The New Orleans crescent., 1868-09-06

prom csssell's . Mssss'ne. ]

tOfuetnfuE
principal was good fellow, bat, like the rest Of
Us, his temper was not the most certain in The
word. Sometimes he came looking rather black
snd gloomily, and sometimes my step was not as
Jaunty as II should have been. But we pulled
very well together. The end OF the official day
found rs as happy ss any two released govern.
friends.
When my principal looked up from his papers
tbst morning, | saw in an instant that his glOomi-
ness didDot proceed from dsordered liver or result
rom sleepless night consequent on an extra
glass Of wine at dinner the evening before. His
| temper was not n fled. He sad.
said TO myself, as ] nodded to him, and passed
to ny desk, that should soon find out what de
pressed him, for never were two men more conf
Denial than my good old principal and myself.
| On this occasion, however, he did not wait TO he
pumped, as usual. He took up the supplemental
sheet Of the Times, and throwing it across to me-
merely said "poor fellow"
began at the births" They contained, not
unfIequeDty, much sorrow for many men in the
docket office. When government clerk name
mentioned fourteen times 10 that particular sec
ton Of the leading journal, his friends may well
pity him. | am not quite sure that the distin ton
OF being so prominently brought before the public
is always looked upon as grievance by the reel.
pient Of the honors. The Joy Of some fathers is
| hTepressible.
think laughed a little when my eye caught
me following paragraph:
9 On the Both inst. the wife of c. Trevor, Esq,
Of q sop."
IL was Lent. and there were very fe m marriages.
none at any rate that nerested me. was ju,t
about TO burst out with some wild bit of extrav.
| sgance spropos of old Sankey's melancholy
face, when another paragraph in far more
gloomy section of the paper attracted my atten.
| ton
"On the 3Oih instant the beloved wife of G.
! Trevor, Esq, aged twenty-eightn
This was indeed sad news. / knew Charles
| Trevor well, had known him, Indeed, since the
Day on which he first made his appearance in the
| nice. briehtfsced, beardess boy, fresh from
school, and consequently first in the competition
before the dreadful commissioners in Deans
Yard Westminster.
year ago Charley Trevor had married. We
thought him fool for his pains, and hnted as
much as delicateIy as we eouId Rat ha was
infatuated of his head altogether: a rood fel
low as ever lived; the kind Of man that manv
woman would have moulded into something super.
atvely good IN the way of men but he fell in
% !%3ve win woman with strange green eyes and
thin lips, and married her.
was present at the wedding-Charley's best
man, In fact; but. somehow or other from the
time be was engaged until he was married we
were not such firm friends as IN the old DAYS. AMI
afier the wedding | very little of him
indeed.
/ had dined with them once. and during that one
evening persuaded myself OF these facts: frat
Of all i confessed to myself that did not like
Mrs 1rover; secondly, that Mrs. Trover did not
idolized his wife.
And now, within one shert year of their wed.
ding, stood with the paper in my hand and read
therefrom that Charley Trevor was father and
widower.
knew, Of course, what was my duty-my pain.
fOl duty. j felt that ! ought TO 10 AT once To nv
friend, and try and comfort him. Charley Trevor
was not the sort of man who should be left alone
after such 81 awful blow as this. Highly sensitive
nervous, passionate, and impetuOus, his was the
kind of grief most painful for man to suffer, and
the most terrible for nan to witness.
have of eho
sorrow that these little missions of friendship be-
come occasionally very delicate matters To
some, the sight OF well.knOwn face is soothing
in the extreme. and an opportunity for confidence
and consolation. goes occasionally half way To-
wards cure; whine others prefer to hide them.
selves away, 10 shut themselves up with their
sorrow in some lonely room, apart from every
one IN the world, no matter how friendly, and
resent any approach TO them as an insult They
feel that no one can appreciate their agony and
that II Is an impertinence to attempt to alleviate
IL with kindliness and affection.
HoWever, 1t was my duty, and | went in the
dark of the evening of the day on which had
heard Of my friends loss. to try and comfort him.
was certainly not prepared to find nim as did,
DE bad suffered swfully, could see that; but his |
snnerlDg seemed TO be the result Of rage, rather
than despair. There was not that fearful ex. |
preston of eountenance speaking more eloquent |
" thsn words, of void which could never De re-
placed.
He was pacing up and down the room with |
the door had opened and / had entered He |
looked at me at first rather fercely but his fa,e |
seemed worn and tired, like the face of an old |
man.
- How good of you to come !" he said in a thick |
hoarse voice. " Then you know all?"
said that had heard of his sad affliction.
p" How good.how good Of you to come" and |
then be broke down.
There was long silence-a silence whieh did
not attempt to break. but allowed the poor fellow
TO lean upon the mantelpiece and sob.
When be had recovered little. and looked up
at me. bis face seemed quite changed. All the
anger had disappeared the fierce fire had goae
out OF his eyes, and then, heart-broken indeed he
said :
Do you think loved that dead woman up
stairs :"
manner in which it was spoken, all nv private
doubts and uncertain fears assumed a real shane
and felt that / was destined TO hear dreadful
story. will tell his story he told II me 10 the
house TO which he had brought his wife only
year ago, and from which she was soon to be
carried away and buried ont of sight,
" she was my cousin" he began; suppose |
you know that We began by playing at making
owe when we were boy and girl, on the sly. We
znew perfectly well that her father would sooner
zee his daughter dead than married to me aud |
hat my father was strongly prejudiced against |
cousin marriages. But | suppose these Objec. |
ions made US all the more inclined to play at
owe making. IL was, in some sort of way, ex- |
;iting TO carry on our little fiirtatons under the
'ery eyes Of our parents, but still under the
ose. |
We were thrown very much together. |
pent all my holidays at Craven Court and all nv |
luiet hours at school were occupied ia recollec- |
ions of the delightful days spent there. Very
Don | felt that was not playing at making love.
he seemed, somehow, TO belong to me.
Why, loved her when | a mere child. /
little notes were smuggled under her door at
rghttime aud little locks of her sunny hair were
ut of and hidden away in an old pocketbook, |
hich never left me night or day when | was at
chool. II was childove; but I'll swear that il /
'as the bonestest and purest love that was ever $
ven TO girl.
" She liked TEASING Xou know how RirIs /
IKE teuSiug boys; the girls. who for their age are
o unnaiuraly forward the boys, who. paradox :
cal as II may seem, are so feminine aud shy. She
ould dance and hold her way with men twice her
ge in the ballroom. while could only wish to !
esven did not feel so awkward and such fool, '
= stood between the folding doors watching her .
oquettiDg with the humble bunch of yiolets |
sd gathered for her in the dew. two good hours q
efore bfeak kfast time. She had taken thasa sama