Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1874-08-01

life, when fortunately ! made ac
quaintance with a brother artist. who
though much older than myself, was
most sympathetic in taste and feeling
and with whom | quickly became
friends. Unluckily he did not live in
Fignelles, but about two miles distant
in solitary little house on the cliff,
commanding, however, a view of The
sea.
1t was there ] first saw Adele. She
was his only child, and the idol of his
heart. seem to see her now, as
saw her then for the first time.
thought her the most beautiful girl
upon the face of the earth. / can't
tell you the color fhcr hair and ewes
for they were a mystery to me. l
think her eyes must have been brown
but they often looked quite black-as
black as her eyebrows and eyelashes :
and as for her hair, it was all shades
of gold, red, russet-brown, and black.
/ really do not recollect about her
features, except that they were beauti-
ful ; nor how tall she was, except that
| were taller; nor whether she was
plump or thin, but only that she was
perfect. She was perfect, too, in dis
position, as amiablc and unsellish as
she was lovely She was clever, too,
without being highly accomplished.
She used to sing to l. Of an evening,
in her sweet girIish voice, quaint old
ditties or simple ballads; she could
draw and paint, cook a little, row a
boat-in fact, do almost anything.
She helped her mother in the house,
and yet was her fathers constant CON-
panion. She was always thinking
for others-neyer er for herself, and was
withal as lgh' hearted and blithesomt
as girl C. sixteen or seventeen ough:
to be.
She was friends with me at once,
and before many days were over it
seemed to be settled thing that the
little house on the cliff was open to
me- was free to come and 60 as !
pleased.
The days glidcd away very quickly.
Six weeks or two months had passed,
and ct tie end of that time / was
obliged to acknowledge to myself that
/ had done a very foolish thing. l
had fallen terribly in love with Adele.
1t was a very foolish thing, for |
was poor and entirely dependent upon
nv own exertions, and at that time
nv professional talents were by no
means appreciated. Monsieur Berton
was, ! knew, far from rich, and Adele
was little more than a child. Still
the fact remained, and ! was helpless
to extricate myself.
The worst of it was that she her.
self seemed quite unconscious of it,
and by the very unconsciousness OF it,
and by her very innocence only made
matters worse. During all this time
we had grown very intimate, and it
seemed quite natural that We should
be together nearly all day; neither
Monsieur nor Madame Berton made
any objection, but allowed US to walk
and talk as much as we pleased.
suppose they completely trusted
Adele-as Adele completely trusted
me; indeed l very soon discovered
this, partly from her manner, ant
partly through intuition. She would
talk to me quite openly, and even con
fdingly, asking my advice andopiniol
on various subjects, and she treatet
me with familiarity that showed be
unsuspicion by its very openess. U
course, l treated her in the same way
l could not do otherwise. To hav'
been formal or Indifferent was impossl
BILE to have ventured to make low
to her would have seemed to me lik
abusing a privilege, and betraylng
trust. l am very glad how that
never allowed myself to say anything
to her, that from our intimacy wa
not perfectly excusable.
In the meantime the days passe
on, and l grew more ma more iii io'
with her. l felt that /, mething ougt
to follow. But what? OF cours
the wisest thing l could have don
was to go Immediately away, but th'
was far easier said than done. ID
fascination was too strong for me;
could not resolve to voluntarily sa
goodbye to Adele. seemed to 81
her sweet face looking up sorrowfull
and rleadingly ir.t mine, and to he'
her soft musical voice as she begge
me to stay s.en for a little longe
No, no. said 1 to myself, Il can't