Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-03-10
MARRYING A HEROINE.

MHhN lNU II uEllUINL1
Why did not Frank Leigh marry ?--hand-
some wealthy, good-humOred Frank Leigh.
Had he been under parental control, or suf-
iering some amatOry disappointment, or
tinged with disposition to be cynical or
over fastidious, it would not have been at
all surprising; but as it was, all the world
that is, all the affectiOnate mammas and
charming marriagables of his acquaintance
were curious to know why he condemned
himself to hateful celibaCy; and number
less were the questions, direct and Indirect,
with which he was tormented concerning
this all-important subject.
10 some, Frank, with thoughtful air,
and shrug of his shoulders, would reply,
that he could not say to others, that he
didn't know; and to his intimates, in con-
fidential moments he avowed his unalter-
able determination of eschewing matri-
mony until he could marry heroine.
And what was Frank Leigh's definition
of that trisyllabic noun? Was it a pretty
horse-breakerP Decidedly not, as half a
dozen of the fairest frequenters of Rotten
Row testify. Was it a high-minded young
lady who set the weakness of her sex at
naught? or a mathematical and geological
candidate for collegiate honors? No, he
would have none OF these.
Then what did he-what could he mean !?
Had he been reading rOmances, and be-
come infected with such an enthusiasm for
the Rowenas and Rebeccas, the gentle
Edithas and fair Alisons of the olden times,
that no damsel would be considered eligible
to bear his name, who had not attempted
some half dozen hair breadth escapes, and
endured agonies of terror, and so
forth, with the resignation of martyrP
A look into his sober and sensible face
seemed to confute this idea; but still, the
ineXplicable sentence remained on record;
and how was Frank Leigh to be reasoned
out of such folly, while he persisted in
burying himself at Hatchley Grange, in
Lincolnshire, at time of the year when
there was neither shooting nor hunting to
keep him there, nor any other guests at
Squire Dashwood's hospitable board.
Honestly speaking, Frank would have
found difficulty in explaining the why
and wherefore he still tarried in Lincoln
shire. He went there because others went;
he stayed, first because the birds were plen-
tiful; then because the Squire took liking
to him, and pressed it so earnestly that he
knew not how to refuse; then because he
found a fine old library at Hatchley into
which no one ever ventured but himself
which made seclusion delightful; and he
stayed yet longer, because, with advancing
spring, the country grew so pleasant, that
he was 10th to exchange its fragrant breath
and sunshine for the crowded ballroom or
the concert; and then he stayed he knew
not why, except that he had become do
mesticated at Hatchley, and was too COM
Portable and too lazy to change his quar-
tiers.
Every one knew that the Grange possess
ed no feminine attractions. Mrs. Dash
wood, the 'squire's second wife, was the
querulous, invalid mother of some half a
dozen of the noisiest and widest little
creatures that ever raced along the corridor
of an old fashioned country house; and she
seldom lett her own apartments until even
ing, when she lay on her sofa, half hidden
in shawls, pouring dOleful relations of her
symptoms and sutferings into the ears of
any one polite and patient enough to listen
to them, and varying the monotonous re-
citals with frettul reproofs Of her step
daughter, Minnie, who, at an early age, had
been promoted to the drawing room to
pour out the coffee, stir the fire, find Mrs.
Dashwood's smelling-bottle and handker-
chief every time they were mislaid, to re-
mind her OF the hour for taking her medi-
cines, and carry her shawls when she re-
tired for the night 1..r.
/ What became of Minnie Eastwood DUR
ing the rest OF the twenty-four hours, no
one ever seemed to know, or to care to in
quire; but Frank Leigh twice encountered
her in the park, surrounded by her half
brothers and sisters, amongst whom she was
striving to keep peace with such unflag-
ging sweetness of temper that the young
man looked after her with compassionate
interest, and mentally decided that she de-
served better usage than she received at the
hands of her eXacting step mother and her
refractory progeny. 4....ti ..l
This kindly feeling led Frank to pay her
in the evening some of those courteous at
tentions due to q young lady, which he
was ashamed to remember had been held
from the silent little girl, whose presence
no one ever seemed to acknowledge; and he
received in return such shy glances of
wondering gratitude, that he was suddenly
awakened to a conviction that beneath the
chestnut-curls, which clustered too thiekly
around her brow to suit his classic taste,
there lurked pair OF hazel eyes, large,
beautiful and expressive, and, much to his
own amusement, he saw them again in his
dreams. ~. alf+ r.t ..s t.41rf,io y,r.5
( But his interest in Minnie Dashwood re-
mained stationary at this point, and he was
sitting in his retreat, as the squire desig-
mated the library, ruefully surveying a.
packet of business letters, and asking him
self whether it would not be less trouble to
take the night train to Kings Gross, and
answer them personally, than to commence
a lengthy correspondence, when the door
was thrown OPEN, and Minnie, breathless
with running, and pale with some alarm,
suddenly appeared before him.. saillsog
f l"Papa and the boys are all out,p she
painted, " and Harry has fallen down the
we'll In the orchard.lL0h, Mr., Leigh, what
shall do?"