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

2, 1866. S. az. Il y==s+ e
her daughter's face::35 6 Angel, !" sheaaidi lin
the sharp, peremptory tones natural to her,
Hyou will not be suoh fool as 70 throw
away such chance as this: Why did you
not tell me before?" s:,s $50 4. z'1sss=1 -
Perhaps, because do. intend to be the
fool you take me for. Perhaps, because,
loving another1man, penniless man, as I
do, do not intend to sell myself to that
untamed cub, Reginald Hautain, as the
highest bidder in the marriage market as
yet. Perhaps, because I amso well suited
to live on hundred year, thatsI am not
likely to throw away such chance as that.
What say, you, mother? you shall decide
for me in this difficult matter. / promise
to abide by your decision. Shall l marry
Reginald, or Stephen Hautain? Either Of
them would have me tomorrow"
Angels countenance, to tell the truth,
belied her name as she uttered these words,
standing opposite to her mother, with a
lurid light in her fine eyes, and the demon
spirit Of scorn sitting on her short curled
lip. Mrs Temple, who did not understand
her daughters temper in the least, or see
how fercely the two opposite currents Of
worldliness and nobility were struggling for
the mastery in her breast, only recognized
the fact that, in leaving the matter to be
decided by her mother, she was reaching
out her hand to grasp the profered coronet,
which had so many charms for the matron-
ly heart; and she answered rather coldly,
for she despised the imputed motive
at is mere farce your asking me
to decide, Angel, between Reginald and
Stephen. You know that I would rather
see you in your grave than mated with pow
erty and disgrace"
'sYou know, mother, how widely our no.
tions differ on this point; if you wish me to
obey you, you must not shirk the point. If
you wish me to sell myself to Reginald
Hautain, for the prospect of a coronet and
ten thousand a year, you. must say so in so
many words. / am not IF age-it is not
my own doing. You must say distinctly,
angel, it is my wish, that, without enter
tanning spark Of affection for him, and
loving another man from the depths Of your
soul, that you marry Reginald Hautain for
the sake Of the rank and the wealth that
will one day be his. Why should We not
all say exactly what We mean? Iahaye
said my say, bpt nothing will alter mEs de:
termination. The choice remains with you,
mother. The last word was said with a
dash Of that bitterness which Byron has
thrown into it, when on the lips Of the de-
formed boy, I was born so mother.) The
crooked and distorted body, or the crooked
and distorted mind, should be the last in
frmities with which mother should re-
proach her child; and, in Angels case, the
stress she laid upon the word seemed to say,
IF / am base, it is to mothers influence
that that baseness is to be attributed; let
her be the last to condemn. "
CANCEL" said Mrs. Temple, looking her
young daughter straight in her face as she
spoke the words, "you have placed, the re-
sponSibility on my shoulders in this mat
ter, and I have po objection to take it. I
lay my commands upon you to accept Re-
ginald Hautain's offer if he proposes to you
tonight, or at any subsequent time; and in
saying so, I know that am eohoeing your
papa's wishes He has spoken to me on the
subject more than once. 5..Zs=
Z every we'll.
This was all that Angel Temple said.
Her mind had of course been made up. be-
fore, to reject the man who loved her, as
she had herself affirmed, as his own tsoul,
and to take for her husband one, against
whose coarse and brutal nature her own re-
volted, merely because he was ap elder son,
and heir to the barony Of Hautain. Angel
was naturally ambitious, and she had been
brought up by worldly mother; but that
livery we'll" cost her the anguish Of a heart
too noble to reconcile itself at once to the
disgraceful role assigned to it to play. |
have said that her mind had been distorted
by the faults Of her education, and she had
cajolod herself into the miserable belief
that she had now placed her future con-
duct, with regard both to Stephen and Re-
ginald, on the score Of duty to her parents
and to herself. Miserable sophistry that
had not balm enough to heal the slightest
wound amongst the many that followed up
on those simple words. Poor Angel ! least
angelic, when you sacrificed yourself on the
altar that was not the altar Of duty, and
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