The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-06-21

ulce letUerS tOOI
| Bert turned little pale. He vague
Iy remembered that at different period
he had believed himself seriOusl,
"smitten" with Maria's charms. an,
had, no doubt, written in strain be
coming q lover, but how ardently o
how explicitly, he could not recall
He knew that there had been breach
of-promise case away back in the ex
perience of one of his ancestors; an,
though the case had not gone agains
him, yet he had never fully recovere,
the tone of his sensibilities, which ha,
received such shock.
"Give them to me-" said Bert, reach
ing his hand for them.
"Will you give me anything in re
turn of equal value? Will you give m,
the nOsegay in your buttOn-hole?'
at is beginning to fade. No, Mis-
Upton"
"Come into the garden, and l vii
give you fresh One."
Thanks
| He followed into the garden, where
she made selection, and throwing
Mrs. SmalPs gift aside, put her own il
its place. When she had finished, hs
picked up the faded flower and pressed
it in his pocket
"Oh,n said Maria, "a souvenir ot
some" The words broke off in her
throat. "Who gave it to yOu?" abrupt
ly.
"The widow Small" +" said Bert, smil-
ing.
"Come you are teasing me. "YOu
shan't see single letter; and they are
ever SO interesting
"HOw could they be otherwise when
you were their subject?"
And then Caroline called to them
that she was going home, and the con-
ference ended.
So it happened that Bert tempOrized,
with that dreadful hint of his letters
being read i'm court for the diversion of
the tOwns-fOlk hanging over his head.
Had he been quite certain of their
contents he might have detied them I;
but he was aware that a young man in
the first enthrallment of fancy allows
his enthusiasm to run away with his
prudence. But all this did not prevent
him from going daily to Mrs. SmalPs
for his bouquet, which, by-the-way,
he sometimes carried to Maria Upton,
sacrifice 10 Nemesis; and these daily
calls at the cottage in Lovers lane be-
came like daily bread to the hungry.
He lived for them, counted the hours
till it was time to set forth, prolonged
them till the hostess was faln to spread
her little tea-table and invite her guest
to drink nectar from china and 10 taste
ambrOsia homemade. Sometimes
when the nights were warm they took
tea i'm the little arbor, with roses nod
ding in at the arch-way, and honey
suckles climbing into the lattice, and
mignonette spicing the dewy air and
there the moon would find them, lis
tening to the sleepy notes of thrushes
in the hedge, or talking of the dim,
delicious future as if it were some en-
chanted land toward which they were
journeying together.
One evening as she babe him good
night on her doorstep, he felt her
hand tremble in his.
"What is it ?n he asked. "Did you
see a ghost among the plum-trees ?h
"Something startled me. L saw
thought L saw face among the shrub
berry,
'Whose face T'
''Oh, perhaps I was mistaken. 1t
was shadow projected from fancy,
maybe"
"You are getting nervous little one.
You must not live here alone
And the next evening when Mr..
Greaterex lOitered to the cottage, he
found she had followed his advice the
door; of the house were closed, and
l., II at, m no
dows. The widow Small had vanish
ed like the vision in q fairy story. Mr..
Bethold Greaterex was beside himself,
and ready to brave anything in Maria
Upton's power. What did breach of
promise signify in comparison with
losing his love? Let those laugh who
win.
Somebody had seen a person answer
ing to the description of Mrs. Small
take the noon train for New York that
day. Bert followed without more de-
lay, wasted week in hanging about
the city before he betOOk himself to
the house of his friend Mrs. Aberneth
in the suburbs. One afternoon, as he
was turning over some engravings in
the parlOr with Kate Aberneth, little
Charlie burst into the room in tears,
sObbing out that, "Miss Van Orme's
gone and dead herself-in the school,
roomI Charlie didn't do it! Charlie
only said, "Mr. GreatereX is cOurting
sister Kate in the parlOr, Miss Van
Orme;" and Mary said, Hush you
silly boy" and Charlie was mad, and
told that ma said SO herself, and threw
the primer at Mary; and then Miss
Van Orme looked all white like and
shut her eyes, and. won't talk; and
Mary said, "NOw you've have done it
Charlie J" Did Charlie?'
''Ob you hOrrid boy ~ cried Kate
Aberneth. "You are always i'm mis-
chief. l suppose Miss Van Orme has
tainted. Go and tell mamma"
"WhO is Miss Van Orme?" asked
Bert.
"Only the nursery governess. We
do have such bother with them. One
has temper, another has headaches,
and now, when we thought we had
got jewel, here she is fainting"
81 think we ought to try and revive
her." said Bert, taking Charles hand,
while Kate led the way. But when
they had reached the schOOl-rOOm Miss
Van Orme had recovered her senses,
and was sitting in an arm chair, while
Mary vigorously famed her pallid face.
"For mercy's sake, what made you
faint, Miss Orme?" cried Kate. "YOu
almost threw Charlie into convul-
siOns."
Miss Van Orme stood up and looked
beyond Miss Aberneth to Mr.. Great
erex, standing in the doorway, who
came forward to her relief instantly.
"YOu must not stand, he said, lead
ing her back TO her seat. 81 think
have found friend of mine"-turning
to Kate. "Why did you run away
from your friends?" he questioned, re-
lieving Mary of the fan.
al ran away from my enemies, if
you please"
''Do you call me One?"
"Perhaps we had better withdraw"
said poor Kate, tossing her head to
conceal her chargin. "Come chill
dren,n
"Thank you," Bert answered her
"I should like few minutes alone
with Miss Van Orme, if you please"
"Oh, you had better go back to Miss
Kate i'm the drawing-roOm," said Miss
Van Orme, when the door had closed
upon them. at will be shame to
Mrs. Aberneth; and, in
deed, can get on very well without
you, sir"
'rBut can't get along without YOU"
"And yet you know nothing at all
about me?n
"I am satisfied with my knowledge.
1 know that you are charming, and
hot r Jnvro won -