The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1866-12-25

AAS AOIAoA do oSAOOl WHcu Suc WAS d 11CCle
delicate child, and you were the eldest par
lor boarder; she never forgot it, and told
Steenie never to forget it either. Itwas very
kind Of you; Miss Clemlentina." Il II
Miss Qenaentinna,, got very red, ands thu.
permanent fushiWh aMie etstted her: qitilins
Hautain nose, turned Ike a danger signal
greatly to the amusement Of the Angel,
whose behaviour was SO little angelic on
that Christmas,Eve of 1856 4, Poor girl F.!
Little as the reader will be inclined to pity
her, she underwent a fiery ordeal when she
consented, as she did consent that night, to
become the affianced wife of Reginald, the
heir Of the Hautains.
This was how it fell out. After dinner.
the two brothers entered the drawing-room
at the same moment, and both approached
the sofa on which Miss Temple was seated,
apparently lost in the contemplation Of her
bouquet Of hot-house flowers, which had
been left at the rectory that morning by
Reginald himself great stretch Of polite
ness on his part, who would have thought
twice before undereak king the: exertion Of SO
much as wagggging his little finger in the ser
vice Of the best friend he possessed. Intrud-
ing his ungainly form between Captain
Hautain and the object Of his alteration, he
placed himself, with something Of the as
sumption Of ownership, at her side, and re-
marked coarsely to his brother, whose eoun-
tenance lowered at this cavalier treatment
| at the hands Of his rival
SThere's the old girl you firted with 1T
dinner winking at you, Steenie, 50 you had
better go and flirt with her again: You're
just one too many here, 1 can tell YOU: isn't
he, Angel ?' .
The young lady 50 addressed neither
spoke nor moved a muscle Of her counte-
nance; she seemed as though she were turn
ed to stone, and her beauty, always statues
que, became almost terrible in its outward.
calmness. Mr.. Hautain, however, whose
voice was thick, and whose ideas, uncon-
nected as they often were after dinner,
which was to him the one object in life,
stood in little awe Of Angel in her new
mood She was to him nothing more than
q "deuced pretty girl" quite ready to jump
down his throat, and to whom he meant to
throw the handkerchief that night, having
primed himself for the occasion with two or
three more glasses than usual Of Lord Hau-
tain's old port"
It was not a romantic wooine: I do not
wish to degrade my pen by a, description Of
tlpsy mans proposal to girl who had
made up her mind TO- sacrifice herself to the
highest 3 bidder for her beauty Of person and
face. We can have but little pity for her
who forged, the fetters Of her; own. fate.
Dazzled by the blaze of: ooronet in per
spective, marred by the essentially worldly
nature Of her education, Angel Temple cast
the fatal die, to which act, IN the: madness
OF her infatuation, she seemed to be actually
spurred on by the presence Of the man
whom she: really fondly loved She did
not trust herself to look at him-she had
nobility enough to feel how contemplate
She must ever: after: appear in his ewes.
None knew better than he the dislike which
she entsgtained for the man whom she had
just promised to marry, Essentially noble
himself, ,.she felt that she had forfeited the
last claim to his love, and the conviction
struck her like "a death-blow. He had
turned sharply on his heelwhen Angel had
maintained silence in answer 70 the rude
appeal Of Reginald Hautain for her consent
to his brothers. :banishmens from her; pre-
sence. He was not . man, to take such an
atfront ,tamely; but, believing in: her truth
above all things, he was not q man long to
bear malice for the wayward caprice Of
spoilt beauty, even when 4 it was exercised
upon himself: The opportunity at last pre-
sented itself for few moments Of conyer-
sation with her privately, although it: might
sound like an anomaly to say that the time
chosen was that during which he and Mis-. Miss
Temple were, to all outward appearance,
engrossed in attention to the dreary mean.
derings, Of 3 quadrille .-s.5ft' >.1 ,.. =.-
i. "At last,' began Stephen. Hautain, bend
ing his handsome head to place it more on
an equality With that Of his beantiiffu Il part
ner-;-'.at last ! have an opportunity of a!
word with you: We have exchanged no
Christmas greeting as yet, and, Angel, You YOU
have never congratulated me-, ;5.s nm.
q Dc Sc; now with al my hear" was tie,
1 4eRiy3 and ie5 more reasons Il! thar than one, Cap
# d. not understand You; you are ,:u,, not
Ike yourself, and your cold words cut NE to
the heart. f this is, TO- be our Christmas
greeting, n.eg,, Angel, + wish to heaven that u
had never come ~ .'': n. t.~1 s+- -s 4:
t4sHush hush, steeniie,, said The girl 81
alarmed by the violence Of bis language and and.
by the expression of his face, over .5s ;W6ich :
deadly whiteness had suddenly spread: ayoul
must not excite yourself in this Way about
a shadow; my cOldnesg must be 'nifh;no -