The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1874-08-27

at the quiet country rectory, I wa
treated as a kind'of divinity by my
own family, and feted and admired a.
a superior being by the quiet countr,
neighbors.
In justice to myself, however,
must say that, although naturally
enough I was willing and pleased tt
be. fattered, my head was not alto
gether turned by it; and I had ac
quired enough worldly knowledge il
my London experiences to know thai
beauty was not the sole charm by
which husbands were to be won,-es
pecially noble husbands,-or fate
ruled. And when, therefore, Lord
Rutherford asked me to be his wife,
I was very much delighted and GER
tainly a little surprised.
I accepted him without a moments
hesitation; or rather, I should say, !
accepted his coronet and fortune; for
of himself, except as a necessary ap.
pendage to these desirable blessings,
I thought nothing.
He was dark, and stern, and rath-
er cool in manner; and certainly had
he been simple nobody I should
never have dreamed of preferring
him to 3 light: hearted, captain Of
dragons who happened to be staying
in the neighborhood, and who fo1
some time had been paying me de-
voted attention.
Guy Deveril was one Of those men
to whom the term Fascinating" may
be truly applied. He certainly thor
oughly understood the art of making
himself agreeable; and if he did not
win hearts quite so quickly or con.
stantly as he fancied, he won without
difficulty those first vivid fancies
which 9 little comtancy on. his part
could soon have made firm, even
fierce loye.
I certainly liked Guy better than
Lord Rutherford, and it was rather a
trial at first to have to give him uI
as my constant companion in walking
and riding, and take dark, stern
Eustace instead; but the corone1
kept me firm for the first few days
and then gradually my betrothed's
truly noble character became more re
vealed, and if I did not love him en-
Enthusiastically, I learned to respect
and honor him, as we'll as to appreci
ate his refined and intellectual con,
versation.
The more I was with him, too, the
higher grew this esteem; and, in JUS
tice to myself; I must say,that though
I felt my own nature was scarcely fiji
to soar with his: Imade vigorous eff
forts to make MYSELF more worthy o1
him.
Twas clever after a style. of my
own, and perhaps really more acute
in my appreciation Of character than
Lord Rutherford, and I clearly saw
that he did not comprehend me; ]
I Saw that he worshipped rather some
ideal standard of female perfection
which he imagined developed in me
than my real true self:
But this panied me.
In the first place, I was too sincere
to wish to deceive him; but at the
same time I was afraid of his sudden:
ly becoming aware Of my inferiority
and ceasing his devoted worship.
In spite of my disquietude, how
ever, the courtship proceeded very
quietly for some weeks, and things
were advancing satisfactorily towards
the consummation of all our hopes.
The wedding-day was fixed, my trous-
seau was nearly ready, the sojourn for
the honeymoon was decided on, and
az far ss human ken could reach moth
ing appeared which could possibly in
terfere with the event which was to
place coronet on my brow and make
me the wife Of dark, stern Eustace
Rutherford. 49, /. x ,=
I. my aunt paused: q moment, and
looking dreamily out over the distant
scene Of orchard and garden, dimly
glimmering in the last faint rays Of
the red sunset. sighed sadlY.1
|. I seem to see those scenes of the
past still. I could almost fancy that
figure pacing there beneath on the
lawn, and pausing every now and
then to look at this window, was that
of Eustace Rutherford. It was just
such an evening, I remember, when
as I sat there on that seat, Mabel,
over which hangs that rich laburnum,
I was startled by Eustace's hurrying
up in a breathless state, and seizing
my hand, exclaiming, "Magdalen, I
must leave you; my mother has been
taken dangerously i'll and'I must go
to her. 1 have only an instant to say
good by, but I will write )" and then,
before I could say word, he had
kissed me hastily and was gone.
I turned pale and cold, though I
scarcely knew why, and without
further delay I went into the house to
tell the news to my sister Alice.
"This is indeed sad. Poor Eus-
tacel He loves his mother so devo.
tedly," she exclaimed simply.
eyes" I answered; "and it will
put off our. marriage for-Heaven
knows how long,"
All, in my selfishpess I was q. true
prophecies. - =" ..,. y, .:;: -