Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1863-04-24
Fannie and I.

marry you, Sdlei, III u LOue WHICH
meant should be particularly severe
let the conversation end here.
Mr., John Blaiklie laughed in my
face, which, by the way, was just
what he ought not to have DONE
The consequence was that ] grew
angry in a moment.
You can au G h as much as you
please | continued. There is a Ger.
tain class of people in the world
that characterize tn e m e lv es by
laughing at their own folly. You
have heard of them, haven't you%
20, yesp
Again John Blaiklie laughed a
good natured happy laugh, which did
not testify very strongly for the
depth of his anguish at my decision.
Of course, l grew more and more
piqued; nothing more could have
been expected of me.
You are very gentlemanly, Mr..
Blaiklie,' | said in tone which |
meant should be very sarcastic.
and | am aware of that, too, my
little Bessie he answered good ma
turedly.
Cousin Fannie admires you very
much, said, significantly, for a mo-
ment forgetting my anger.
She does /?
He grew suddenly thoughtful, and
bent his large, honest blue eyes to
the floor. Then as if a new resolu-
ton had suddenly become fixed in
his mind, he arose, saying:
You are quite sure of this, Bes-
sic, quite sure p
Yes, quite sure. If you wish to
try your luck in that direction, you
may be certain of success
Thank you, Miss Bessie, I'll try
Miss Bessie In all his life John
Blaiklie had never addressed me in
that way before. | stared at him
in very surprise. He did not seem
to notice me, but went towards the
door, saying, little sadly, | thought, |
as he paused at the threshold:
i have troubled you, not impor-
tunately, Bessie, but because until
now l have been ignorant of your
true feelings. The future will speak |
for itself. Good morning
Good morningr | faltered forth,
still staring at him in blank amaze
ment. For a moment | could not
really believe that he had gone
not until his footsteps grew fainter
in the distance, and looking out Of
the window | could but dimly see
his tall figure through the thick mass
Of shrubbery that lay between the
house and the road; then / drew
long sigh, not Of relief am sure, as
might have been expected from a
young lady who had suddenly found
herself ridded of an annoying low
er; but a sigh which puzzled my
own heart to define. lido not know
what first put the thought into my
head that | should not marry John
Blaiklie. From my childhood, even,
| had been taught to look upon him
as my future husband. Through the
whole neighborhood our engage
ment had grown to be such settled
affair, and of such long standing that
the people forgot to tease us about ,
it, and passed by us as indiferently 7
as though we had been a married
couple for years, instead of interest
ing, engaged young persons. But {
somehow, as | said before, | cannot
tell why it came to me, the idea that
marrying John Blaiklie was not the (
best way Of settling myself for life, |
after all; and so, working upon this, /
l grew to believe that | did not love t
him; and not loving him, what could '
L do but assure him that l should (
never be his wife? And that assu- {
rance | gave him as / have shown. /
But after he left me that morning, r
| felt anything but comfortable; in
deed the tears came constantly to II
my eyes and though | tried as well 5
as | could to keep them down, they
conquered me at last, and sinking f
down into my chair | gave up and 5
had a good hearty cry. | felt some |,
better after that, and tried to per- n
suade myself in my own mind, that /,
L had done just the very best thing | o
could do for the insurance of Johns .
and my own happiness. But the r
worst was yet to come. v
The next Sabbath John attended "
cousin Fannie to church. This was 81
such new and strange order of af- l
lalrs, that it set the whole congre- Il
gatlon to staring. Cranston could s;
not sleep under anything so incom-
prehensible, and for that Sabbath, at L
least, good Parson Green preached III
to wakeful set of hearers. But IN
they could only conjecture as to the il
cause of the change, and conjecture
lhey did without leaving but little W
.ime for any other mental specula-
Ilon. Some were ready to declare in
mat cousin Fannie had supplanted fu