Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1863-03-09

the sake of the love you bore my mother,
look not TINS angrily upon your child
Give me but faint, distant hope, father!
For my sake, relent your stern decree;-
He will be here this evening ;--let it be
my joyful face that shall greet him. Father,
father, you will pot utterlysannihilate the
happiness of your childw
lie looked upon her as she knelt before
him, her face flushed with excitement, her
dark eyes raised SO beseechingly to his, her
delicate form bent earnestly forward, and
her child's heart futteriug against her bod
dice, and he leaned over and clasped her
to his bosom.
81 have never been harsh or an i'm
perious parent, Mabel, and, since you plead
so earnestly, this much promise YOU
Two years shall pass before your marriage.
Those years shall form your character; and
if he, if Lennox love you STILL and you still
deem him worLhy-I will not thwart you.
To no other conditions will yield my as
sent"
"a thousand, thousand thanks ~ the
maiden cried, kissing her fathers cheek.
lie will issue unscathed from the ordeal,
dearest father; he, himself will prove how
false your estimate of him has been. And
see,' she added, darting to the window,
"some good angel has apprised him of my
successful pleading, for here he comes,
fast as steed can bear him. How proudly
how noby, be bears himself-even as
some knight of the olden time II must
away to meet him, the bearer of glad It'd
ings"
Mr.. Ravnard turned to the window as
his daughter Quilted the room. A servant
was leading away horse from the massive
old portal, and young man now stood
beside it with the face and form of an
Adonis. There was tone Of finished ele-
gance In his whole manner, an air of faslr-
ion we'll suited to his extreme personal
beauty. His eye, eager and wild as the
falcons, glanced into the face of the girl
who had just joined him, and a,deep sigh
! burst from the father as he watched them
disappear amid the windinas ef the esa;A,e =.
| walks, apparently In earnest and deiighteu
converse.
"Will her girls heart break" he muir
muied "whcn this mans perfidy be pro-
we'd, as it must be ere many months expire,
or will she, like a true woman, spurn from
her side one who is SO base and so dissem-
bling? She is happy now in the faith ol
the premise [ have given her, and | die
so promise her that she might never think
that my refusal, in disappointing his hopes
> had hurried him into excesses."
At this moment young man entered
:, the room, and advanced sIowl y toward Mr.
: Raynard Despite the air of profount
: detection that pervaded his face, it was 0
! ! noble and commanding aspect. Not th
y u mere beauty of features or color,-for h
;. vas very pale, and with lips compressed
and eyes cast down, bore no comparison t.
= !, him who had won the love of his host
= daughter. But there was dignity, loft
: ness of bearing, that fully compensated 70
the absence of more attractive graces. Owe
broad, snowy brow, the chestnut hal
:, parted in slightly waving masses, and whe
his eyes, when lifted at last to the face
;. Mr. Raynsrd, they spoke the powers
~ mind the fire of genius that even the dee
! sorrow of the present moment could nj
= quench.
= 81 have come" he said falteringly,
bid you farewell, to thank you for yol
great kindness to me, and to pray, tn
: although the title SO vainiy aspired
- that of your SOP, has been denied me, N;
= hope for place in your affections, an IL
~ terest in my wayward fortunes-is 1t n
el so?"
~ The ole mans very soul was wrung,
10 he grasp his hand
I: ~ "God bless you Walter you have be
as my lost son to me, and but for chile
u whim, you might have been such in trut
=. IL Yet one word. Mabel, with all her fon
=, ness, is proud and noble cir, rl,-and VIII
she sees James Lennox's unworthine
-, she will cast him off forever. | know b
49, Walter, she came to me just now, a
'u - prayed me for the sake Of her dea4 moth
~. to consent to this union. And yield
:; =. Nay, shrink not, boy. Years, long ye
shall pass, that will either improve "
cousin character, or establish its wort
=. essnesss. Mabel may yet be yours"
a. Light came for moment to the desp
Wv ding heart of Walter Lennox, yet only
a moment. How could he dare hope
-, 80 the love of one who had treated HIM "
,nId rJd uniform Indifference, nay, latterly v
hon contempt, and so he turned away wit
-. weary weight upon his spirit and It'd
AnS anguish circling round his heart.
her
not 1t was lovely moonlight evening al
bJ face as lovely peered ont from the pa