The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1860-07-18

Gus being the betrayal of the purest and
warmest heart that ever beat.


Gus being the betrayal of the purest and
warmest heart that ever beat.
The engagement between Eidrel and
my cousin hung on for, l should say,
about two years. Ono other person in
the household besides myself did not look
upon the gentleman with the favor which
he undoubtedly contrived to receive from
the rest. That other person was Colonel
Gersom, my uncle. And he, think,
was more against the match than against
the MAJ with whom it was to be contract
ed. What his exact scruples were Meth
or of the lovers would say. He was q
grave, thoughtful, reserved man, morbid
Iy sensitive on religious matters, and |
have sometimes fancied that something
on this score stood in the way of that flu
al consent for which the young people
were waiting, and which was, in the end,
rather abruptly and harshly refused
That this refusal was ever distinctively
anticipated in the earlier stages of the
transaction [ do not believe. Else why
should my uncle permit this man to visit
the house, uncl e,ked, during so long a
period, and the two to be thrown togeth-
er in unreseryed intercourse in rides and
drives, and in other ways, On all occa-
sions?
This license was more dangerous, per-
haps, for girl of Edith's temperament,
circumstance as she was then, than it
would have been for another. Trustful
and confding AS she was herself, she had
found, during her young life, but few re-
ceptacles for those feelings for which an
ardent, passionate nature most Graves.
Her mother had died when she was a
more child. Her father, though treating
her always with a sort of sombfe kind
ness, never had her confidence. She had
no playfelow, except myself, aud after
Eldred became her accepted lover, there
seeped, on some points, almost dis
lance between as. Besides, l was CON
stantly away, and at last it it appeared to
me that my sweet cousin had bestowed
on the one centre of affection the entire
tendrils Of her heart, and lived and breath
cd for none other
| was Just seventeen years of age when
I returned to Yssbrooke to spend my last
Harrow vacation. In another six months
I was to 90 up to Cambridge. 1t was
summer time, but the weather was gloomy
and choerless-dull also, though not
rainy. We'll do remember the depress-
ion of spirits with which I drove 10y the
edges of the lake through tho park. The
water looked SO black and dull that my
very heart seemed to SILVER at the SIGHT
of it. This was The. more remarkable, as
of all spots connected with Yssbrooke l
| loved tic lake most. 1t bad been to ne
n constant source of recreation. [ had
fshed from it in spring time, and many's
the summer night l had spent musingly
on its broad surface. The wild fowl upon
its sedgy banks afforded many fair days
sport, and in quieter moments the walks
around mnistered to my brooding and
eccentric humor But now there was q
black meaning in its dull waters, half
! fretted by the fitful gusts of wind which
swept across it, that filed me with fore
boding. Ny companion, too, who bad
met me with the country trap at the
ueiohborino market-town, an old domes-
tic as loquacious, on ordinary occasions,
as any thing connected with Yssbrooke
could be, displayed taciturni'y which
did not detract from my untasiness. The
questions l had put to him on the road
respecting tho news, the state of the crops,
| the welfare of the estate, and the health
of the different members of the family,
had either been answered eVasiyely or put
aside as not apprehonded, 1t was then,
with distrust l could not master, that
we approached the house, gladly, in my
mind, for if there was any thing amlss,
Edith would clear up the mystery, or IN
default of her, old Markham, a quondan'
nurse. and later companion of my young
cousin, with whom l had always been
favorite, and whose gossiping propensl-
ties | had come sometimes to regard as
virtue amidst the prevailing closoness of
the inmates of Yssbrooke. No to be pro-
lix, may at once como to what she DID
tell met was not for some hours after
my arrival, nor until the stiffness OF the
household, the absence of my uncle till
close upon nightfall, and other circum
stances had convinced me that something
very serious had fallen out. Then the
truth was told me by the lips of the old
nurse. in sentences which seem as fresh
and distinct to me now as on the night