The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-10-01

day soon alter you were gone and pfSQy
bad tirne Of It he had, with his coifoIRd-
edly affected foreign. .lways-more like a
lanky girl than a iad-couldn't speak q
word Of English; in fact, had come to
learn it, and as Miss Mollett was the only
person in the house who spoke French,
naturally he fell in love with her-desper-
ately, believe, and his governor (pots
of money you know-made lace or
shawls, or had something to do with
siIk-worms, forget which) was caught in
the trap which don't scruple to say old
Mollett, miser that he was, was always
batting with his prettydaughter. But she
was broken hearted about you, i verify be-
lieve, poor child never saw girl harder
hit-only married the foreigner ont of
desperation, not more than three or four
years ago." .- .....-,s.. ,.,.. ~ ~.
This was Judder's sporting and sportiye
manner of telling me the fate Of my, boy
ish love. I could hardly haveaexpected
anything else, yet it was heavy blow, and
one from which did not easily recover.
All my good fortune, hard work, and per-
severance seemedtO have gone for nothing,
and for time / was utterly cast down.
Accepting the news with outward calm
ness, however, / did not even press Judder
10 tIY lO IcCAl WIFI l1OfCF fsnS
name of the man poor Bertha had married.
All my wandering, unsettled habits now
returned, and as no longer had the
| vaguest object for making more money, l
still held to my determination to come to
England; indeed, my arrangements for
that purpose were partially made, and
winding up my affairs, six months later
found me at home again. ,l-t.- = '.'5
90 ~ hA old xaot1rofYxy rnQda tho
| MANY memories of former days only more
vivid still. The decay which had passed
away since gazed on its receding shores,
had, as have shown, entirely failed in
| obliterating from my mind the one great
cause of nv departure, and, now that
was back again, / confess that 1 found it
more difficult than ever to drive away from
nv thoughts the picture of Bertha as then
knew and loved her / should not al
Jude to, nor lay so much stress upon
| this state of feelings, but for one
very curious. circumstance. l had
never lin my life dreamed of her.
! Throughout the long wretched time
of my controversy with her father, and for
months and months after had left Eng
land, and when thought of nothing but
her and my grief for her loss, / never once
had sleeping vision of her, and yet |
would have given worlds for one. used,
| foolishly, to try to coax myself to sleep in
such mood as could not fail, thought,
| to bring it about often and often have
prayed to see her and to pass in Imagination
some few moments of happiness in her
presence, even though all that sense OF
desoiation and misery which rushes over
the soul that has loved and suffered as ii
wakes from its dream of delight and peace,
must inevitably have been my lot. All
was in vain, however; the associations, the
surroundings of cur love were frequently
present to me, but in Berthas absence
| from the scenes, they seemed to mock my
wishes for glimpse of her. Now again,
after this lapse of years, and under my
changed condition, / found myself con-
tinua1ly dreaming of the old house, OF
Berthas father, and of my own old family
troubles, but never, under any circum
stances, of her. For long time my mind
dwelt constantly upon the peeulisrity OF
this fact, but, by degrees, the remembrance
only crossed me at intervals, and became
as free from the old spell as was ever
/ likely to be.l.TIy -rs,l.--tFaIf...L "a
NY wandering, restless disposition,
nevertheless, still clung to me, and though
established in England, frequently betook
myself to the Continent, and travelling
hither and thither simply for amusement
l often passed the whole round of the
seasons abroad, lighting upon many locali'
ties at the most questionable periods II
was during one of those trips, late in the
autumn, and when nearly every tourist had
departed, that found myself at Lucerne
But few visitors fingered at the Schweit
ger Hof, although the bright October
weather might reasonably have tempted
many to prolong their stay, as did, by the
shores of this most lovely of the Swiss lakes
The Jagged peaks of Mount Pilatus fol
days and days stood clear out against a
cloudless sky, whilst every seam and fur
row, pinewood, and silver torrent, were
plainly discernible on the face of its op
posite neighbor, the Righi. The lofty
chain of the distant Alps, by this time
ample, was reflected with marvellous pre-
cision and beauty on the bosom of the
placid inland sea. My enjoyment, of the
place was so great, that / could do nothing
all day but drink in its charms with eye.
and heart, and even when night came on
I used to spend many q pleasant houI
slowly trayersing the old covered bridge
with the wooden piles, getting various
combinations of form and effect, as thu
moon lighted up the scene. The visitors
book at the hotel now rarely received any
additional names Here and there only {
Mr.. and Mrs. Smith and family jottet
down the fact that they were returning
from North Italy, and were so sorry tina
they had not time to spend more than ont
might at Lucerne during such very pleas
ant weather"; whilst an occasional Mrs
Jones, and a stray Miss Tompkins or two
gave a short history Of their holiday trip
"regretting that they had not come herr
first that they might have had tim
to explore the very beautiful scenery o
the neighborhood," or made comment il
glowing language on the comforts of tn
house, the ciyility of its landlord, and th'
excellence of its cuisine. 'zit D. 1ef
Iwould sometimes amuse myself in th
salle.a- -manger, by glancing Through thi
budget of dull cOmmonplaces, idiOtic sug
gestions, and questionable English suppliet
by my fellow -countrymen, interspcrset
as they were at intervals by the sand
covered entries in that little cramped
queerly twisted hand of the foreigner
which contrasts 90 quantity with the large
clearly formed letters, and bold signature
of the AnglO-S Saxon. Of course, with 81
,, few people travelling, every fresh arriva
was easily discerned, and often gave mat
ter for a word or two of gossip from Fritz
the head-waiter, who, like the rest of hi
, class abroad, familiar and garrulous, con
ceiving that all the English and American
were naturally intimate with each other
seemed to expect me to take persona
interest in every newcomer.
, Returning from a stroll on the oil
bridge, the evening preceding the day
had fixed for my departure, entered tn
salle-a,manger of the hotel for some re
! freshment. There was no one there, bu
the book lay open on the table near tn
ink stand, as if some entry had just beel
: made. / was about 10 glance at it, whel
my eye fell on the latest Times, which
proving more attractive, prevented m,
looking to see II any fresh traveien ha'
passed throughy during the day, Sittin
, down to the newspaper, remember clos
| ing the book, and resting my elbow on
l for considerable period, whilst dallie
: with the large quill pen, still wet from it
, recent use for what followed induced m
to recall minutely my slightest actions al
Il ter l entered the 'hota that eveniaee
, Fritz, the waitcr, did not serve my meal
: l read It'll it was very bate, and wen
straight 10 my rooni, just as the light
: were being extinguished ,.rsa-
7 Now, I suppose that for the last twelv
7 years of my life, Bertha Mollett had neve
, been farther from my mind than she wa
r when / laid my head ON the pillow tina
, night. had not thought of her TO
, months; my brain teemed with specula
! tions (far enough removed from old asst
,rh;ob kod hoau NroreaI ~