American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-12-28
VOL. XXII.

must /; meanwhile she encouraged in ev
cry way the young gentleman who ha,
followed her from the house of her cou
sins where she had visited before return
| .n% home from school.
Alice" said Mrs. Hamilton at break
asst one day, holding her hand on he
heart behind the urn, because the deter
mination to speak made the heart beat 80
81 am sorry to hear such unpleasant stO
lies about young Mr.. Roberts,
Alice raised her pretty eyebrows an,
laughed as she slipped her coffee.
"Oh! | dare say" she replied, in tina
musical voice of hers. People Away
did, and always will, talk about youns
Mr.. Roberts"
My dear said her little step-mother
''he is giving them great reason"
Il am willing" said Alice.
"But you wouldn't tie, dear, if yor
| knew
Il don't want to know
." But he Is so attentive to yOu-yOu are
wearing his ring-I don't think it would
be just to let you remain in ignorance
| when such sad things-''
| s'Sad things! I should think they
were very delightful things by the pleas
ure YOU seem to take in thcm!''
80 Alicer'
can keep them to yourself. L sha'n't lis
ten TO them!''
| Very well, then. I shall not repeat
them. But certainly feel myself bound
to tell you that he called here night be-
fore last, after you had gone up stairs, in
such a state that he could not pronounce
| your name."
Alice rose, upsetting her chair, took a
couple Of steps. turned, and faced the
| dher.
Il don't believe a word you say.' she
cii.d, ut is an impudent fllsehoOd ~
And she sprang from the room.
Mrs. Hamilton was still alone at the Ia
be when a servant told her that young
s.r. Roberts desired to speak with her in
tie drawing room.
Mr.. Roberts advanced to meet er as
s.;e entered, bowling profoundly, hat in
hand, and proceeding to make a score of
apologies for the recent improperly of
his conduct. averring its accidental ma
lure, and giving every reason but the true
Cua.
Il am very glad to accept your apollo
gies, Mr.. Roberts, said Mrs. Hamilton !;
7: am sorry you should be obliged to
.,,ake them"
'Indeed, L am Inundated myself" he
said, glibly. '.But 1 confess that owe
the explanation to one to whom l expect
10 stand-as L suppose Alice has told on
in such near relation"
''Alice has not teld me anything" said
OF the circumstances, you must yourself
ace that cannot any long,r countenance
your visits at my house."
"Do you mean" he began vehc-
mently.
81 mean that, standing to Alice in her
fathers place, l can not CONSENT
''Real1y," said Mr.. Roberts, with his
bril- htest, most impertinent smile, sis
,our consent necessary 20
yyil
Hamilton, with dignity, ''when 1 assure
you that Alice has not a penny of her own.
Mr.. Hamilton's fortune was left to me
unreservedly."
SIS that true 90 said Mr.. Roberts.
'.Mrs. Hamilton said the young lover,
throwing himself ON sofa, for they had
been standing, ''you are very kind to tell
s~A ---s.s-. dssl &c seAaLion- I VIII tell
you the truth. l can not afford 20 marry
a poor wife. Alice had given me a very
different Impression concerning her af
fairs. l must say that your candOr makes
a marked contrast with her deception in
this matter. 1t is not only candor-it is
charming sense, good sense that hardly
belongs to one so young and lovely as
you"
MIR. Roberts," said Mrs. Hamilton,
"you are very f1attering; but when 1 as
sure you that passed the night at Mary
RaymOnd's side, and in her Gelirium
Earned -.the dreadful secret you share
With her, you will admit that compli;
nents are out of place between us. Good
morning sir And the discounted young
man entered the house no more.
4 But in doing this duty Mrs. Hamilton
bad made the way hard before her. She
uetailed the conversation to Alice, as she
elt obliged to do. The girl heard her,
growing livid, leaning back in her chair,
Unable to move. By and by she took up
her book again. ..You demand great
deal in man. she said, with harsh
mockery in tone and face. 'sLet us see
what you will make of your son.
What she would make of her son If
Alice ha registered a vow to turn the
boy into a devil, she could not better have
fulfilled it than in her behavior day by day
thereafter. She hardly know the mischief
she was doing; she had not wisdom
enough to see the evil end of it; she had
no intention but to hurt and thwart his
mother throueh it all Butshe simply, and
in one word, destroyed him. She gave
him slyly the indulgences his mother had
forbidden them she praised his beauty,
solely because she saw his mother disap-
proved of her doing so; she concealed her
knowledge OF his genera! offenses, solely
because she would not give his mother
the satisfaction of reprOving or remon-
self she punished him with blows that
reused fresh bursts of passion she nulli-
fled his mothers punishments by secretly
turning them into sport and carrying vari
GUS goodies to the place OF Punishment,
solely to have the better of his mother; she
told piquant gossip and talked on question
able subjects before him, solely because she
knew his mother was annoyed by it; she
beguiled him from his studies, because
his mother wished him to excel in them;
she wrote his exercises for him, solely be-
cause it would pain his mother when ex-
aminations and medals came that he could
not write them himself; she encouraged
his ;mperiOus demeanOr to servants by
adopting the same, and spoke of them al
ways as of an inferior sort of animals,
solely because it was disagreeable to his
mother; she te:.sed him to the point of
and then applauded his
storms of rage, crying out that he was
hi, father over again, solely because it
brought tears to his mothers eyes; she
was pretty, and with her beauty and with
her music, to which he would listen en-
tranced, she had an influence over him
that was fatal; and now. as he grew older,
she would humor and pet him and flatter
him, and then she would make the house
hot with acrimonious disputes and brOils
and fault-findings whenever he was in it,
because she discovered that high words
at such times, even more than at all 9TH
ers. were particularly unpleasant to his
mother; and she drove him out wild with
vexatiOn many a time, solely because it
pierced his mothers heart to hear the door
slam behind him. Probably had she
known whitber she was driving him, she
might have refraincd for her own sake "
for her fathers.
One da.-he was great boz then. half
a head taller than his mother-and being