Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-11-25
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lay that had added a wrinkle the MORO to :
ais ceunta eaaee, had given a new grace to II
Fanny's, andshe was now more lovely than {
eveN The NlAalsting4 snf dfegant outline
ofS her 5rm; her dark, well-opened, and
humid eyes, adapted either to melancholy n
OF sport; her cheeks, with all the freshness =
and yelvety smoothness Of the peach her II
full and red lips; and her white, delicateAAgh
and beautifully chiseled hands made a tout 3
ensemble wholly irresistible, while the air &,
of utter Inconsistencies Of so many charms {.
greatly heightened their effect. +,
Beaufort looked ut her, and could hard =
ly recognize her. Snch a change a year
in the teens makes in a girls appearance
We leave them a bud, we find them a bios :
som. !
On her side Fanny found him much !
changed, and also for the better. Grief, !
instead of injuring his features, had improy- !.
ed them, in throwing over them an express !
sion of seriousness which well became them. :
Solitude, too, had been advantageous in be- :
getting habits of thought which his former
busy idleness had never INDUCED; had en-
larged his brow, and given more meaning J
to his eye. Paler, he appeared more earn
est, more sincere, and more manly. ,
Fanny looked at him from under her
eyelids, and a Thousand confused and con-
kesa@iaaLseaAAsSns3 s&ssde ffef nesfs.
Beaufort himself was not unmoved by
the recollections that crowded upon him.
Fanny was sitting in the very place where
he had been so often accustomed to sit
while Florence sat beside him. 1t was a
year before that he, entering this very room
quietly, so startled the cousins. Their look
Of surprise still haunted him, and Florence's
soft voice still vibrated on his soul. There
, was the window through which Fanny had
gone to Gull the bouquet, and afforded him
: the opportunity of a tete-d-tetc with Flo
renee! These crowding memories were
: too much for MS self c%ontrol, and he hasti
S ly passed out into the garden to calm hi
9 thoughts.
e He had sworn to himself a thousanC
y times that he would never forget Florence
h and that he never would outrage her mem
e DRY by even the profession of an attach
lie ment for another. The sight of Fanny, i
IS all her dangerous bloom, compelled hir
ID now to renew these oaths, as if he found
n necessary to fortity his falling virtue.
He enGeavored, too, to stimulate his gri
to by the recollection of the most poignal
~ details of her sickness and he would ha'
lie given much to have found again those ri
n ulcts of tears which six months before h;
= gushed spontaneously from his eyes; b
it their source seemed dried up; he con
ne. only summon up a tender languor.
he vain he leaned his head against the trel
in with which her ringlets had comminglC
his and which her breath had perfnmed
ard vain shut his eyes, and by dint of the M
far melancholy recollections, sought to conjt
da- tears all was in vain.
NIB, But after a while it seemed to him,
in he unused with closed eyes, and W
the thoughts wholly turned to the past, t
'no~ Florence was near him the air that fam
mat his cheek was her breath the way
else. branches off the trellis her floating GU
'nce and the seat upon which he recEined pr
Yard ed as with additional weight. The illus
per was complete. -r~uu-guv
we're his hand it was taken by another.
opened his eyes, and started as he sa
woman near him.
Florence !" he exclaimed.
,eled "Ah no" replied a sad voice, &c
mos, Fanny"
! 20 "Fanny ah, Fanny! How deeply
ated both loved her
,reat And here the tears which he had in
He attempted to extract from the mou1
the past flowed freely.
"You see Fanny" he said, "that I
; Oh thinking of her p
His pride was satisfied he had been
to weep, and there was some one to say
much he had suffered. Not that he
pVS not suffered. The death of Florence
been nearly fatal to him. He had INC
81. ed her as one refusing to be comfor
Ie ~, nor at the time of her death could he
: been made to believe any consolation W
ever avail him. But it is not the lea
:. - the mercies of Providence that our pas
~; are fugitive in proportion to their /,
- mence, and the very violence of the
~ :: to Beaufort had caused a sanitary reaC
him. besides' however IL may be Wit
pangs of despised loved, a man rec,
mas from an attachment which he know
racks have been returned, though the loved
tenn loving one dies. His ~selflove at leas
Bnt been gratified, and the wounds of that
como of love are more incurable than tho,
nurer any other. Worms have never cate
still man who died from the loss of a /
puri- heart.