St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1872-02-23

watched MN III his new sphere anu
surroundings and also enjoyed most
keenly seeing Ellen in Il wide and more
appreciative circle. spent Il large part
of the first winter i'll their house. and
shared all their social pleasures, and
looked forward to ever increasing de
light. as my neices should grow old
enough to enter into society.
Early i'll the spring | went to England
and passed the entire summer with rela-
tiveS: | heard from my sister every
week: her letters were always cheerful
and natural. and returned to her in the
autumn. full of ;lnticipations of another
gay Hih pleasant winter.
They met me at the wharf in New
York. and | remembered afterwards.
though in the excitement of the moment
| gave it no second thought, that when
John Gray'S eyes first met mine. there
WAS in them. IL singular and indetinable
expression, which reused i'll me an i'll
Simultaneous consciousness of distruSt
and antagonism. He had never liked
me thoroughly. He had always had an
under-culrent of fear of me. He knew
! thought him weak; he felt that had
never put full confidence i'll him. That
| really and truly loved him was small
offset for these facts. Would it not he
50 to all of us
This part of my story is best told ill
few words. | had not been at home one
week before ! found that rIImor had
been for some months coupling John
Gray's name with the name of Mrs.
Emma Long. Il widow who had but Just
returned to . after twelve Years
Unmarried life in Cuba. John had known
her in her girlhood. but there had never
been any intimacy or even friendship
between them. My sister, however, had
known her we'll, had correspondcd with
her during all her life at the South. and
had invited her to her house Immediate
ly upon her return to -. Emma
Long waS Il Singularly fascinating wo-
man. Plain and sharp and sclf-asScrt-
ing at twenty-five. she had become
magnetic and winning. and full of tact.
and almost beautiful. at thirty five. We
see such surprising development con-
tinually; it seems as if nature did her
best to give every woman one period of
triumph and conquest perhaps only
tlcy know its full sweetness to whom it
comes late. In early youth it is accepted
unthinkingly. as is the sunshine. en-
loved without delihcration full realiza-
tion. and only weighed ut its fullneSs
when it is over. But woman who be
gins at thirty to feel for the first time
what it is to have real power over men,
must he more or less than woman not to
find the knowledge and the consciousness
dangerously sweet.
never knew do not know o-day.
whether Emma Long could he justly
/ IL.
! ioyed the admiration of men, there was
no doubt Whether she WAS ever con-
SciouS of even a possible harm to them
from their relation with her. there was
I always doubt. even in the minds of her
/ hittcrest enemies. myself have never
doubted that i'll the affair between her
and John Gray she was the one who
suffered most: she was the one who had
Il true. deep sentiment, and not only
never meant wrong, hut would have
shrunk. for his sake. if not for her own,
from the dangers which she did not
/ toresee. but which were inevitable in
their intimacy. think that her whole
life aftcrward proved this. | think that
even my sister believed it.
Mrs. Long had spent six weeks i'll my
sisters house. and then established her
>elfin a very beautifully furnished house
ON the same street Almost every day
Mrs. Longs carriage was at my sisters
door, to take my sister or the children
to drive. Almost every evening Mrs.
/ Long came with the easy familiarity of
an habituatcd guest i'll the house. to sit
in my sisters paIlor. or sent with the
easy familiarity of an old friend for my
sister and her husband to come to her
I, a..
opera.
What could he more natural ?-w,lat
could be more natural, had the relation
been one which centred around my sis
ter instead of my sisters husband
What could he done. what offence could
lac taken. what obstacle intcrpoScd, 81
long as the relation appeared to he one
which included the whole family
Yet no human hcing could see John
Gray. five minutes i'll Emma Long 5
presence without observing that his
ewes. his words. his consciousness wcr.
hers. And no one could observe her iii
his presence without seeing that She was
kimdlcd, stimulated. positively lit by it.
as she WAS in no other companionship.
All this the city had been seeing and
gossiping over fnr four months. All this,
] ~
ears hy kind friends.
My sister said no word. For the first
time i'll my life there was Il barrier he
tween lis dared not pass. Her every
alluSion to Mrs. Long was III the kindest
and most uncmharrassed manner. She
fell heartily and graciously into every
plan which brought them together; she
not only did this. she also fully recipro-
Gated all entertainments and invitations
it was as often by Ellen's arrangement
as 10y Mrs. Longs that an evening OF a
day was spent by the two families to-
gethcr. Her manner to Mrs. Long was
absolutely unaltcred. Her manner to
John was absolutely unaltered. When
during an entire evening he sat. almost
motionlcss and often quite spcechless.
listening to Mrs. Longs conversation
with others, Ellen's face never changed.
She would not have seemed more un-
conscious if she had been blind. There
were many bonds of sympathy between
John Gray and Emma Long, which had
never existed between him and his wife
They were both passionately fond of art
; and had culture i'll that direction Ellen's
taste was undevelOped, and her in
stinctive likingS those of child. But
she listened with apparent satisfaction
and pleasure to long hours of converse
between them, about statues, pictures.
principles of art, etc, of which she was
as unable to speak as one of her own
babies would have been. Mrs. Long
also was a woman who understood af-
: fairs; and one of her great charms to
men of mind, was the clear, logical. and
,.a+ ni.turaSnun and piuuaut ,ya,- in