Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1857-10-01
never saw any trace of such thing in him

Peciaiiy uiscompose MIN. am sorry for that
because, if he begins with strong dislike t.
me, he probably won't get ever it."
My dear he does not dislike you"
:" How do do you know ?"
He almost said so, Anne He came t.
me after dinner, and said that it must be such
a comfort to me to have some one with us now
that l could lean upon, and when l looked as
if did not quite understand him, for indeed
did not, he said quickly, 81 mean Anne can't
you lean on her ? don't you like her ?"
And you said-what, Carry?"
" said you were the youngest, and it SEEM
ed strange to talk of leaning on you"
rose up from the fire over which we had
been sitting, and laughed.
Mr. Haam has seen in one night
what you have not guessed in all your life,
Carry !"
1t certainly did appear that Mr.. Hallam was
deeply impressed with the belief of my capa-
bilities as support, for we had not been ac-
quainted for couple of days before / per-
ceived that he intended to use me not only to
prop up Caroline, but himself A locker on
might have wondered how they had ever got
on before [ came, so constant now were the
appeals to me, so eager the question "what
Anne thought 2" "what Anne advised ?"-
questions, however that they were rarely asked
frankly or cheerfully, as though my opinion
was cared for because | myself was liked, but
| always strange as it seemed, it was CERTAIN
! ly so-as if in kind of continued incompre-
hensible fear of me.
| In many respects he was strange man, and
as time went on | was by no means hearth
| ly satisfied that he should marry my sister,
he was subject, / soon found, to fits of gloom
and low spirits which had, even already,
most depressing effect upon her; The more
that, fond of him as she was, she was too
timid creature ever at these times to be able
to summon courage enough to attempt to
rouse him. If she was timid, however, | was
not and when / could not persuade her to
interfere with him, at length took that work
upon myself
One day, when he was sitting moody over
the fire, | came into the room bonneted and
cloaked
Frederick" I said, "get up and come out
with me. Look how brightly the sun has
broken over the snow"
He looked up, not upon the sunshine but on
me. | had expected direct refusal to nv
request instead of that, with nervous haste
| he rose in two minutes / had him in the
open air, trampling the frosty ground beside
me. There he paced, for two long hours,
gloomy as night, yet obedient to every word |
spoke Where | went he followed me what
bade him do, he did. brought him home
as the sun was setting, and | went up stairs
and shut myself in my own room, with a
strange chill feeling of dismay What was |
that this man should so obey me ?-doing my
slightest bidding with this aspect of spiritless
fear?
After this day made one strong effort to
prevent my sisters marriage. / spoke both
to my father and to her. Her made intense
ly miserable by what | said and my father |
inspired with enough anxiety and alarm to in
duce him to speak forthwith to Mr. Hallam
| was present at the interview between
| them and l shall not quickly forget the ghast-
| y look of pain that came to Mr. Hallam's
| face as my father told him our fears of trust
ing Caroline to his keeping. He was stand
ing up by the fire, and, grasped the mantel-
| shelf with one hand, with clutch that brought
| the blood to every vein he listened When
my father ceased to speak, he could only pit
eously cry
You gave me your promise J"
"I did, my father said "but gave it in
| ignorance of what | have since seen, and in
ignorance of what have heard Others"
From what others 2" he demanded fierce
ly.
came forward and said, From me-"
From you Anne ~
He looked up wildly in my face; then sud-
denly his head dropped, he laid it down upon
the mantelshelf, and burst into tears
Inexpressibly shocked, | came beside him.
Frederick, for Gods sake, be calm p
Broken with sobs his voice rose up.
Anne, have mercy on me Do not take
her from me She is all have in the wide
world !"
The tears were coming to my eyes. My
father silently took me and put me from the
room. He was a soft-hearted man and he
could not stand the sight of Mr.. Hallams
misery but he had sense of his own digni-
ty also, and in consideration of it, [ suppose,
he turned me out before he yielded
avoided Caroline and went to my own room
|. Half an hour afterwards | was summoned
thence to my fathers study. He addressed
me as | entered at once.
"Anne he has behaved very well. He has
promised to use every effort in his power
Things will go on better now, have no
doubt"
"Then he is to have Caroline ?"
"I cannot break their hearts, Anne They
may have something to bear together, but they
would have more to bear apart"
| saw Mr.. Hallam no more that day. Our
next meeting was On the following afternoon.
l met him then by chance for a few moments
alone.
What his feelings towards me might be |
could not tell, but went up to him as usual
and extended my hand. At once he took and
grasped it in both of his
II want to see you," he said eagerly
Anne," he cried, "do not take part against
US For Gods sake, be yOu our friend p