The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1857-10-17

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Ina few weeks more he had obtained Ma
tlda's promise to be his wife, and had, at th,
same time, impressed upon her the necessity
OF keeping the, whole affair q profound So
cret from Friend Dale and his wife. II
this, Matilda readily consented, a., all hel
1preeonceive ed ideas Of guardians were tha
they were . GLASS Of people whose onl,
pleasure lay in thwarting the wishes Of theil
wards, especially in the matrimonial way
and she anticipated no difficulty in this, as
Mr.. Dale was too much absorbed in his blu.
slness to pay much attention to her; and hil
wife's attention Was almost entirely engross.
cd BY her ailments, which developed every.
day something new and singular. Mrs. Dale
had been watching and pondering over hel
own i'll health for ten years, and had moi
yet been able to- determine satisfactorily
what her disease was, or where it made its
stronghold. In her perplexity, she had
tried eight different physicians, who each
gave her complaint different name; and
some were truly frightful, SO that the poor
lady would, keep her bed for weeks after
finding out how i'll she was; and it would
take all her husbands generalship to per-
suade her that she was able to sit up. OF
course, Mrs. Dale could do little for Matil-
I da. All that she attempted was to urge her
to keep her feet well protected from the
damp pavemeats, and be sure and wear a
| veil. H. 80 ,.....ss
There was one inmate Of the family of
whom the young girl stood in little dread
George Dale, nephew of Mr.. Dale, and
| boy of about thirteen. He was very Gu
rious and inquisitiye, and Matilda said,
had NO soul. He called her ssMiss Fancy, .
and teazed her until her patience was quite
exhausted. Lately, he had met her several
times when she was taking longer walk
than usual with Mr.. Fleming, discussing
ways and means. Matilda had one fixed
| idea connected with an elopement; and that
was a rOpe-ladder from q chamber window,
u carriage underneath, and moonlight
night. sgsreB agss m
Mr.. Fleming tried to convince her that
| this combination, in these days of police
men, would be sufficient to arouse the whole
neighborhood. But his eloquence was vast
ed. Matilda would seem to yield to his
reasoning every day; but the next morning
would find her firmly planted on the rope
ladder again. She rejected with scorn Mr..
Fleming's proposal to walk to some clergy
mans house, and induce him to marry them.
1t was too much like a servant-girl she said.
Fortunately for Matilda, this discussion
occupied several days. Meantime, George
had used his eyes and his wits to some pur-
pose. One day, after Mr.. and Mrs. Dale
and Matilda had seated themselves at the
| dinner-table, singular noise was heard in
| the hall; and George came in, dragging af-
| ter him an enormously long rope-ladder.
"Now, Matty! what ON earth do you want
| with this contrivance? l saw the man
smuggling it into your room; and thought
would bring it down for you to see if he
had made it according to orders. You at
the window, and MIR. Fleming on the pave
ment, with this for passage-way, is to be
the order Of the day, is it? 1t reminds me
| of some ones description of fshing-rod--
a worm at one end, and fool at the other,
only should put knave for fool" -,
.''Thee should not use such language,
George" said Mr.. Dale. 'sWhat does thee
mean by what thee was saying about Mr..
Fleming? And, Matilda, for what purpose
did thee have that made?'' ee .g.z.
Matilda burst into tears, and ran from
the room without replying; but George en-
lightened his uncle as far as he could. He
knew that Matilda walked every day with
MIR. Fleming; and the rope-l ladder told the
rest. Without Mr.. Jennings knowledge,
Matilda had obtained it by the help of
servant! That very night, she intended to
make use of it, if . favorable opportunity
presented. Anna was to spend the evening
with her, and help her arrange her plans,
and carry the intelligence Of them to her
brother, who was growing little impatient
at Matilda's delay. :.
Now all her hopes were blighted, at least
for time. She remained in her room
weeping, while her guardian spent busy
afternoon in investigating into the doings
of his ward. He questioned the servants,
who generally know all that is to be known
of any matter of that kind, and went to find
MIR. Fleming He expostulated with him
on inducing so young girl to take such a
step without the knowledge Of her protec-
tors. Mr.. Fleming appeared to be quite
affected by Mr.. Dale's arguments; and al
though the latter was shrewd man of bu-
siness, he allowed himself to be entirely
thrown off his guard by the apparent man.
illness and frankness with which Mr.. Flem-
ing avowed his own consciousness Of his
error, and promised that, although he would
not be willing to consider the engagement
between himself and Miss Murray as at an
end, still he would wait some years before
attempting to carry the matter further.
"The young man behaved himself with
great propriety," said Mr.. Dale to his ward.
elf thee does as we'll, shall be quite sat
isied.o sas. m.''s.as.
''lt is as well, though, not to trust too
much to the young people," said he to his
wife. And, therefore, he kept Matilda at
home, employing private teachers for her,
to her great vexation and annoyance, and
entirely discountenanced any intimacy or
intercourse with Anna Fleming. But Ma
tilda's fancy had become too deeply inter-
ested for these moderate measures to prove
effectual. Mr.. Fleming still continued to
write to her. The washer woman was Gu
pid's messenger in this case; and another
attempt at an elopement was agreed upon.
Mr.. Fleming had arranged plan that he
thought would succeed without fail; when
Matilda's absurd desires and obstinacy in
carrying them out made him almost repent
having wasted so much time on such sim
pleton. If she could not have rope-lad-
der, she would have bridal wardrobe; and
Mr.. Fleming was forced to wait several
weeks, while she was collecting the various
articles she thought necessary. Her sup
ply of pocket-money was ample to meet all
her extravagant wishes. Her dress maker
wondered what Miss Murray could want
with the magnificent dresses she was having
made, and at last surmised somewhat of the
truth. But no one else seemed to suspect
anything. Once or twice, Matilda fancied
that George looked little mysterious when
he saw her take package from servant;
but, in her many occupations, she soon for
got her suspicious.
At last, the wardrobe was prepared, and
packed in three large trunks. The plan
was finally arranged. Mr.. Fleming was by
no means satisfied with it; but It was the
RI vvork With Mot;Ido ond Arpo woro IN