The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1860-11-16

| 1Our fathcr VIII not OBJECT 10 my marrying
you when am rich.' | cried bitterly, yol
may bc sure, for rs l said, loved Rober
dearly. Well, Robert carried out his reso
luton. ! got up one morning before 1t wa
light, and met him ut the old bridge to BIZ
him goodbye. was 20 aurried on leavin,
the house for fear that my father shoul'
awake and discover my purpose, that ] for
got to put on my bonnet and l renombc
that, as ran, tho wind blew my curls abou
50 that If anybody had seen mo they mus
have thought me mad But nobody was VI
80 early. / found Robert waiting for me oil
the bridge. After few hurried words w
parted. But before be left mo, he begged
lock of my hair rs remembrance agains
the time when he should return and CLAIM
me for his bride. had plenty Of hair to Civ
him, and was right willing to give II; bu
wo bad nothing TO cut 1t OF with-n0thinI
but Roberts penknife. Bnt love laughs a
] scisos.makers, my dear, as well as lock
smiths, and Robert laid one of my curls vi
on his walking-stick, and justwhittled 1t of
and then took of his in the same way
though | did not do II so neatly, and mad
Robert cry out little. | could have laugh
ed il my heart had not been 50 full. l stoot
on the bridge watching him until he wa
out Of sight among the trees, and then
went back home, crying oil the way"
dare say aunty told me this story doz
en- of times, and always in the cleaning o
the evening, between the lights. But sh,
never carried her early history beyond thu
parting on the bridge. All the romanc'
ended there. What followed was prosai,
enough. Aunty waited several years fol
Robert without hearing any news of him
and, at length believing him dead, she mar
ried Mr.. Graingcr, the iron-founder-morC
l believe, to please her father, than herself.
At tbs end of twenty years Mr.. Graingcl
died, and left aunty very well on-so wei
off indeed, that before the year Of her mourn
ing was out she was bcsiegcd by dozens o
suitors. Aunty resisted them for q long
time; and remained q widow until sho me,
my uncle Patterson, whom she took for bet
ter or worse, and, alas found him not alto
gethcr for the better. Patterson was q kind
hearted, genial soul, and strongly attached
to whisky-toddy. and was by no means dill
gent in his business, which was that Of ar
accountant. Whcnho made up his own las
account on earth, there was q very small bal
ance in favor of aunty. a great proportion
| of what theiron-founder had made OF pots and
pans had gone IN double-shotted jugs OF tod
DIV. Aunty was widow second time be-
foro she heard anything Of her old sweet
heart, Robert Alison. Then she heard he
was married and doing well in South Amer
lea. She used to lay great stress upon tho
fact OF his being married. Possibly that wa'
rather consolation than otherwise. She
| might have felt reproach had she hcart
| that he was still single, us that might have
been taken to imply that he had remained
bachelor for her sake; whereas she had
married and buried two husbands.
Some ten or fifteen years after the death
| of Mr.. Patterson, news came to tho town
that MIR. Robert Alison had lost his wife
and was coming homo with his oniys Olt
Mrs. Joyce, who hada nephew in South Am
erica, from whom the news came, called one
evening to show aunty the letter. Aunty
at this time was getting old and frail, and
occasionally showed symptoms of falling into
dotagc. When Mrs. Joyce read her tho let.
ter, shc laughed childishly, and said how
| glad shc should be TO SEQ her Robert again!
and then when Mrs. Joyce went away she
told me the old, old story of her courtshir
with Robert, and of their parting at day
break on the old bridge.
was, as l have said, very little boy
when aunty first related to me the story o
| her carly love. was nearly man now
and had come to spend my college vacation
with the good old lady. 0necyening, about
six weeks after Mrs. Joyce called with that
letter from South America, aunty and
were sitting by the parlour fire as OF old. II
wasincarly dark {; but did not like to light
the candles, for aunty loved to sit between
the lights. The solnbre shades of evening
seemed to have something in harmony will
her mood at such times. She SIT opposite
the picture OF Robert Alison, looking into
the frc, and wcarily rubbing her hands
Suddenly the fro burned up into flame, and
threw n flash of light upon Roberts picture
Aunty, who had long been silently gazing a,
the burning Goals, cast her eyes up ut the
handsome face, and hcaving a sigh muttcrct
half to herself, half to me: lie was a fint
fellow, but he's dead now at the bottom O
the sea, my DEAR" she added, more pointed
ly addressing me. l was startled for mo
mcnt thinking that aunty might have
heard some further ncws-pcrhaps that tn,
| ship in which Robert was coming home hat
been wrecked. / now taw, however, tha
she was wandering in her mind, rs she hat
often done before of late. Presently, wher
the Hickering light OF the fire again fell OF
the picture, she laughed, and began to bab
bio about her Ai ken hair that streamcd il
the wind that morning when she went to BIZ
Robert good.by. I" There's some of 1t left
vet" she said t" Robert has got the loci
cut of with his pen.knife. Did l ever show
YOU the lock that took from Robert in re
turn 2" had seen it many time but
said that should like to SEQ it.
don't think aunty could have ben very
sentimental person; for though shc kept thi'
lock and cherished It, she never wore il
about her person, rs women do wear thes,
things. Perhaps she thought, that after tn,
iron.iounder and the accountant, it would
have looked like aflectation. She kept Rob
ert's hair in little red box, with rings anC
brooches, and other ornaments of the kind
She never took any particular care OF thi
box, or the hair which it contained but al
ways spoke Of the sourenir and Robert simply
as pleasant remembrances OF the past. Sh,
took the box from the place on the mantcl
shelf which ii usually occupied, opened il
and took out the hair. The lock was sin
| gle jet-black curl, and as aunty gentl,
straishtencd it, it slipped from her grasp
and twined itself round the third finger o
her left hand, exactly over her two wedding
rings.
Why, aunty," cried I, {" that's al
omen Robert is certainly coming home Il
marry you."
Marry me, child !" she replied, Z" l'y'
had enough of marrying. Robert will b
fvc-and-thirty years too late. rcmcmbel
that lock curling round my finger before
married Mr.. Gnlingcr, and | thought some
thing would como Of 1t, but it was not th,
something that expected. Robert go
married. so did l. We sworc on the ole
bridge to live and wait for each other /; bu
L o.,. a.. 4. ....s .t.,.-,x M, kho str kba,