes whose expression dwelt
continually in her mind, regarding her just as
II asking if such indeed wer. the current O.
her thoughts. Hjaln,ar advanced, making cue.
two, three profound bows He could not en-
ter the room where she sat but her extreme
confusion, her deep bushes, as she came trem-
bling forward to meet him, her sudden, invol-
untar7 exclamation, showed that he himself
had been the subject Of those communngs
with hr own good heart which he imagined
: made her look so full Of sensibility and lowell
ness this pushed the leutenant's resolution to
the point and forgetting the caution, the re-
serve he ueant to practice, he seized her hand,
exciaimina: Annette, dear Annette, let me
speak to ysu l have longed anxiously !onged
to do So Tears dropped from Annette's
downcasr eyes, and fell down her burning
checks =; it was well they did so, or surprise
and emotion would have overcome her. HAL
mar asked herte be his wife and--she con-
sented. This was the way in which she under
stood his eager request to be allowed to speak
A falterIng Yes was pronounced in answer
to that request and she could have wept many
tears upon his breast, for her doubts, her fears
were over
But Hjalmar's mind had stopped far short
| OF Annette's conclusion He was anxious to
speak with her, for he mad long desired to
give her brief history Of himself: but he
had intended to do so more cautiously, and in
a manner that should ascertain what her own
| mind was on subject Of doubt and anxiety to
him. He had only led her into the outer room
when the door of the great saloms opened, and
Mrs. Accountant Miller, who had been hurry
ing out to receive him, entered it with a troop
Of visitors, who had just encountered her. By
the barbarized word salomg, for the French
word salon, is meant the large and more pub
lie room of Swedish dwelling, round which
the other apartments usually congregate tbs
the room of first entrance, and generally con.
mands view Of some others, so that privacy
in such a<home is nearly unattaiGable The
young couple sat on thorns for the space Of
nearly half an hour; but the visitors seemed,
not at all conscious that they had given them
the thorns to sit On. Their stay was the more
provoking, because the lieut. enant had to an
nounce that some military duty called him out
of town that afternoon, and he should be alb
sent for week or ten days. He looked at
Annette when saying this, as if he would i'm
ply that his half-told tale must remain in that
unsatisfactory state until his return and then
he rose to make a great many bows and re-
tire.
Annette's checks were very red but when
her blue eyes glanced for one instant at his,
they grew blazer aud darker than before for
u whole stream Of love and hope aud happiness
poured over her heart, and those pretty eyes
were suffused by emotions that deepencd their
color.
And Lieutenant HJalmar went on his way.
strong i'll hope and deeply in love. He loved
Annette truly and passlonately but be loved
her as a man ought to love; he would not, if
he could, make her his wife, unless he knew he
could make her happy in all respects even by
means Of his circumstances and position in life {;
neither would he make her his wife, unless he
was persuaded she possessed the qualities cal
culated to render him permanently happy. He
had had doubts in each of these cases. The
truth is, that Lieutenant Hjalmar, elegant,
polished, fascinating, as Anuette considered
hm--as indeed others as we'll as Annette
might consider him--was himself PEASANTS
son. 1t is true his father was no longer Door,
and had already been twice elected to serve as
member in the Peasants House of the Swe-
dish Parliament thus he bore the highly hon
orable title of Rix-man, or Paramept-man,
conferred on all such members for the term of
their natural lives, and by which they are al
ways addressed. But though this was tie
case, he lived just as peasants do: he worked
for his daily bread and his good wife did so
likewise. They were worthy couple, and
brought up their son well spared no cost to
advance him in life, and now were reaping the
reward of their parental care and love, in the
honest pride they felt in seeing him. Lieu
tenant HjaImar loved and honored his parents :;
it was still his greatest happiness to visit them
in their humble but comfortable home, and to
roam with his good father through the fields,
where he had often worked at his side when a
child Hjalmars wife must love and honor
these good parents, even as he himself did !;
without this, she could not make him happy !;
and this was the doubt he felt when he gazed
on pretty Annette, and fels his love for her
growing stronger and stronger the longer he
Knew her, and the more frequently he was in
her society. People chose generally to say,
that the adopted daughter of Accountant Mil
Ter was the child of noble parents there was
some mystery about her birth, and they solved
it thus. Annette, at times, was changeable.
On some occasions, warm sensibilities simpli-
| city, and generous feeling, would raise his love
almost to its climax at others, an air Of
haughtiness, contempt for lowly life, an ex-
IRENE tenacity in the observance of all the
usages of what is termed good society, would
cause it to sink to a lower point than it had
been at before. Then he went to see her,
thinking it should be bis last visit that it
should determine him in his belief that Made
moiselle Annette was quite unsuitable to bis
peasant parents, aud, consequently, not suited
to himself but he came away rather more in
love than ever. He had long wished to speak
to her of his own life, his circumstances, his
parents, and resolved to do so without declar-