The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1864-06-01
THE LOST LOVE LETTER.
"Well, wonders will never cease p

| It was a bright little boudoir, with Sc,
tgreen wall and carpet of the softest em
terald velvet, the windows dim with tn,
branching -greenery Of fragrant lemor
trees, and a silky black spaniel coiled uI
1 on the rug in front Of the FIRE. Mis-.
FMelisse Jones sat in the middle of tn.
room, her false curls stirred by some in
ward agitation, and her forty year ole
cheek flushed with bloom more genuine
than she usually wore, while her gipsey
like niece, Nelly Howard, dark brilliant
beauty of seventeen, leaned over hel
shoulder and eagerly pcrused the oper
letter that lay in the worthy spinster',
Hap. She it was who had made the above
lremark; to which Aunt Melissa answered
testify:
i "Wonders? 1 don't see anything sc
yory wonderful in the matter. IF Ger.
aid Plumer chooses to fall in love with
me, / cant help it r. l''
+ "Why, aunty, he is only twenty-five
and you are forty"
| aOnly thirty.nine p calculated Miss
Melissa, in, father q belligerent tone Of
voice.
| 'And he is handsome, and--now par.
[don, me, but you never pretended to be q
beauty"
Miss Melissa's cheek grew scarlet
/ "Mr Plumer possibly recognizes the
fpower of intellectual charms" she an
swered tartly. ~ h. ,etIs,,z, $50
"And more than this" pursued the re-
lentless Nelly, everybody supposed the
young man in question to be desperately
| in love with our little Efie--whereis is she,
by the way? Gone up stairs, L suppose
to cry over her defaulting cavalier. Well,
I shall counsel her TO call pride to her
assistance. But, by the way, auuty, you
havn't told me how and when this epistle
arrived. BY post or through messen-
ger?" a.-s
at was yesterday evening" she sim
pered, {" Mr.. Plumer-Gerald, I should
say" (Nelly made grimace--called.
He only staid minute, talking by the
fire. 1 suppose, foolish thing that was,
his short stay was owing to Ef6e's being
away from home. But he had not been
gone five minutes before discovered this
folded paper lying on the floor at my feet.
Was it not an exquisite way Of proposing?
See he calls me his dearest one," and
signs himself my ssever devoted slaeep'
"Fiddlcstioks, Aunt Melissap exclaim-
ed the irrevent Nelly. "He only wants
your forty thousand dollars. It's just
impossible that a young man like him can
really have fallen in love with you! Pr
Aunt, Melissa rose from the chair with
countenance of such lowering wrath,
that Miss Nelly wisely remembered the
axiom about discretion being the better
part of lvalor, and beat hasty retreat,
only stopping once, to laugh, on thestairs.
But her countenancei changed as she en-
tered the room where young girl sat,
with her forehead rrerting on the window
edge, and her violet eyes sparkling with
tears.
"Crying, Ef6es Let me wipe the tears
away, darling--he isn't worthy one of
these diamond drops ~
"Oh, Nelly, I was so secure in the cer-
tainty of his love. ~ as46T ~
Forget him, dearest urged Nelly.
"Nay, don tsob SO observation-disclosures up
all the pride there is in your gentle MAJ
ture, and meet him in future astcoldly as
though he were stranger.
And Ef6e.. though her sobs, faltered
\ out IQat SIG WOuid liJ
Miss, Melissa blossomed out that even
ing like a peony, in a gorgeous crimson
silk dress, with gigantic bracelets on2her
arms, and sat in state in the parler, her
/ false riuglets glossy with pomatnm. at,is
aFor Gerald's note said he would call
soon,. to receive his fate. from my own
lips, ,"fshe simpered. .....s. s3tssgd2sssa
But, to her inexpressible astonishment,
Gerald did net call that evening, nor yet
the next. Miss Melissa was puzzled--in
all the novels she had ever read, she could
mot recall any such tardiness on the part
i of an eager lover. ...91s ISIS
"What- does it mean, do you suppose
she asked of Nelly. as she reluctantly
turned down the gas at the close of the
third evening, and went slowly up stairs
to bed ..,.-............,.......... .saGibi
5"I don't know. aunty, I'm sure," re.
4 turned the malicious damsel. Perhap.
i he's like the boy who has pulled tn.
4 string of a shower bath, aud lodges bacl
j in terror at his own boldness. Suppose
you send q. committee to bring him tt
4 a sense of his situation. ,...... 49Dino
Aunt Melissa slammed the door of he
room, with bang that made the yer,
i policeman in. the street below open hi
eyes. a8He5 81. - Tie isdE
/ Gerald Plumer's 'sroom at tho Hote
was literally blue with cigar smoke
fact easily accounted for when you < lance,
at the recumbept figure of his room mat
and boon companion, who vas. lazil,
watching the FIRE; and smoking as if TO
wager. 1t was pretty room, full o
elegant bachelor knick knacks, only i
looked as if pair Of wild horses nigh
have torn through it and nobody hav
picked up, things afterwards. For tn
flower vases were on the feor, and til
slippers were on the table, and the slip
!, pers were on the table, and the boot jacl
r refined on the mantle, in companionshi]
With ., wash pitcher and an old booi
Il while the bronze inkstand was cramme
. back of a heap of crumpled newspapers
4 and a;pair of lavender kid gloves lay i
> the coal scuttle.
"What do I carsl" remarked Fred
! Powers, as he surveyed the scene of desc
Il lation from behind his fortress of fvreath