The weekly Butte record., 1863-10-17

gone. II Is Tor your happiness, IL ouSn'
to be so for ours. Tell me, Bell, what
answer do You wish me to give :"
"Will he not wait little time Vet :"
and the girl crept closer to her father.
Il see | must act with you," he said
smiling and patting her cheek.
Poor Charles ~ she half sighed.
Her father smiled still, but this time
rather sadly, and said, There, 60 back
to Your mother, child. You are a baby
yet, and do not know your own mind
better than a girl who is to choose be-
tween to toys. You do not know which
to leave and which to take. l must it
seems, choose for YOU"
"Oh, papa!'
"Yes-you need not look so distress
ed. Trust to me, and meanwhile-go;
yes, your mother will be wearying for
YOU"
Although this scene had sunk an old
sorrow deep into his heart, Mr.. Gray
was, when he joined the family, calm,
almost merry. He challenged Charles
to a game of bowls on the lawn, and ran
the garden. When he returned to his
wife she told him pettishly, that ''it was
a marvel how he could be so unfeeling.
See how she suffered from this terrible
marriage! And yet SIZE had no right
to suffer more than he; but" sighed the
lady, mo man ever loves as much as
woman loves -
''And don't you think | feel my dear
because | don't talk =! Can you not un-
derstand the duty of silence! Com
plants may at times be mere selfish
ness
He spoke very mournfully. She
shook her head. People who can con-
troll themselves so entirely" she said,
''have seldom much to control. If You
felt as do about our darling child, You
could neither keep silence nor feign
happiness.
Helber. smiled but made no answer;
and Mrs. Gray fairly cried over Isabel's
hard fate in having such an indifferent
father.
1t was all settled Isabel was to be
married in a months time. Charles
mildly complained of the delay, and
thought a fortnight ample time for any
preparations; but Isabel told him that a
month was ridiculously soon, and she
wished her father had doubled it; only
long very much to see Scotland. They
were to 60 to the highlands to spend
their honeymoon.
Mrs. Gray was entirely incon>olable.
The poor woman was not well, and her
nerves were more than ordinarily irrita-
bic. She gave herself a good deal of
extra trouble, too-much mere than was
necessary took cold by standing
IN a draught, cutting out a gown for
Isabel, which the maid would have done
a great deal better, and would not have
complained of the fatigue of standing
so long; which Mrs. Gray did all day
long Her cold and her grief and her
WEAKNESS made her the most painful
companion; especially to devoted
daughter. She wept all day and night
and coughed in the intervals. She did
not eat, and answered every one who
pressed any kind Of food on her re-
proachfully, as if they insulted her.
She slept very little and denied even
that little. She was always languid,
and excess of crushed hopes and unre-
Quilted affections stimulated her into
fever.
The marriage day drew nearer. The
preparations plentifully interposed with
Mrs. Gray's signs, and dampened by
her tears, savored less of wedding
than funeral, at which Mrs. Gray was
a chief moulner. The father, on the
contrary, to whom Isabel was the only
bright spot in life, and who would lose
all in losing her, was the gayest of the
party. Isabel herself, divided between
her lover and her parents, was half dis
tracted with her conflicting feelings,
and often wished she had never seen
Charles Houghton at all. She told him
SO once to his great dismay, after
scene of histories and fainting fits per-
formed by her mother.
1t wanted only week now to the
marriage, when Herbert Gray came
down to breakfast alone.
''Wherc is mamma p asked Isabel.
''She is not we'll, my dear, and will
have breakfast in bed
Poor mamma How long her cold
has continued. What can be done for
her ;"
'We must send for DR.. Melville, if
she does not get better soon. | am
quite uneasy about her, and have been
for some time; But she did not wish a
physician to be sent for.'
There is no danger ;" asked Isabel,
anxiously.
Her father did not answer for a mo-
ment; then he said gravely: 'She was
never stronc and I find her much Wea