The tribune. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-09-15

lore he was on intimate terms with the
whole of her uncle's family. There was
not the hint of frown OH his brow, and
no trace of legal lore or dignity of state
embarrassed his intercourse with her
simple relatives.
"To hear his talk rs he stood there
by the five-barred gate, swinging little
Elsie to and fro, one would suppose that
he had never pleaded q case, that he had
never quoted poem, or delivered an
Grafton. Pamela's uncle drawled to him
in his provincial dialect, her aunt Joined
In the conversation without even drop
ping her sun-bonnet, and Cousin Eph-
rain, the bashfulest of mortals, sat down
to tea with the stranger guest. The
supper the young lawyer devoured that
night would have honored the appetite
of a laborer in the off kitchen. Pamela
looked with dismay at her Olympian,
wondering if that could be the way the
gods dined upon ambrosia. So, wound
ed and disappointed, scarce knowing
why, she sat silent and cold by his side
when they were alone together once
more. They had the whole of the grim
parlor, with its whitewashed walls, its
hjdeous portraits, its horse-hair sofa and
chairs, to themselves but the door of
the sitting room stood ajar, and Regi-
nald looked longingly thence upon the
gay rag carpet, the well-polished stove,
with its crate afiame, the warm cush-
ioned chair where her aunt nodded, and
the bit of holly-crowned glass, where
Ephraim made himself smart to visit
sweet little Jessie Downes.
'She is the loveliest creature, Regi-
nald, said Pamela, that the sun ever
shone upon
&c Except one, said Reginald. But
don't believe old Soils rays often reach
you, my Pamela
"The very next morning, at the coun-
try church, he saw Cousin Ephraim's s
sweetheart. AS was her wont, she nes-
tied in her father the deacon's pew, and
looked with rapt eyes to the good old
minister, while Reginald's eyes, once
faste:ieu on her primrose face, never left
it throughout the service. BY some
magnetism their eyes met, and poor lit
tie Jessie's rapt gaze left the face of the
minister to feast shyly upon the classical
allurements of the young barrister.
"Rsginald walked homeward by Jes-
sie's side, while Ephraim and Pamela
followed after, both proud and please
that the little maiden had found favor in
the sight of so distinguished guest.
"Reginald prolonged his stay in the
country, declaring that he needed n
vacation, and was out in the morning be-
times, fishing in the neighboring streams
for sunfish, and gathering wild flowers
and ferns (; coming back Mt sundown
but sallying forth again the next day.
Pamela declined to join these ex-
cursions, as the sun and wind together
hovn
complexion-as they would with yours,
my dear, you very we'll know. But
there are compilations, Belle, that the
sun takes to kindly enough, and paints
with a magical brush, the wind putting
in a crimson that was never found even
upon the palette of Sir Joshua Rey-
nolds.
"Upon the May festival, which was
arranged late in the month as n farewell
celebration for Pamela and her be-
throthed, the beauty of sweet Jessie
Downes seemed to our pale patrician of
the city like something almost super
natural. She called to Reginald time
and again to tell her if he had ever con-
ceived of so glowing and vivid lowell
ness. aud could not take her eyes from a
head that made the sweet blossoms with
which it was crowned seem faded and
dull by comparison.
The day grew somewhat chill toward
evening, and in the hollow of the wood,
where Pamela wandered alone, it seemed
to her that the wind whistling among the
trees arose TO n kind of sob that was al
most human in its intensity. And as
she walked along, half anxious now to
escape from solitude that seemed peo-
pied with melancholy sounds, she heard
a murmur of voices close at hand, just
beyond the little thicket that barred her
progress.
''' 1t is SO hard to say goodbye, my
sweet child, said voice that was the
one voice in the world to Pamela. you
have crept into my heart, warming and
blessing it.
"'And shall 1 never SEQ you again 2
sobbed little Jessie Downes.
"'Nay, darling, how can I tell3 Per-
haps when this sweet madness is
cured -
"And then, Belle, poor Pamela heard
no more. A blessed Inconsistencies
seized her, and for the first time in her
life she tainted. Not the last; alas
since that moment of agony her nerves
have not been SO strong, and upon the
recurrence of certain sounds or certain
remembrances she loses herself for a
time. A little while ago, when you pic
tured that scene i'll the woods, it put in
to words that bit of the past; saw again
tho mosses and ferns at my feet, the
little black pool of water half covered
with withered leaves, and 1 heard the
dull thud or discordant croak of the
frogs.
When, upon that time long ago, I
awoke to consciousness, Reginald was
bending over me with white stricken
face, and all the rest were busy with
possets and restoratives in my behalf.
When we were left alone together,
fnI1n1 hot IL 4 L. Il Il