The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-03-14
A ROMANCE OUTLINED.

A few days ago one of the numerous
trains upon the New Haven and Hart.
ford railroad bore from this city, for
entombment near an old family hoihe-
stead some thirty miles up the Sound,
the mortal remains of a venerable lady
for wh0se manifold endeatinp virtues
as Christian, wife and friehd be-
reaved home on a fashionable avenue
was left in mourning. Probably but
few OF the sorrowing escort on that
sad occasion were aware that she,
whose long matronhood of uneventful
social history was just closed, had
oiicB been the heroine of q romance as
curious and pathetic as ally known to
the ingenuities of fiction; for; SO faf as
the present narrator can ascertain, she
was the last survivor of the several
actors therein and could scarcely have
found pleasure in any voluntary re-
vival of its memory; yet such was the
truth, and the place whittier the body
was being conveyed for its last rest
had been the scene of that romance's
strange elimination. ~
Fifty years since, the place in ques-
ton, not then stimulated to suburban
importance by metropolitan railway
connection, had among the better man.
sions on its outskirts no handsomer
one than that which was the parental
home Of the principal subject of this
sketch. An old family of high social
pretensions cherished her there as q
daughter doubly beloved for her strik.
ing resemblance to sister married
ih the city, and fond parents eluhg af-
IDENTIFY to the hope that this remaining
child should contract no new ties to
withdraw her, also, from their neigh
borhood. Thus it was that when, dur
ing a visit the young lady was making
to family of friends in New York;
these parents were informed that gen.
tleman, with obviously sentimental in
tentiOns, was frequent claimant of her
society, they took alarm as though
threatened with imminent domes-
tic treason. Forthwith the dis
mayed mother started post-haste
in the family carriage for the point of
danger, and, after nearly whole days
dusty fide, surprised the uhsuspecting
fair one on the scene Of her romantic
adventure. The elders of the visited
family, which was that of one of our
oldest and richest merchants, had
thought it their duty to invite the ma
ternal supervision Of an association it
should properly control, and were not,
therefore, amazed at the motherly ar
rival. As for the daughter, whatever
her discontinue might have been, she
frankly confessed at once that Lieut..
H., of the English Navy, had, indeed,
called upon her frequently and been
her escort on promenade occasionally
during her city visit; nor did she strive
to disguise strong sentiment in his
favor. Then ensued a passage of
passionate parental apprehension and
filial tears. The lover In the case was
not wholly stranger to the girl S own
household, for his mother had belonged
by birth and youthful residence to theft
very town, though married and settled
in England; nor was he in any way
socially Objectionable, but the fact of
his foreign naval profession and conse-
quent presumable obligation to carry
his bride to England was bar to his
eligibility as a suitor which our hero
ine S dotihg fathef and mother held to
be the most conclusive of Disqualified
tions. Sternly reproving her daughter
for having so imprudently encouraged
the addresses IF yoting man whom
she must see no more, the elder lady
UOUK the reCusaIIJ uaIISrI rlUv v...
riage with her for prompt return to a
stricter future home guardianship, and
was Mortified when her charge, en-
boldened by despair as the vehicle
drove off, turned suddenly upon her
with the exclamation: " Mother, we are
marriedpn
After this startling revelation the as
founded matron exacted more detailed
confession of an act Of youthful impet-
uosity inspired by lovers fears of pa
rental prohibition, and not in the least
suspected by the New York friends.
The pair, going out nomiially for a
walk, had been married at the resi-
dence of friendly clergyman, and
then returned to the house and taken
leave of each other without betrayal of
the secret. Such was the STORY carried
back to the Connecticut homestead by
indignant mother and agitated culpfit,
to excite the latter's father, too, as in
tensely, and be followed by every argu-
ment that parental authority and affec-
ton could advance to induce the weep
ing brides renunciation of a BRIDE
groom to whom she belonged in name
alone. These failing, the good old
plan of bolt and key was adopted; the
rebellious daughter became a close
hor oxyv, oh ~, hor and in
their hewidered distress, father and
mother summoned their married
daughter from the city for aid and
counsel in the family trouble. As may
be fancied, the hero of the drama could
not long be kept in ignorance of these
occurrences, and lost nc time in pre-
sentiDg himself on the scene and de-
1nanding due recognition of his new
relationship. He was met by a per
emptory refusal to acknowledge the
legal right alleged by him, on the
ground that she whom he claimed a
his wife had perpetrated an act ol
childish folly, from which the utmost
strength of paternal will and Judicial
equity should be exerted to redeem hel
and of which she herself had become
bitterly penitent. Incredulous of this
last intimation, Lieut.. H. insisted upor
seeing her whose steadfastness was
thus impugned and hearing his fatt
from her own lips; finally, in his chiv
alrous trust, pledging his honor as ;
gentleman to resign all claim upon hel
If, in his presence, she should .prefel
parents and present home to himself
His proposition was accepted, of ne
cessity; the next day being named a
the time of the interview, upon th'
supposition that the young lady wa
too sick from agitation at her naples
predicament to see him at once.
At the appointed hour the Lieutenan
waited upon the family, accompanies
by friend as witness. The resolut
mother received him in 3 room dim
med somewhat by the venetian blind
drawn to keep out the sun, and he ha'
not long to linger before afamiliar figur
fitted in at door and past Linn, wit
handkerchief pressed close to eyes, an
sank into q kneeling posture beside tn
older lady's chair. The heart of tn
Young husband failed him at the sight
but, taking step forward, he put tn
one question he had to ask in tn
| steadiest tones he could command
Elizabeth, will you not 60 with meP'
i A moment the lips now hidden agains
| the maternal bosom were silent, an
then came the answer, tremulous an
chilling: s.I desire to remain with m
! motherr' Shocked inexpressibly
Lieut. H. paused only long enough t
assure himself that the hidden face ha
not even pitying glance for him, an
then, with ) resigned bow, quilted rooI