Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-10-21

buCu Eulbli odiu- VI
How soon will Mr.. and Mrs. Blake ex- I'll
pect meY in
They are now here. / have just met them
at one Of my friends, who had been speaking p
to them about you. They told me that they Il
intended to sail for America in about two fl
weeks, and that, if you were ready by that O
time, they would like you to accompany n
them
Very well,' said Edith you can tell b
them that l shall be ready to go with them
They are charming people, said her aunt, c
caressingly am sure, my dear, you will e
like them very much, and be very happy /
with them. Of course, l would not wish my
brothers child to go where she would not '
be with those who are likely to take some
interest in her.
Edith could not help perceiving that her
aunt was relieved by the prospect of her de-
parture and this thought, while it strength
ened her in her resolve, made her feel her
isolation still more deeply.
On board the same steamer with Mr.. and
Mrs. Blake and Edith was a little girl, an in
valid, who interested the young English girl
extremely. Edith had brought her bird with
her. 1t was the only thing that she had to
mind her of happier days, and she could not
bear to part with it. At little Ellen's earnest
request, she hung the cage in her-state-room
and, before the end Of the voyage, the little
sick girl lad become so attached to the pret't
ty bird, whose sweet song was almost the
only cheering sound she heard during the
long and weary days at sea, that she could
not speak of parting with 1T without showing
by her fearful eyes the pain it gave her,
Edith felt that she ought not to deprive the
little sufferer of SO great a pleasure, and, con-
cealing her reluctance to give up a souvenir
she had cherished so long, she told little Ell
len that the bird was to be hers. The chlId's
evident delight was some compensation to
Edith for her self-denial, yet it was with a
sharp pang that she watched the cage rs it
was put in the carriage, after the arrival of
the steamer at New York, to be conveyed to
the upper part Of the city, while Edith, with
her new friends went on board another steam
er about to sail for Charleston.
Mr.. Blake's residence was among the pine
forests of the State a region healthfnl, 1T
is true, but peculiarly d~esolate, especially to
one accustomed to the soft verdure and smi-
ling landscape of England. The tall dark
trees, increasingly signing forth their low
and mournful murmurs, seemed to Edith a
ft emblem of the griefs that were heneefor-
ward to darken her life.
There was but little in her new home to
call her thoughts from the sad recollections
to which they were constantly recurring
Mr.. Blake and his wife were very kind to
her, treating her rather as a guest than one
to whose services they were entitled; but
they lived in a part of the country very thin
ly settled, their nearest neighbor being at {
distance of seven or eight miles, and there
was a wearying monotony in Edith's dali
life that weighed upon her spirits. GRATITUDE
for the unvarying and thoughtful kindnes
shown to her by Mrs. Blake induced Edit
10 roo1o ouaru azant,op 10 raroip bor. n
! toned cheerfulness, and she had, in som
T measure, succeeded, when the Christina
: holidays came to remind her, by the contras
between her own position and that Of th
persons by WHOM she was surrounded, MOI
= painfully Of her isolation. The little famil
J. gatherings, from which she could hardly al
0 sent herself without appearing unmindful
= Mrs. Blake's gentle yet urgent requests, an
" yet where she felt herself among them, b.
n not of them, recalled to her so torcibly tt
c. former seasons, when her happiness an
n pleasure were to oil around her the one thin
l. of the greatest Importance, that, for the fir
time since her departure from Englan
le Edith yielded to her feelings of LONELINESS
q and every night wet her pillow with b
)r tears. The reply Of the Shunamite womG
20 to the prophets inquiry about her wants,
3 dwell among mine own people, came with
4 hS" oiAN ONNnAhS nAHAAuOohSN w W Hill
Il now that she began to feel that never aga
n would she feel the sweet security and pr
81 lection implied in such a position.
q On New Years eve, Edith slipped awi
81 from the merry group assembled in N
re Blake's parlors to indulge her sad medit
VI tons for a little while without interruptio
II As she stood on the porch listening to t
~ mournful music of the pines, whose 4aron
IN tic incense filled the air with its healthf
a. fragrance, and watching the moon as it slo
% ly waded through the clouded sky, now s
=, ming out in full brillianey, and then almc
II, entirely darkened as it passed behind t
no thick masses of vapor that were hanging
VI the vast c~oncave, she thought that just sc
IT, sudden alterations Of darkness and light h
'se been her lot In this life.
n The clouds hang heavily over me no
as thought she but there will be brightn
NJ soon.'
Almost at the same moment there ca
the sound of an approaching arrival, 9
Edith hastily retreated 10 the house.
10 had hardly time to mingle with the gay ia
tu- ly party, when, hearing her name called,
turned suddenly, while q thrill of ANA
pom delight passed over her at the familiar tc
10 and saw before her Mr.. Hildreth, wi
ing smile shed a light and warmth upon
heart to which it had long been a stran,
axe The clouds were at once lifted off from
ome soul, and she was once more the light-hea
put girl she had been in her English home.
lght the midst of her happiness there was a
re- ing Of insecurity, a doubt as to it's cont
ance. But that Edith would not allow
city, self to dwell upon. 1t was happiness enc
rays for the present to think that one whom
was so highly esteemed still cared enough for
{ at to seek her out in her secluded home.
to But before the last hours of the old
wo- had passed away, walking in the Sc
Ting moonlight under those pine-trees to W
was mournful murmur-her tbeuehts had hee,
tally long attuned, Edith listened with a bea
; IL heart to the avowal of the same feel
&c which Mr.. Hildreth had confessed to
father more than q year before. What
jom. become of all the sadness that had bro
un- over Edith's heart so many months? II
gone like the clouds from the sky. blu,
ltiul to return, like them, in a few Short hou
DIS How did you find me out p asked E
can after many more important questions
been asked and answered.
'Ah, a little bird told mo where l 81
1raw find the runaway
< the A bird p said Edith, wonderingly.
'eiVes Perhaps it was the cage rather tina
bird replied Mr.. Hildreth. 4 had be,
some two or three months in search OF
MRS. or rather your aunt, with whom | was
you were staying. But she seemed to b
nton sessed by some perverse and wandering
state it; for, when | went to London to 6nd
she had Just left with her family ON
s. she through Germany; and, when l followe
'hlsed there, l learned she had gone into Its