The emigrant aid journal of Minnesota. [volume] (Nininger City, Minn. Terr. [i.e. Minn.]) 1856-1858, 1858-02-24

and | have become better acquainted with you than you
can imagine through your little cousin. All that she
told me confirmed my first impression and the dis
covery of your 'masquerading folly to use your own
words, has filled me with the deepest gratitude. But
you have not answered my question 2
What followed is of no consequence to any one but
myself; suffice it to say that, in proper time my uncle
aud cousins were duly informed but they perversely
refused to be astonished. They all declared they had
had a presentiment of this from the beginning and
uncle Althrope mischievously asked if he had not
p~rophesied that would do .
When Mr.. Dennore followed me home to be inspect.
ed by those more near and dear to me, be passed the or
dea! with credit; and no very long time elapsed ere l
was installed mistress Of the old mansion.
Strange to relate, none of my FIVE beautiful cousins
have ever married while l have gained a prize which
| believe any one of them would willingly have apprc.
priated. l do not regret my masquerade; aud l have
become reconciled to my nose, for | believe that, had it
becn:diferent. l should never have found my hush nj.
Very provokingly, the following part of the story
was omitted after the oath line, last column of the first
page]
bly, settled in the cars, that the girls have been fright
ening you with all sorts Of stories about the place? 2
'No. sir l replied, Il am not easily frightened
'No?' said my uncle, looking At me with additional
respect, Il have always heard that a long nose iudica.
ted a clear head
Ny poor nose again Why couldn't he let it alone ?
The girls are half beside themselves with fear, lie
continued, there is a story that the house is haunted
walled up room-British officer, during the Revolu-
ton, shut up bis daughter there for loving an American
oA6cer-walks about at night and all that. Have l
frightened you?
mot in the least, sir; l don't believe in ghosts
That's a sensible girl = emphaticalIy; and my un-
Gle seemed to be considering this, fol. he said very little
more during the journey.
l kept an eager look. out for q glimpse Of the house !;
hmf ~ uoa OoarIV NIGHT Uhpn Un arrived at tho station
and then my uncle's carriage conveyed us to Pinehurst,
a distance Of TWO Or three miles.
The carriage stopped at an ancient gateway, and the
first sight Of the place filed me with ecstacy. The
house was entirely out of sight, hidden by tho trees
and as we approached it, through a noble avenue of elms,
{ eloried in the dense retirement around us. Once 10
the avenue, We seemed shut in from the world and the
broad walks, the sloping lawn, and the aristocratic 81
lence were all exactly to my taste. | had a passion for
mystery. and my uncle's summer residence was exceed
ingly mysterious. !.
There was the house, and on the broad steps stood
the five Graces waiting to receive US. Oh, that grand
old hall 1t did my heart good to see it. Everything
was lofty and spacious E; and as the old fashioned furni-
ture had been left undisturbed, the room presented a
perfect picture Of a century ago; and claw feet, lions
heads, and all sorts of queer designs started upon me
from all directions.
But nv five cousins would not allow me much time
for u quiet survey.
sWhy Becky ! exclaimed Matilda, after regarding
me in considerable astonishment, you've really grown
pretty
50 you have = chimed in Hilly, Il declare, your
nose hardly shows at all!
This vas not meant to imply that the organ in ques-
tion was too small to be seen, but only that the mon
strosity Of il was not quite so prominent as it had h!th-
erto been.
Il love to look at your mouth, Becky said Celestine,
graciously.
l had rather a decent mouth.
GUhot have vnu hoor d0ipo ~ make eyes so
bright ? asked Anna, by way Of adding her contribu-
ton.
WELL exclaimed Emma, you've left me nothing
to say, but prophecy that Becky will cut us out yet
was beginning to feel extremely foolish, when uncle
Althorpe turned me gravely around, and surveying me
from head to foot, remarked.
Stature, average, figure, good, neither fat nor lean ;
hair, very passable; eyes, fine, a straight forward, hon
est look in them; nose, but that is a prohibited subject ;
mouth, just what a mouth should be chin, very pretty,
I love to see a pretty chin complexion, delicate, yet
healthy; expression, modest but sensible. You'll do
; DC what p l inquired.
THAT remains to be seen. and uncle Althorpe vanish
, ed to his paper, and was heard no more that evening.
We girls sat and talked until twelve and by that
time I had become pretty well posted up in the history
of Pinehurst.
1t had belonged to the Pyott family from time i'm
memorial, and a proud and aristocratic family they we're.
iStaunch old federslists they bad enjoyed the friendship
of Washington, and had always been considered the very
cream of republican society. But the family bad all
died out, with the exception of an elderly maiden lady,
who lived there alone in her grandeur until she adopted
a nephew, the only child OF q sister who had made what
the world calls a mesaNi"nce.
This Miss Eleanor Pyott was the talk of all the coun-
try around; AMI every one had something to say about
her stately bearing, which people, who had never been
out Of republican America, pronounced exactly that OF
an old dowager duchess. Every fibre Of her heart SEEM
ed twined about the old place and refused to have the
slightest alteration or Improvement made IN 1t.
The Pyotts, for generations had dined in that dining
room-slept in those chambers-and held courtly recep-
3 tons in those drawing rooms ; and as one generation Of
Pyotts went ont, and another generation came in they
. followed tenaciously in all the ways of their ancest Dr..
was speedily shown the portrait of Miss Eleanor
$ a very grand old lady, indeed, with a long, sharp nose,
= delicate complexion, and hair done up IN old fashioned
9 puts. ] was rather struck, myself, with the likeness
which | bore to the portrait but | would not acknowl-
edge this to my cousins.
Z Miss Pyott never walked when seen beyond the pre-.
: cincts Of her ancestral mansion; she rolled aristocrati-
J, cally alone in an old fashioned carriage, driven by an
Q ancient c~oachman, who considered q quick pace decided
s ~ ~plebeian. The old lady always looked like a portral,
Of one of her ancestors descended from its frame; rich,
b cohee-colored lace ornamerted the heavy brocadeS IN
2 which she attired herself, and she sported a muf thai
would have extinguished any ordinary woman.
But the story Of Pyott Denmore, her nephew, inter
i ested me most. From early childhood be had played IN
those broad avenues, roamed through the wooden paths
| and made those empty chambers resound with deter
4 entail attention to Miss Eleanor's long stories Of til
and tina: ancestor, and faithfully promised her to keel
!. up the old mansion III its original style when she should
be gathered to her fathers and now in his matured
t %manhood, when he could finally appreciate the value Of
t the bequest, he was turned away as one who had M
right there, merely because she, whose heart was gel
upon installing him as master Of the old house hao
r. neglected to commit her wishes to writing. 1t was very
hard, ! thought and in spite Of uncle Althorpe's learn
n ed arguments, l persisted in denouncing the injustice o
law.
Fortunately, however, for her nephew, Miss Eleanor
had the good sense to give him an education calculated
lie asks tim ds2spa ppes ha ows resources; apa wbs'