Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-02-04
Jnttrtstinp Storg.
TEE LOST
= 8 8 VT 3 E 8. .
BY RACHEL MOORE.

!
miriam. Miriam, my darling. is it true?
Say it again-only once again. Miriam!"
Miriam lifted up her face, with a soft,
HAPPY. tremdlous smile, and a glow sweet
err and brighter than the sunset light fall
| ing through the branches overhead suf.
fused it, as her hazel eyes answered the
ardent questioning of her lovers glance.
Eyes. yes. Edwardl'
The words were sweet to his eager
ear.
Again, and again, Miriaml I could
hear you say it forever, my Lowell"
And he bent his handsome head to kiss
the lips that had said what no other lips
had said to hint love you" But his
caress was given hack with half a timid,
vet earnest tenderness; and his soft blue
ewes beamed with happy emotion. 1t was
Edward Fane's first wooing; and the
pleasure he experienced was as rare and
delicious as it was novel; for to the young
lover declaring his earliest attachment. is
not the timid yes" and the kiss of her
he loves, the sweetest thing he has ever
known?
Under the trees, in the garden Of the
old parsonage they walked together in
the sunset. after this sweet confession:
walking side by side. Edward holding
Miriam's hand, and talking tendcrly to
her as they went, wish his warm heart
heaming in his handsome face; and Mir
lam listening silently. with a happiness
whose very silence manifests its depih.-
A ND tho ct,n oo&,1 r. :, -. @a,4 4lx1 a. } ~
ows grew longer. as the pleasant mo-
ments slipped ~away-golden moments to
Edward and Miriam: and finally, as the
twilight began to gather, they heard the
voice of Miriam's father, calling her, from
his study.
They went back. and now. standing for
a single instant longer in the old stone
porch, under the curtaining wires, Ed,
ward drew Miriam to his breast again!
and pressed his lips gently to her cheek.
"a few moments. my darling, before
yor go to him. Let Inc see him first. I
must tell him
A happy thrill ran through Miriam's
heart. She laid her head quietly on her
lovers bosom. and kissed softly the be-
loved hand hat held her own in d linger
ing clasp.
Yes, tell him." she said. witha blush:
and then, loosing herself from his embrace
she went away. while Edward Vane
sought her fathers study.
1t was no new thing to the good old
pastor, that Edward and his daughter,
loved each other: he had seen it long
since, had known it. perhaps before they
knew it themselves. Edward was not it
may be. the husband her father would
have chosen for her: aGectionate in dis
position, with an ardent temperament, but
Observation-Disclosures of pur-
pose-all this the old man mad seen him
to be; but he himself had not many years
to live; they loved each other-and it
might be. after all. for the best. At any
rate, he could not. find it in his heart. t.
cross their love, and SO his consent W..
gwen and Miriam and her lover received
his blessing,
! And now the old parsonage seemed an
other Eden, in whose garden dwelt only
happiness. But has not every Eden its
ss.rne! IL cane IN uarK, put beautiful
and shining guise: it camei in the shape of
Miriam's lovely cousin Amabel, her veal
thy, handsome cousin Amabel; who with
her sweet bewitchiag face, glided in upon
the happy lovers and brought fascination
with her.
1t was not that Amabel Wyndham,
with her beauty and her pride, cared for
Miriam's lover, that she left for a while,
the scorce of ~suitors at whose expense she
had been amusing herself, coquetting with
them all by turn, and giving hope to none.
But Edward was handsome, and winning
and elegant. and above all he had never
knelt at her sbrine-the Unsuitable heart
hunter! And so, for the eclat Of a new
conquest, she came daily over from her
fathers magnificent estate. to Harleigh
parsonage, to win away with her bewitch-
ing smile, the heart Of her cousins lover.
Miriam saw her. riding lightly alone on
iner white steed; with her dark locks
braided and her snowy plume waving to
the breeze, her red lips smiling, and her
dark eyes beaming with the delight Of an
ticipated triumph. Miriam, sitting with
her father and her lover. in the old par.
sonage study, saw this brilliant cousin,
and thought, how lovely Amabel is!'-
But the thought was not mingled with en-.
Wy. She had won a heart without ANA
bells destinations; and her clear hazel
eyes beamed with innocent happiness, as
she looked at her lover.
A moment more. and the quiet of thai
: happy little circle was broken. BY the ap
lpearance Of this beautiful e~nchantress
cousin. Miriam aud her father both