Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1866-12-20

! children my favorite amusement, won
dered how could possibly get through
the weary day without them. Little
'sDory" (short for Theodore whose faith
er's eyes had closed in this world without
| seeing the face of his little son, was an
animated sculpture of the purest marble,
lighted up by dark orbs that seemed to
make whittier the ivory skin ; and his SIS
ter, two years older, was the most be-
witching little romp that ever soiled white
dresses, or set at naught all the rules of
propriety.
| AS for the gentle sorrow-stricken moth
er, of whom scarcely any one ever got a
glimpse, L had fairly stormed her into a
sort of liking for me-scaled her castle
on various puetexts, and carried off the
children 50 frequently that the fact of my
existence became too apparent to be ig
nored. All the family laughed at my
passion for Mrs. Beverly, and all that
pertained to her; every one acknowledging
that she was lovely and attractive, but
completely wrapped up in her children
and the memory of happy past. My
feeling for her, however, amounted to
perfect enthusiasm, and we had become
very good friends some time before her
departure.
She had not gone among the charming
Miss LIS, and BIS, and G's, with their
rainbow-hued dresses but off among the
green hills of New Hampshire, where
| aunt and cousins awaited to welcome her
and children to pure air and green pas
lures. She would be gone all summer,
| and had laughiDgly requested me to keep
| an one on the house while remained
near it. 1t is needless for me to say that
kept two eyes perseveringly fixed upon
! the domicile whenever opportunity offered;
| and held endless discussion with Ben as to
| whether all the doors and windows were
properly fastened. For constitutional
| dread of burglars was one of my idiosyn-
| crasies; and had frequently been remon-
strated with for looking upon them as
supernatural beings-inasmuch as, from
the nature of my searches before retiring
l evidently expected them to lodge in
bureau-drawers, and store themselves away
in small boxes.
Mrs. Beverly had frequently spoken to
| me of brother whom, as the country
people say, she seemed to ''set great store
by" and who was now studying a pro-
fes.ion in distant city. He was to join
| her in New Hampshire, and return with
her on visit; and she had expressed a
strong desire that we should see each
other. 1 was quite persuaded that she
hoped great deal from this seeing, and
| must confess that the fact of his being
| Mrs. Reverly's brother threw a halo of
strange interest around Mr. Esselton.
/ often found myself thinking of him
and wondering what he was like--or
rather, what he would strike me as being
like for, of course, his sister had drawn
her own impressions of him for my benefit,
and if these impressions were correct, he
must be an uncommonly nice fellow. His
photograph was decidedly handsome, and
without ever having seen him, felt pref
ty well acquainted with him in advance,
and waited rather impatienily for October
to bring Mrs. Beverly back to town. [
had decided how to ''do' my hair, and
what dress to appear in in my first pre-
sentation; but could not help wishing
| tSSs cNdiCshiiiS9 hLllOIcS6Cu WOuIu OCCuI W
bring about that first meeting in way
entirely different from the usual hackneyed
course.
had my wish, as time will show.
About half of the two weeks had worn
away, when very warm day and night,
that called forth experience and compar-
lsoHs from all the ''oldest inhabitants, ;"
came down upon us with fury; and after
gasping through the day in some sort of
fashion, l left my couch at midnight in
utter disgust at my folly in supposing that
| could sleep with the thermometer high
up among the nineties, and betook myself
to the window,
Certain sounds that proceeded from the
next room convinced me beyond doubt
that Ben, though present in body, was
absent in mind; and with the pleasant
consciousness of being the only person in
the house alive to the affairs of this mum
dane sphere, turned my attention to the
glorious moonlight that, as Hood entLu-
siastically said:
| Makes earth's commonest scenes appear
| All poetic, romantic, and tender.
But while engaged in vague speculations
about the moon and stars, a sudden noise
brought my thoughts earth-ward again ::
and glancing toward Mrs. Beverly's back
premises, actually saw a man on the
upper verandab, opening one Of the bed
room windows
My heart almost stood still with terror;
but by fearful effort I restrained myself
from screamipe-for Ben vas very hard