Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1858-06-09

~r OvW@1 y
JUNE 9, 1868.
sooR OH her veil, and shook down tho fol,
OF her long, black hair. Sever;ne, 90 s;rq ,o,1
+ sl;ss' = she wound it around her fingers nT
= = IN an envelope, and directed # to , Usrpp9 p
Deanlolf' psa care Of Mr.. Brown. Lincoln,s In
rlelos' London. This was the sole anew w.
sne sent forth upon her bridal day IL ~
nlng u her heart and her love. We'll sb,
derly. - o'ner half SO ten
lnen she rang her bell, and Lisette en-
sered. 'Dress me-" she said. "vou see !
q nave undone my hair; and by and bv noo,
snls lel1er, and see if you can keep secret :
-sever nad there been bsayer wedding
some, naughty groom, with his clear, blue
eyes, and the light anu splendid hair curl
ing close to his erect head-the bride 50
beautiful you almost feared to look upon
her Peffectness, but pale and cold and
proud as she was beautiful. Never had
nuPtlal feast been more brilliant IN Beau
fort Priory. The stately halls were all
aglow with light and beauty. Rare old
wines mantled antique goblets of gold and
sllYe9r-JeWels flashed on noble heads
costly exotics gave forth their perfume
Jests and repartees sparkled from lips brish-
ter than the rubies, and in the midst, re-
celvlng the homage of the assembled
throng, cold and proud and still, stood El-
eanor Beaufort in her wondrous beauty
tearlessly, sternly y completing the sacrifice
Oy winch she offered up her womanhood
at the shrine of the false god-Pride.
That very day, stranger came to Mao
ara 1t was rare thing for guest so dis
tlnIgulshed IN appearance, to arrive in mid
winter, and mine host of the largest hotel
then tenanted in the village welcomed him
most respectfully in person. But his wish
es were moderate-a fire, room, and his
meals served with the utmost simplicity
alone. Day after day, he sailed forth in
the early morning, and returned late at
nlght His whole soul seemed imbued with
that wondrous imagery of terror and of
beauty. The eternal anthem of the cata-
ract seemed to him like the voice of his
lite. He had entered his name simply as
FRANCIS Abbott, and he avoided all conyer- !
satlon which could in anywise tend to {
dlsslpate the mystery with which he was
,
A curious Yankee following him at &
Instance, one day, to his favorite haunt on f
5oat Island, had seen him take from his G
BOSOM long, dark tress of female hair.
ina Inc press It many times pasfieeate|H4o his
lbS.sts lssf,.p could discover.
mere is fascination about Niagara in
winter, approaching more nearly than any f
hing else to my ideas of the subtle spells {
IF the old magicians. You cannot leave e
it, you do not want to leave it. Ifit Killed |
you, you could yet stretch your arms out S
ongingly to its bosom, and worship it with G
your latest breath. Perhaps no one before /
had been so permeated with this influence, g
as Harold Beaufort, self-created alien and /
exile. He had come to Niagara in his
and entered his name as Fran S
els Abbott, intending to remain there but '
for few days. But the floods spoke to
him, and he who could nevermore in all {
time hope for gentle tones of friend or low s
er, loved them and listened to their voice.
As spring advanced, he built himself a
house within the nearsound of those mighty
voices, where, sitting in his door, he could {
look forth on the emerald girdled Horse ;
shoe Fall, and hear night and day its dan
gerous music. To him there was but one
face which made beautiful all the halls of
his memory-Eleanor, Eleanor! He saw
her deep eyes, whenever he looked steadily
into the blue sky or the falling water. He
called her name in his dreams, and some
times clasped her in his arms, and woke up
again to find them empty. |
And she, meantime, mistress of Beaufort,
cynosure of all eyes in the gay throngs she
gathered round her, resolutely banished
him from her heart. She was gay, she was
admired, she was brilliant, and she thought
she was happy, and when her oldest boy
looked into her eyes on the anniversary of
her marriage, she lifted him to her bosom,
with an English woman's pride in her son
and heir and disregarding the prayer of the
absent, she called him after his father
Hyde Beaufort.
And yet there were some who dared to
suspect her in the midst of all, of not being
quite at ease. There was fever spot some
times, in her once pale cheek, which burn
ed there in her gayest moments, and a /
restless, uncertain glitter in her eyes, and
those who knew her best, read these out |
ward signs as tokens that her soul cried out
with a strong cry for sympathy, cry,
which the Lord of Beaufort knew not how
to answer-that even for her there were
moments when the ancestral jewels flashed,
and the ancestral trees waved in vain, when
it was worth little in the proud loneliness
Of her heart, even to- be the Lady of Beau
fort.
CHAPTER ".
'rWhen my love and lie dead,
Both together on one bed,