Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1872-09-27


enough to take care Of her, and gentle
enough 10 to be good to her. These two
things went so far with her, that 1t seemed
to her they were a reasonable foundation for
love. BY this you will perceive that she
conceived love about as accurately as
blind man conceives colors or deaf man
sounds. Love, to her thinking, was q kind
Of sublmated logic. The man who should
be all that Job Maynadier had failed to DO,
must Of course be he who could hold her
heart.
So she let Colonel Dalton come and 90,
feeling that there was no hurry; but that
doubtless when her heart Of love was ripe
no would be the one to gather It in and
store it in the garner of his large, calm,
kind nature. Meanwhile she made him
very happy. She fenced with him with
pretty little weapons Of her own, keeping
him from just the point of asking her to
be his wife. But he was used to skirmish-
ing, and was too good soldier not to be
willing to bide his time. She was always
fresh, always amusing 70 him. Her very
petulances pleased him. Poetry, which he
had never been wont to care for, had new
meaning for him when she read it, Uneon.
sciously but continually he was adapting him
self to her tastes aud her notious; which was
all very well until the man came who needed
not to adept himself hecause his own life was
set to the same rhythm.
1t is odd how often we ourselves intro
duce our own foes into the household. Ha-
gar was Sarah's bondwomau it was not
Abraham who brought into the dwelling his
temptation. Launcelot was King Arthur's
knight-not page or equery of Guine-
we're. So, one morning, Colonel Dalton,
grave, benign, nearer fifty than forty, said to
Mrs Maynadier
"By your leave | will bring round to-
night friend of mine who wishes to be In
troduced to you-Captain Desmond"
Evening came, and with it the Colonel's
'young friend handsome, gallant man Of
Helen Maynadiers oga age. You see that
in telling you my true little story have
laid aside the ordinary stage effects of fic.
ton. do not intend to keep you in the dark
moment as to the fact that this same Cap
tain Harry Desmond is not only my hero
but Helen Maynadier's. spoke a little
while ago of the illumination, the sudden re.
vealing of love. Is not all love, that is love
at all, sudden revealing light filling all
the place? The sentiment that grows slow
y of long knowledge may be a friendship 50
> warm and so tender that it is fit to be the
joy and pride of life; but it lacks some
thing of the subtle sweetness of that intui
ton which is clearer than knowledge Al
least those who have loved, as Helen May
nader loved that night for the first time
in her life, would tell you SO.
She looked up, at Colonel Dalton's intro
ductlon, and met earnest, luminous eyes
: just cross between blue and hazel, which
shone out of clear-cut, handsome face that
might have figured not inaptly on some old
0 Roman coin. The dark hair was cut close
y in martial fashion, revealing the proud, per
l. feet head. The figure was we'll knit anC
1.-the, taller by inches than Colonel Daltou's
and the voice which spoke was the rich, dex
ible voice of an emotional nature.
If Colonel Dalton had been less unselfsh
: ly gentleman he might have been piqued
so thoroughly did these two, between whom
such sudden accord had sbeen struck, forge
t his presence. Captain Desmond CHANGED t,
& speak of favorite haunt Of Mrs. Maynad
t iers, quiet, seaside nook, where she, gen
uiUe lover Of the sea, was wont to find rest Il
g her soul. Desmond, in love also with tn
g waves, spoke with enthusiasm TO a listener q
v earnest as himself; aud if her responses wer
II few, watching her face where the thought
:, came ani went he did not need words Tn
1t limits OF an ordinary call had been severu
II times oat-stsid before the two gentleme
= went uaay They walked few blocks to
!
: the brief sentence--"I thank you for grea
sc pleasure" Captain Desmond allude
l. to the woman who had revealed to him VIC
IS manhood, even as he had unconsciously close
&c the door of her, past, aud opened for her tn
u gate into a new life.
e. Next day vague restessness had take
L possession OF Mrs, Maynadier. Colonel Da
d ton called as usual during the forenoon bu
e. she wondered how it was that she had foun
>; him entertaining before. She would hav
IT liked to ask him some questions about hi
N friend, but felt herself restrained by an uu
st accustomed shyness. She could not reaC
20 She did not care to talk. The days whic
came and went without bringing Desmon
Ie seemed to her nterminablo. There wer
ID three Of them before he came. was pre-
N ent at that interview, and said to myself
e "Ifever two have drunk to madness til
lie wild, sweet wine Of love, it is these two
s. And yet not one word Of sentiment or tendo
Y. ness was spoken.
d Their third meeting was without the n
straint Of witnesses. They talked for a viii
2 on subjects which were not persona!--son
pictures they both had seen; some poem
lie they both loved life, religion, immortalit,
e, Then suddenly Desmond stopped and lai
It down the book he had been holding. II
- looked with those luminous. clear ewes, WhiC