The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-06-28


Their style and heauty--that fell around her
neck about which Bella's arm was twinng.--
We had lived lonely and retired enough. il Is
true, but we seldom sighed for pleasures be-
Sond our quiet country life among the woods
and Fields of Coombe Uplands, and, bound
with the chain of onr sisterly love, we had
been very happy. "Can she leave us " | tho't.
booking nj Bella " for that dark, gloomy Mr..
Joachiml'
As was thinking about him. and Bella in
connection with him. Nurse Parket entered,
and made her come and sit down with me
upon the couch The quiet, Nurse Parket, and
onr sistcriy companionship in the dear old
nursery, led me into thoughts of the past Gays
of oar childhood, when, i'll the same place, at
such an hour, we had sat hy the uncertain fire
light listening 10 nurses stories. and / felt
irrcpresSible desire to revive them once more,
rs far as IN the nature Of things. they could bee
revived.
Nurse, dear" said lyon used to tell us
stories when we We're children. We are all
very quIet--tcll us one now
My dear Miss Alice" she said, laughing,
"Hou wouldn care for Cinderella nor q cody
Two Shoes, now, and what else should have
to tell you"
oh don't know answered, 81 bun some,
thing, III sure. You have lived in different
places before you came here, and you must
have some grUwn-up stories to tell ii You only
think. BY the way said, suddenly, nurse,
dear had YOU ever 4 swccthPart!'
Nurse Parker smiled and then looked grave.
and passed her hand across her face as she an
swercd
Yes, Mis-, once--but he died long before you
were born. my dear. l don't think could tell
You amy story about thai. lie died before your
dear mamma was married"
She paused, and. thinking for 4 few minutes,
said, looking over at Bella, who still sat quiet,
with LUbys head against her .,tp,
:" think will try to tell yen Il story, my
dsarS. about somcthfh' that happened once.
but which none Of you ever hea1x when was
almost a young woman. Bur You must excuse
my way OF trlln' il. and listen 10 il only be-
cause it 10 true
We were ali fond OF stories. especially Lucy:
and Bella rousing herself from her meditatiNe
~ titude, we settled ourselves 10 listen atten-
lively. Nurse Parker commenced:
The story, my deans, is about Il beautiful
lady that l once lived with--first, when she
was Il young lady. rs her maid and afterwards,
when she was married and a mother, as her
buby's nurp. She was always very fond of
M and | of her She lived i'll Il large town
before she married. and her father and mother
being company kcepin' people, and she being
so very pretty, there was Il great lnanX gentle
III n admired her and She might have mar
ried nsH. as they call it, 1T least u dozen times
I'm an old woman, and an old maid, but |
think there is only or" way of narrNln we'll
and that i when Il woman, or lady, mdffIeS
a man. or a gentlemen. really suited TO hrI-
aud when there is real true love on both sides.
l told YOU, Miss Alice, the other night, that
h1d Seen mistakes in marriage, made III lny
time and the marriage this young lady made
WAS no doubt one OF them.
Bella looked up, and seemed 10 fancy that
nurse and might have been talking of her on
the night alluded 10. Nurse went on:
Well IneVrr could tell how my young lady
cime to marry the gentleman she did choose
after all He was older good deal than She
She was CAV and sprightly lik"-hc WAS still
and grave She liked life and stir, and change
he liked nothin but rcatlin' and sittin' still.
She was as fond of music as Il hrd-he couldn't
tell one tune from another. Often and often
have seen her Sittin'. SlngIa and playin, song
after song and piece after piece, at the piano
IN the draw in room. and him Slttln' over q
h Dok by the lamp, never iistcniu' 10 It single
note. She had been used Ia praise and compa-
ny aud every one to love and listen 10 her,
and she must have felt Ii Il great change.
She did feel it great change--;IS you shall
presently hear-th0ugh She tried net to show
IT, or even 10 think about it, for Il length of
time.
When they first married, her husband ,.scd
mostly to sit in the same room with her, though
hp never hardly noticed what She was dOiM' ::
but after awhile, he took 10 keepin III anoth-
or, by himself, and only comm in 10 meals
with her; and. at night. he sat up hours. pOr-
ing over his learning and his books Well
then was the first of my lady'S shown of her
self cast down and melancholy. One day us |
passed my master = study door. which was half
oprn saw her, all i'll tears, knoelin' down by
his chair. and Sayin' s1methin' 10 him which
could not hear. But heard him answer. III
his grave even voice, We'll my dear, if you
feel dull. send fox your mother and sister ana
any one else you like, to make the place gayer
IL yOu.i
! was near guessin' what they had been talk
in about. | thought. than he was Wlat was
Grievin' her aching heart. He was good sort
of a man, hut he couldn't undtrsta nd il.
In Il week OF tWOs time after that. however.
the house WAS full of company. Ny lady's
mother. her sister. her brother. some of their
cousins and others besides. The house seemed
turned almost upside down after the still life
we'd led but lookin' ut my lady's pale face
which was like June rose once. but, at this
time only flushed with excitement now and
fhpn-l didn't believe she was much the hap
pier for al The company.
However, amongst them there great
friend of my lady's brother. WHO WAS thought
10 he thinlln' OF her sister. and who WAS one
Cf the clrNcrcSt handSOmcSt. ana most accom-
pliShed gcntlcmcn / ever saw. There didn't
seem to he anything that he couldn't do or
didn't know. lie was As much a flVolite with
all Of the servants in the house a. he was with
all the ladies and gentlemen, and appeared rs
ainabIc rs hc WAS clever and handsome. Even
my master would sometimes leave his books
and talk to him, but not very often
He was Il beautiful rider on horseback. and
broke in a horse for my lady which nobody
ClSe could manage. My lady Was very fond OF
ridn', and had gone ont iii Il duh way with the
groom. because my master didn't use himself
10 horses very often for the Mere pleasure she
had in tine exercise. This handsome gentleman
and her brother however, rode with her now.
aud the handsome %edtleman always helped
her to saddle. OF an eEenin he sung Duets
The whole company, except my master, who
would slip away to his study and his books
When Ii" left, the house seemed very duh. and
my mistress too, but especially her sister.
though that was fOr another reason which |
didn't think of then. bur she found out SOME
thing long before any one else would have
done. i was only natural for she loved him
very much and had hoped ne loved her She
died, poor thing i'll deep decline, TWO or
three years afterwards.
Well, the handsome gentleman knew some
of the families III the NeighbOrllOOd and from
our house he went 10 STAY with one OF them
and SO, occasionally, Te saw linn still but al
last hc went away aitoGe!hrr and so did ali
our company. and we Were very quiet again
for some months.
One dav, some time after this something
came 10 my mistress, which | hoped would
make her happy after all dear little baby.
and l was Its nurse but IL did not. Something
else had come 10 her, l suppose We are all
weak creatures, my dears. and the best of us
cannot stand III our own strength and if we
let wrong wishes and thoughts come into our
minds without stllNm' against them with more
Fhan our poor might. they mostly viii come
and make sure prey of us. Something of this
sort had warped my poor dear lady's mind |
fear. She was very youug-had been praised
Petted, and almost spoiled from her childhood
and her husband, though not unIind, neglect
ed her.
Nurse stopped IL moment. and l. getting
strangely excited, moved closer To her Oh tLt,
couch, and took hold of her hand. She resuul
ed. CHANGING down at me:
Not but what she loved her baby. She loved
1t deirly-but with Il poisoned mind | saw
how II all was when the handsome gentleman
had once liked SO much, coming to STAY again
with that family i'll the ncighborhood rode
over 40 often to call upon my mas ter, but stay
cd so long With my lady III the driwing-rooin
1t might have been only fancy. but thought
iiiIn not nearly 80 handsome as lle was
Well. He came and went iii the neighbor-
hood Tor sometime, and my lady grew saddcr
anu sadder. and her husband saw nothing or
said nothing, all the while, but appeared 10
grow more busy and quiet-like every day
Except for the baby, then year old and able.
to talk u little lispingly, her life was very