Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1869-03-25
Original storg.
Why He Did Not Marry Her
BY OSCAR DALE.
CHAPTER l.

ratively small number Of people who mai
II rule to mind their own business, whe
this subject was forced upon their attentio
admitted that there was something strapg
about the conduct of this couple.
The story of their lives, so far as the goo
people of Bayneville knew it, was as 70
lows:-
Henrietta CASTOR was the niece of old MI
Bayne, who was in turn the son of sti
older Mr.. Bayne, now deceased, who ha
founded the village and erected the mill
which first gave 1t life and importance. TIL
man now known as 'Old Mr.. Bayne" wa
wealthy, widowcr, aud childlcss. He sti
owned the mills and was partner in larg
firm in Philadelphia.
Though he had not reputation for par
tcularly sunny disposition or generous hear
he seemed to love his little niece Nettie will
an almost fatherly affection, and spared n,
expense in giving her the most thorough ed
ucation the best schools could afford.
She was emphatically San old mans dar
ling" and her uncle seemed to refuse he
nothing that even girhsh caprice could ask
while Nettie was as light-hearted girl az
ever staggered under the light burden o.
knowledge and heavy load Of accomplish.
ments,' which young ladies' seminaries i'm,
part to their inmates.
But there came time in the latter part ol
her school days when she wanted something
that Mr.. Bayne refused. This the village
knew, but could never settle to its own com
plete satisfaction what that something was.
This much however might be considered
as settled,-it had something to do with a
young man. Old Mr.. Bayne had way OF
keeping things to himself in which his niece
much resembled him,-a trait in both their
characters not much relshed by some in the
neighborhood, but which, us it could not be
amended by others, had to be put up with.
One theory stoully maintained by one set
of gossips, was that she had wanted this
young man to come to Bayneville to give
her lessons in German which she had COM
menced under his tuition at school, while
another theory, maintained with equal ear
nestncss, was that she had wanted her un-
cle's permission to marry the young man.
People who held to the lutter theory, and
this included the majority of ull classes and
the entire number of young ladies, trium
phantly said that so tritling misunderstood
ing would not have produced the GOODNESS
which for time sprung up between Mr..
Bayne and the only person he ever seemed
to care for, or who ever seemed to care for
him,-a GOODNESS that had never worn off
entirely.
There certainly seemed to be something in
this, for they certainly had cared much for
each other once, and if their quarrel, (if
quarrel they had) had only been about
German teacher, il seemed reasonable to
suppose that the old mans love of money OF
the young girls enthusiasm fol German
would one or the other have given away be
rSro this, add that they would have been full
ly reconciled.
AS it was, three years had now elapsed
since Mr.. Bayne had made his hasty journey
to Philadelphia and returned with his niece,
and during all that time, though Nettie had
sat at his table and presided over the domes-
tic affairs of her unclc's old fashioned but
elegant mansion, treating him with dutiful
had never been fully restored
the old affection, while the old familiarity
with which she used to perch herself upon
his knee and call him Jo., was apparently
gone forever.
For year after her return Nettie had
gone out but little in society, though Bayne-
vile, now that 1t had become the county
town, had in it some very pleasant people,
and was quite socially inclined.
After that she got in the habit of mingling
generally in their social gatherings, but was
always singularly chary of receiving those
attentions frcm the opposite sex which her
youth, beauty, accomplishments and pros
poets rendered it certain would be offered
her. She even carried this to the extent of
preventing, as far as possible, any of the
young gentlemen from accompanying her
home from their gatherings. Wherever
she went she was generally accompanied by
Edward Benton, and she thus avoided all
such attentions.
Everybedy knew that Edward, who was
superintendent of the mills and lived at
Bayncs, was engaged to be married to a
girl up in Massachusetts, whence he came,
and would shortly brisg her to Baynevile
as his bride. Meanwhile he had the pleasure
of escorting around the beautiful, and, as the
gallants called her, the proud Miss CASTOR.
The young men were much exercised in
mind about Miss Gaston's evident avoidance
of them and several times solemnly resolved
to proudly leave her alone in her pride. She
stood the "leaving alone" however, with
such cheerful equanimity that the young men
found themselves the greatest sufferers and
abandoned that sort of tactics. Besides
there was one thing which kept warm
place in their hearts towards her, and that
was the boundless hospitality and graceful,
winning courtesy with which she welcomed
them all to her own home.
With the young ladies of the town Miss
CASTOR was quite popular for two reasons
First because she chose to be and knew
how. Secondly, because she was somewhat
of heroine In their eyes aud their romantic
belief in her blighted affections left them no
room to fear her as a rival, ior it was to her
delighted affections" Of course, that they
attributed her evident indifference towards
the youths who set their own hearts all In a
futier.
Mattoro ,,rooreaeed in this manner for a