Smyrna times., 1873-10-22
MISceZIU ID e D us.
A Romance in a Nutshell.

nv 81 WOL lOI IL 10 all dWkWdTu IuluR, llIS, W
get letter from lady, written in familiar
sort Of way, talking of "old times and years
ago, asking my advice, and wanting me 10 go
and see her, and L unable to remember.
by the bye, L suppose it is lady. Let me
look again at the letter; yes, it must be. The
handwriting Is certainly not mans, neither
is the composition. Listen to this tor instance
am embOldened to write to you on the
strength of old times, aud because, if you are
as klnd-hearted, generous and indulgent as you
used to be, you will readily forgive an old
friend, whose recollectiOns OF you are so happy
and SO pleasant. DO you remember the time
We spent at that most primitive of all villages!
how you taught me German when we rambed
on the sea shore l often think Of those days,
and how kind you were to me-.
That sounds very nice but don't recollect
anything about it. When did l ever Iamble
on the sea shore on a summer evening, teach
ing young lady German? Young lady, did
say Well, OF course, it must have been a
young lady. L wonder what she was llke-tall
or short, dark or fair? What was her name,
too? She signs herself a Berton" Let NE
see, what names begin with A-Annie, Arabel
la, Alice, Avlce, Adele-ah, wait-l have some
faint notion OF some one, very long ago-twen-
ty years, and perhaps more, and think she
was called Adele-Adele Berton; yes, that
| oOuLIuS uhC d udluG nave uSdIu DGlOE6s Dul
where did | see her? Primitive village, sea
shore, and l young fellow of one or two and
twenty Yes-l have it surely went to
Flgnelles once, when it was nothing but col
lection OF fishing hutS, long before it became a
fashionable watering place. Of course did
and 1t was there l saw Adele Berton. How
could be so stupid as to forget it? How could
l forget Adele? Who was she? Why, simply
the lOveliest girl ever saw. l wonder what
she is like now? Describe her to you-tell you
all about it? With pleasure, as far as can,
only let me collect my thoughts little, and
think how it all came about--it was so long
ago. Yes, begin to recOllect now; l dare say
1t will come back to me as | tell you. Shal
l begin at the beginning?
1t must have been at least twenty years age
that l received letter from friend asking
me to join him in Agiers where he had gone
for his health, and giving me such descrip.
ton OF the place as he thought would tickle
my artistic fancy. did not care much about
going but l wanted a change; so wrote and
told him that perhaps l would come, and did
actually set out, and got as far as Calais. There
| ran against an old acquaintance who persua.
ded me to remain u day or two, and there, as
Calais and Algiers were equally Indifferent tC
me, came to a halt at the commencement oi
! my journey.
| uIRuI peILLtpS nave BOuC on II
| l had not taken long walk to a charming un
sophisticated little village, called Vignelles
buried in q valley close to the seashore. Every
thing was so picturesque that l Immediately
| ssid to myself, This is a thousand times bet
ter than Agiers or Calais, and here LII stay. >
| had been walking nearly all day, and wa!
hot, tired and dusty, and the place seemed in
tensely inviting. As it was nothing but o
cluster of fishing cottages, it seemed to Offer
but small chance of accommodation but luck
! lily did succeed in making arrangements fol
bed and board in one of them, and the mex
week found me quite settled down as an anna
teur fisherman, in the most rustic and patriar
chal little spot you ever saw.
| have seldom seen handsOmer women thar
the fish girsOt Vignelles, with their broad full
chests and muscular limbs, bright black eye
and thick wayward hair, to say nothing of thei
rich brown compilations and glowing cheeks
that would have shamed many young lad,
whose hands have never touched anythinI
rougher than silk, and whose notion of work i
crochet or Berlin wool.
l had spent two or three weeks at Vignelles
and was fast becoming accustomed to its rough
almost savage life, when fortunately | mad
acquaintance with brother artist, who, thougl
much older than myself, was most sympatheti
in taste and feeling, and with whom uuickl
, became friends Unluekily, he did not live il
Vignelles, but about two miles distant, in
; solitary little house on the cliff, commanding
however, view of the sea.
1t was there | first saw Adele. She was hi
only child, and the idol of his heart | seer
! to see her now, as l saw her then for the frs
time. | thought her the most beautiful gil
upon the face of the earth. l cant tell yo
the color of her hair and eyes, for they were
mystery to me. / think her eyes must hav
been brown, but they often looked quite blac
d as black as her eyebrows and eyelashes; an
as for her hair, it was all shades of gold, rec
y russell brown and black. | really do not reco
4 lect about her features, except that they wer
beautiful; nor how tall she was, except that
: was taller nor whether she was plump or thir
= but only that she was perfect. She was pc
feet too, in disposition, as amisble and unse
: FISH as she was lovely. She was clever tot
B. without being highly accomplished She use
! TO sing to US Of an evening, in her sweet g
. lish voice, quaint old ditties or simple ballads
' she could draw and paint, cook a little, row
;, boat-in fact, do almost anything. She helpe
I, her mother in the house, and yet was her fail
g er's constant companion She was always thinl
4 ing for otheFs-never for herself-and WI
!. withal as light-hearted and blithesome as q ri
J; of sixteen or seventeen ought to be.
She was friends with me at once, and befol
ID many days were over, it seemed 10 be a settle
E. thing that the little house on the cliff was ope
to me was free TO come and 90 as pleased
q The days glided away very quickly. 81
!! weeks or two months had passed, and at tt
ID end Of that time / was obliged to acknowledQ
>. to myself that had done very foolish thin
y had fallen terribly in love with Adele.
ID 1t was very foolish thing, for was poo
~ and entirely dependent on my own exertion
% % and at that time my professional talents wei
Al by no means appreciated. Monsieur BertC
s. was, kew, far from rich. and Adele was lit
b; b more than child. Still the fact remainet
: and | was helpless to extricate myself
The worst Of it was that she herself SCENE
quite unconscious Of it, aud by her very inn,
2, cence only made matters worse. During a
& this time we had grown very intimate, and
a.s seemed quite natural that we should be togetl
y or nearly all day; neither Monsieur nor Ma,
Is anne Berton made any objection, but allowed l
to walk and talk as much as we pleased.