The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-11-26

e. RICHMOND Y A. s
/ Then followed a short silence, during
which could almost hear Winnie's heart
beat. Then said So -. s
"Do you mean to say, Winnie, that at
| the time You promised to marry me, YOU
Were engaged to five other gentlemen pr i
!" Yes; but [ amt now I am only en-
gagged to one.''. Ia.
| Besides me?" 4-I,.
g Yes, besides you. When / had writ
tef1 four notes, in different styles. breaking
| on four different engagements, couldn't
think what other form to use for the fifth
one. So let him go, and havn't written
yet. There 'st%>, - z. -.
And here Winnie gave profound sigh,
and looked up to me as though relieved OF
q heavy burden. 2t.. = ,Ea.,s 90.
| "And is this characteristic of the way
In which young ladies of the South engage
themselyes-this polyget system of be-
trothal :" = .fs., ~;--s
"I don't know, Pm sure," almost sobbed
Winnie: cts the way all the girls / ever
knew did,"
| arose, lit the gas. arranged paper, pen
and ink. and placed n chair for Winnie.
! "Suppose you write to the fifth one
4
think proper. I would rather not know
what you say. Seal it, address it properly,
land give it to me. By the time I'VE are on
the ocean my fifth rival will have received
it."
Winnie looked at me with comical ex-
preston, but sat down at the desk had
arranged, wrote the note and handed it to
me to read. Without doi8g so, I folded it,
enclosed it in an envelope, sealed the en-
yelope, and handed it back to Winnie for
her TO address,. She did so, and In another
moment the name of "Cyrus Morris, No.
- street, New York city," was cleaning
in violet ink upon the delicate paper. Then
l put the note in my pocket and went down
stairs to see, as I said, that it was properly
mailed. -.
That evening we had an extremely snug
Thanksgiving dinner all to ourselves, and
after it was over took Winnie's head be-
tween my hands, and looking down into
her fresh and fioWer-like face, asked, "Do
you think you and 7, Goldenbeam, will be
as happy one year from now as we are this
night?"
a momentary shadow falling over her face.
"And do you trust me so implicitly?"
asked. "Me, of whom you know nothing
whatever?"
'sAnd what do you know of me9" she
asked.
MGre perhaps s.t than You think" @
make bargain with you. One year from
now-it will be Thanksgiving day, then,
you know-you shall tell me whether l
make as good husband then as you think
now that will, and will tell you 49,"
| eyes! What?" Il
"Why / married you, and what I knew
of you before asked you to be my wife,"
1t acas q bargain, and we sealed it with a
kiss. -.-...-.-
The next day we sailed for Europe, and
within year "did I" everything that could
reasonably be done there within that time.
We had been so accurate ap& punctual in
following up the various routes which we
had planned for ourselves, that on the day
preceding the next Thanksgiving day we
landed in New York and repaired to the
same hotel which we had stayed ut the
year previously. -.. g.
IF ever there was an artless and unaf-
fected little woman, that little woman's
name was Goldenbeam. There was no cant
in her pietv, nothing lachrymose in her ex-
preston Of religion. But on Thanksgiving
day she took me deyoutly TO church, and
when we came home and prepared to have
an early dinner, she cIasped her arms
around my neck and said Z" Do you know
what is the one thing that I feel thankful
for more than for anything else?"
"For the last sweet things you brought
from Paris, I presume"
"You knoo it isn't that. 1t is for you.
| You know it is, and you just want me to
say So: i am so thankful that broke all
my five engagements, and tied myself down
to dear old thing like you. There; I've
kept nay part Of the bargain. Now you
keep yours. Why did you marry me
What attracted you toward me in such an
incredibly short space Of time?"
"Have you never thought" | asked.
"Never had the dimmest suspicion! Never
imagined that, after all, l was not taking a
leap in the dark, but in reality knew a Il
about you, and had made up my mind that
ought to have? Think for moment"
i Goldenbeam did think for moment, aud
then shook her puzzled head. ....-
| 81 can't make it out,' she said. "
never was good at guessing riddles. I give
it up"
"rhen let me refresh your memory. Do
you remember couple Of years ago, your
visiting friend for couple Of weeks in
II this city? .s.
go certainly. It was"
"Never mind who it was. That don't
concern the present question. Do you re-
member that on the evening previous to the
day of yonr departure for home, the lady
at whose house you. were staying gave a
little company? ?"
i "I remember it perfectly well. I wore
ta--"
Precisely. know you did. For I
was there" .... s
"You there? never saw you."
every probably not. Or if you did
i certainly did not obtain place in your
i remembrance as you did in mine. Through
/ out the whole of that evening something
Ia series Of petty accidents-prevented
my being introduced to you, though hea-
ven knows / sought an introduction FROM
the first moment laid my eyes upon you.
What attracted me? Not your beauty,
miss, though you looked as fresh as bunch
of June roses. You looked as pure and
sweet as some delicate red-and-white flower
with human breath blown into it. The
feyening passed, the little company came to
an end. I had to 20, and the introduction
had never taken place. The next day you
were gone. l heard from your friend that
lyou were the neice Of an old acquaintance
Iof myself. I knew his address, and did
something that I admit was not, strictly
speaking, honorable, wrote to you. You
Ewere hardly more than little girl. was
q matured man. I wrote to you, but the
same mail that bore the letter to you also
bore one from me to your uncle, in which
told him the state Of feeling you had awak.
ened in me, and begged him, If he ap-
proved, to help me in a harmless deception y
Winnie suddenly raised her head and
gazed at me with flushed cheeks and spark
ling eyes.
CYRUS Morris?" ;"That my aunt and
uncle were in the secret, that there was no
romance at all about it, and that it was all
/