The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-06-28
ELEVEN O'CLOCk
NID\G L II /, IL r. / II r. l.. =,

ELEVEN O'clock
ANON Il i II r. FIR 4 II r. T. s.
q yrrze Parket had lived with MS ever since
s. our III D Tiers death, and We my sister Bella
mysr.i and little Lucy-ioved her dearly. Ii
was she who had taken us all TO bid our dear
napthcr ppd-byc. When lying on her great high
hefi in ihp shade of its heavy curtains, she
Jooked - fraiI aad transparent OF form and
hue that we could be hardly persuaded she
was not already spirit. To little Lucy who
n was ton Young 10 recollect her otherwise she
q aivays appeared afterwards, in memory and
4 in dreams. H. she looked then But Bella and
I could remember her when her soft gold hair
hung in clusters round a healthy smiling lace;
and 20 sometimes We could see her fresh and
Moaning rs she used TO be, though never with
b Qua n certaia subdued light on her beauty ::
tllow !, rs 1t seemed, neither by actual griet
NOR &C nal trouble, but by Il chastened memory
sNur.a Parket in plain, homely. but deep,
en- nest way. strovc 10 I'll our mothers place
~ t8wards MS her little orphans Tor our father,
8uulet cJuatry Gentleman, given up to anti
4 dntrial pursuits, though kind and amiable Of
hear hardly noticed Us i'll an ordinary father
y siY way Al" was, however, always ready to
ia IL tea - Nurse Parkets sugges tious, and We
hid grown up, under goyernesseS whom she
+ | reminded him 10 secure, until Lucy was
- nra, when. the less book part of our cdu-
--~SasfDn being finished, we were left alone with
oar father and Nurse Parkct
~: uJt quite alone gentleman, neither
y5aas nor old, very great friend, rather
e3m ,lllJu. Ot my father as fond OF antigua
ria .Jr, as ne. but not half as amiable, WAS i'll
TIN. habit 01 making such long visits at Coombe
Upland, Nhc name of our old place., that he
IN Oh! br said 10 live there for half the year
NJ Joachim was this gentlcnlan's name-a
gentleman OF gloomy turn OF character, and
his aspect w2s quite IN unison Win it, He had
grave. SaGUFnine expression about his long.
dark face. aud a searching, suspicious look in
his unfllhumabie eyes, the color of which
could never have been determined by the most
scrutiniZinG observer, but wherein could Ike
seen. 81 times q dull glare. rs OF smOulderiug
lire never permitted to flash out, that made
me shrink iuVuiuntarily whenever l looked
at him. while as for little Lucy-We called her
little " because she was The Youngest and our
petz-she could hardly bear his very presence.
Il was far otherwise with Bella. She
always n fearless. daring child, strangely at
tracted towards anything peculiar "a part OF
her character which she might have derived
from her father, though she was, in other re-
spects, most unlike him, he being quiet and
grave and she highs iritcd and full OF lfe),
and il was, perhaps on this account that she
alone among us liked our dark, strange visitor,
Mr.. Joachim
II became quite certain in the course of time,
that, in his own odd, undcmonstratiSc way. he
liked her for he proposed himself 10 her as
husband, and, 10 unspeakable regret, she
accepted him | shall never forget The day she
did SO, for Lucy, and /, and Nurse Parkct,
when she came up into the nursery to he con-
graduated. kissed and cried over her 10 that
degree that it might have been supposed she
was going to die instead OF marry.
Bella cried, too, At first: but after q while she
got Utmost angry with us for our compassion
and silence-for we could none of rs say
woodland went down to join her lover in the
library, where he was porting over some musty
old books with my father. who bad recently
purchased them NJ a great cost. think they
must have sent her up again, for she very soon
re-appedrrd with tears iii her eyes. very unlike
tbs, she had shed before she went down.
They had flowed fast and free, "a relieving her
heart of the burden of her new happiness.
while those then on her face We're quiet and
represscd rs If her heart had been somehow
hurt.
When We vera going 10 bed that night, l
said Ia Nurse Parket, lingering behind with
hef IN ia" nursery.
aNurse, dear, what do you think of Belias
. eng11Grlnrnt.,
= All! then, nurse l know you don't like it!''
= " ell. dear, we will hope for the best. Per-
hap, after ALL Miss Bella mayn't marry him"
ss5iut Bella loves him, nurse-whtt then o.
an de.tr she Thinks she loves him, there
snh doubt, but 1 have seen mistakes made
befole now
We said no more at thatiimc. but rccollect
goiHg 10 bed very unhappy, and dreaming
resties sly, with nightmare oppressiyen-ss, OF
Mr.. Joachim, who seemed kind OF grim,
glopmy phantom, fornless and indescribable,
hat always oNershadowing Bella with Il black,
aysterous mantle, whenever she was going
! 10 hniIe OF speak 10 him.
Hbout this time 4 surprising thing occurred.
Ne&er, since we had all had the measles to-
ST Pr in our childhood, had our father come
NIL tairS INTO Onf nursery; but. one day. he
az Fnted himself ut the door. and entered for
he purpose of giving piece of intelligence.
THeihtelngencc, unexpected rs it was, hardly
] snrprised as SO much as my fathers appear
ance in the nursery. 1t, was, however, 10 the
effect that our Aunt Dorothea (the only aunt
"a had(, OF whom we had heard from time To
tifaF from Nurse Parket, and very occasionally
fra IN my father. as living in Italy with her in
$40 husband and was 10 be expected at
|E1esnbe Upiands in the course of II week. She
flad Returned 10 England, having lost her hus-
gfbsnd and my father had asked her 10 come
fhaid take up her residence with us, at what
USED ~ he, when they Were boy and girl to-
grtiior, her old home.
Lone before he got through all this. nv ia
fEar began to look dreamy and distracted,
va has Wont, aud la give ii out in short half
seaIenees, with absent pauses between. A
ws1ld Oi expeetation arose among us Oh hear
RI this news We knew very Tow people be-
n ihe Clergyman and his wife, and Mr.. Joa-
slfba, aud the idea of having our unknown
gu. 10 live with US caused quite an excite
kaXlt minds
Hr Joachim had not been over to our house
~ . week or two when one afternoon, two
afee days before Aunt Dorothea Was expected
ssigsgig out from the window OF the nursery
NJ ,.srs Lucy ;iad were sitting, l saw him
10 iI.Isag E4,h Be4ia about the lawn and shrub
s4tes Iney seemed 50 strange pair-she, in
- ia ak youth and freshness, and he in his
.sIt, dali, middle age. with not a grace 10 re-
ss5Ae HE gloom and secrecy which peryaded
his whole face and figure, that could but look
Ikt them, wondering what might be the end OF
Seayere 90 many trees about coonbe Up
@ 1at ii fell dusk there sooner than in
tbther places, and al little more than five
/ could not see IL do another sprig OF
Fancy work which ] was engaged
Lscy still stood strainng her eyes over the
sinInc of poems in the declining light III the
Efndow, when Bella, with springless step
|ite unlike her own, YEARLY entered the
pm.
n could hardly wee her face except in its gen.
"a utiine but something in the turn of her
nd ia the whole air Of her figure The
10y low scat by the fire, told me
u was very sad. Lucy. closing
etfnIiy, came and seated herself
rug By Beiias side. Presently,
,stincfi,eiy perceiyed that some
niss she laid her head against
drew one Of her passive arms
Afrying. unobtruslsely, 70 soothe
fondness. ], the eldest sat