National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1873-12-19

, herself, not for the manner in whicl
she had dismissed poor Vamly, but 70
the pangs she felt at the dismissal2 No
|. Far be it from me to attempt {,
enter into the heat of fashionabl,
young lady of the period. But thinl
that Gabrielle Ransome would hav,
been less scornful in her manner to Val
my and less angry now with herself if i
were not that she felt herself to hav,
been really in danger Of falling in lov,
with man who had neither station mol
money.
Gabrielle was as brilliant and attrac
tive during the remainder of the season
AS ever. Indeed, she was far more at
tractive, for the disappearance OF Valmy
left her tree to divide her smiles and
kindly words among the general crowd
of her admirers. But there was q
strange sort of anxiety every now and
then in her eyes, as If she were always
expecting some one who never came.
For the first time in the whole of her
bright life she was SUFFERING mental
pain. She had sometimes had head
ache, and had suffered from sore throat ;
and she had experienced disappoint-
ment about dresses and balls and such
like but she knew now for the first
time what a heart-pang is.
Yet it was not much evidence of de-
veloping soul which Gabrielle Ransome
| gave when, toward the close of the
| season, she consented to promise her
hand to the richest and the least in
tellectual of all her admirers. The
thing was done very suddenly. There
seemed no special reason Why she
should now all at once encourage this
gentleman, whom she had so long dis
couraged. She seemed to act as one
does who, having a disagreeable duty
to do, suddenly starts up and rushes at
the doing of it to get rid of it.
Papa" said Gabrielle one day,
coming up to her father with flushed
face and quivering lips, :" have prom
ised Gervase Trenchard to marry him. "
Indeed, love? Well, | am delight
ed, of course. Geryase Trenchard is
one of the richest men in the State
and he is very good fellow, and all
that but, Gabrielle, had you any par
ticular reason for singing out Tren-
chard o.
"Why do you ask, papa, when have
singled him out q
" Because, child, you never seemed
to me to care much about him."
:" You dear papa, you don't under
stand the way of girls"
Well, | suppose | don't, my love.
Any one you choose, Gabrielle, is a well
come son-in.law to me- ! only want to |
see you happy, and hope you are very
happy now"
But Gabrielle had hurried from the
room. Her heart was too full-with
perhaps-to hear any more.
She hid herself in her own room, and
her happiness in tears and
sobs.
Now if Mr.. Ransome had been a man
Of sense and strength-if, besides n
fond affection for his daughter, he had
had the faculty to understand and the
power to guide her-he could before
his, or even now, have saved her from
much distress and the danger of com
hitting a very great wrong. Is there
my wrong girl like Gabrielle Ran {
some can commit greater thar the sin
If marrying for some mean motive
nan she does not and cannot love
iabrielle was about to marry Mr..
lrenchard for motive which, though
he be my heroine, / must admit to be
mean. Were her feelings thoroughly |
nalyzed, had she herself the courage |
o analyze them, they would thus have {
explained themselves. In her heart she a
owed Eugene Nalmy-that is, she a
would have found satisfaction for the q
highest aspirations of her soul (and,
With all her fashionable weaknesses, she 6
lad some aspirations) if he were only !
brilliant match in the worldly sense. Il
But because he was not this she had ;
ot the courage even to listen to her
wn impulses nay, she was even angry 4
hen at first she found that she had S
uch impulses. She had not even Becky h
harp's excuse of want of money. But n
er ambition, born and bred and nur- T.
lred under the demoralizing, debasing p
lfluences of the society in which she |,
we'd, was to make a splendid match, lc
nd be wondered at, admired, and en- a
led. So she flung Nalmy off; and
zen, when he was gone, beginning to p
nd, to her dismay, that she really had t,
heart, she could think of no remedy o
o refuge, but in sudden deed of Il
oral suicide. She flung herself into il
/ engagement with Gervase Trenchard n
just that spirit of despair which il
axes many poor girl, under other p
fling herself into the m
yer. For myself, / never could un- lie
erstand why we should all be so much d,
ore Mortified at the physical than at ri
e moral act of suicide. W
Mr.. Ransome did not think of all st
is; and in any case his affection never &c
uld find any nobler way of expressing Z
self than in letting his daughter
please herself" as he phrased it. sa
SO she was now pleasing herself with to
It let or hindrance, and weeping bit W
rly and alone. Poor Lady Disdain.
lese fine, fashionable creatures, too. 81
ey have their feelings. he
Gabrielle rode out with her fance pr
e day on road which ran along the fie
,rgin of the sea. II was an exquisite di
v of early autumn the leaves were di
st beginning to turn to crimson and
rple and gold, and the western sky so
s beginning to hang ont the same be
Iors; and the sea wore the deep wine va
Ior which Homer pictures in one of Er
wondrous phrases. How glorious till
: scene! and how dull the pair who he
lie along! They hardly spoke. Ga est
ellie was quite out of humor-sick of un
, scene, of herself, of life and her loy
ID -natured lover, having tried many cul
VS. of amusing her and failed disas- of
usly, began to discover that she pre- pos
red to be let alone, and meekly en- tina
avored to consult her pleasure ac- oul
dinghy. In fact, she had been tor he
ing herself by remembering, and bol
30 rnt To remam hnr nna aynninr | her