The weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1858-1860, 1858-08-31

bot upon this one, how easily he simplest
country girl could see that Abby Rcems had
bestowed Der whole heart Her eyes had
never beamed with such an expression before,
no form had ever 50 enchainnds her tfuant
fancy. Upon the whole they did not wonder
muctr He wns quite unlike her country
lovers He was q town,brcI NAH, will,
! courteous bearing and mdsf have a vast deal
Of learning too, for rumor whis nered that he
was college learsicd.
He had only come for a shos! visit, for all
the preliminaries had been tett'sd, and Abby
was t. be married soon. Ti.en Madame
| Rumor for once had eu0ugh t. circulate -
How she dilated every event How i34
| everybody was at the farmhouse! How
rapidly the piles Of snowy linen, the chests
OF beds and blankets were Multiplying. -
Soon, the grand country wedding would come
OFT Then it began to be whispered that
Abby's brilliant prospects did not make her
either better or n happier woman. Before
| Mr. Evans had been at the farmhouse o week
she grew reserved and naughty She did
not smile SO brightly as she used, she would
not come down to the gate to greet her coun-
| try friends with that cordial warmth which
once pleased them 50 we'll OF course, such
/ prospects had turned her head and she was
growing proud Poor Ably, little did she
know Of al! this, they judged her harshly
| who least appreciated the true state of her
heart. Albert Evans might have loved her
once as truly as he was capable of loving,
but with strange inconsistency, strange and
yet human, when the treasure was won it
ceased to be rs priceless as it had seemed
She was too ingenious to conceal anything,
it was not in her nature to act a part, and
when her jealous eyes noted the change and
she knew that he faltered in his devotion, she
grew imperious and ftful Her Jealous
moods alarmed him. Calculating and eau
tious natures never appreciate love like
hers. The fiery passion which consumed her
seemed absolutely absurd to heart as cold
~ his. When his own conduct had goaded
her sensitive nature into madness, he would
piously rcproye her for words and actions
which she could no. have controlled if she
| would.
Alter a few stormy scenes in private, the
| betrothed lovers grew more stately and cold
| in public. Eaci, reconciliation left something
more to be forgiven, of which each was too
proud to speak. He may have had a motive
for his course which he did not acknowledge
even to himself, but Abby read it, and could
| lily brook reproofs from him When he did
admit it, he verify thought that he was now
for the first time taking rational view of
the matter. Abbys wonderful beauty had
dazzled him for time. He might have
loved her once, but it was pity that he had
ever told her SO. 1t was not in his own ma
1 ture to love intensely and unseiishly, aud
Judging her by his own standard, ne said,
that she would not feel it very keenly, yo-
mon generally had too much pride to mind
such things. Thus reasoning, his specous
| arguments appeared more and more salts
factory.
lie had always thought that selt-willed
and passionate woman could never make him
happy, aud nc might have remembered it, if
he had not been blinded by her beauty
There was something in Mary wavy ,gracs.
full figure, in her timid step, in her pretty
| bashfulness, her soft blue eyes, and in her
yielding and pliable character, much better
suited to his taste She would be true
wife Dociie and obedient Us a wife should
| be, prsfsrrng her husbands wishes to her
own, she, AZ least, would never presume TO
upbraid or correct him.
After coming to this very sensible conclu-
sion, he did moi wait long for an opportunity
| to address her How startled, and yet how
| pleased she seemed, when he told her that
| he loved her. How her hopes and fears varied
the express lon OF her usually placid face,
and lightin. it up with new beauty in his
| partial ewes He seemed to see everything
about Mary in contrast with her sister For
the first time in her life, the only time she
would have wished it otherwise, Abby was
| foil which best set off her sisters charms
At last, amidst tears and bushes. signs and
! smiles, that were more pitible than tears,
Mary found voice to speak: DO not think
that | do not love you. No oh no-how
could | help that? But Abby, what will Abby
say? Abby was so passionate and so ieal
Gus. Her flashing eyes seemed to have been
reading her very soul. Ever since Mr.. Evans
first came there she had looked at taem So
strangely. And now what would she say. =
Nay, he must not take her hands so, he must
60 away,she could not bear Abby's hatred
Abby's anger. lie must leave her or Abby
would surely kill her.
Thus, she said or rather sobbed, and yet
she s.aid to be kissed and soothcd,und while
he tenderly embraced her, she drank in his
honied words without once telling hinl how
false he was or how base part they both
were acting. Did no reproving voice wits
per this to either of them? With his hand
and heart still p!ighted TO the girl whom he
was so cruoly deserving, could he deceive
himself into the belief that she was what lie
tried to think her, rather than what lie had
once known her to be! Was she alone guilty?
With what miserable sophistry we can de-
lude our own hearts Our wills must be
captive to some strong spirit of evil before
we can plaza the burden of our own sins up
on another $ shoulders as he was nov doing.
Had such a love been offered to Abby, as
was now preferred to her sister, you would
have heard no weak lamentations over an
other 8 pass ionate temper or hard ways She
would have defended the wronged sistcr from
every dispersion, while she held up before
the recrean5 lover his own baseness and fall
sity in such light that her fine scorn would
have sent lim from her presence witt, little
hope Of winning her love by treachery to his
first vows
If either Mr. Evans or Mary Rcems hoped
to palliatc their own baseness by becoming
the victims orAbhy revenge they were mis-
taken. When she understood all her man.
ners wholly changed 1t really piqued Mr.
Evans yanity to see how little she cared for
the loss OF her unworthy lover. Gay and
smiling, yet peculiarly afectionate in her
manner toward other friends, she left him 10
hear reproaches from a quarter he would
not have chosen. His own conscience must
have said more bitter things to him in his
silent hours of though hit than she could have
spoken had the agony of her soul found re-
lief in reproaches. lie thought she know all
this, and smiled because she triumphed.-
When Mary made weak attempt to apolo-
gize, Abby put it all aside as sersncly as she
would pass her recreant lover, her stately
figure seeming to grow more majestic in its
beauty, as she lowered above them BE- ia in
moral worta ami dignity.
The great wedding was really coming of
MADAME kumor would no. be cheated Of
that, she hal wonderful tales to add too about
the rejected bride, telling how cheerlaly She
prepared tho bridal garments, the nous ehold
treasures from the loom, and the welding
dainties which We're to serve anothers pur-'
pose. They said that now she had found
him out, sho was doubtless very well satisii
cd with the new aspect of things. As Mr.
Reems watched with all fathers love, and
all a father anxiety, for rome clue to the
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