Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1881-03-04


sixteen,
All this was conveyed to the LADY An
mabel by her offended and indignant
father. And now, indeed, was she nm.
happy-for she really loved this man
ana knew herself to have been loved by
him some years before.
Too old for him, indeed-too old so,
nm! God knows my love for him nsv
DE older than it was, but it Is only the
stronger, the more enduring. Cluei
cruel Jasper, to cast me off thus: and fnp
what?-because l am twentv-ninel Spro-
~ am the same that I have always
been. And he repoached me with tLa
years that have taken away none Of INV,
beauty; he might as well lay to nv
charge the age that passed before | was
born. "''
But 50 it was, in spite of all her g,1ef
IL was then as it is now, as it always ba,
been and always will be-man sneaks
ana woman abides by it. The Lady An
mabel pined, and grieved and wept in
secret and talked and laughed and lest
ed about the elopement in public: and
ior while no one knew that hers was a
heayyladen heart.
Tears do a great deel Of mischief in
the world. In the Lady Annabel's case
they did a great deal. They took all the
Lustre from her bright eyes; they wash
ed away the color from her checks. and
r3lllng down they wore for themselves
t,hnnnsis t,li.aii IN her smooth skin. SO ly her
tmrtieth birthday people began to saw
the iAsdy Annabef is very much fadedr-
the Lady Annabel is not quite 50
young as she was"-and one little lady.
the odIous little lady, as Lady Annabel
mad called her year ago was heard to
say did think she wore very well.
but l don't think so now. 70 be sure.
we'll f0'''
This time the Lady Annabel entfeat-
ed her father to omit the usual merry
making She spent the day alone in her
own room.
Thirty years old How it distressed
me n year ago to think | was twenty
nlne. have no such feelings now.
Jasper was right when he said / was
too old for him. How would nv care
worn, solTowful face look in company
with his blooming appearance? They
talked OF ball for to night how my
heart shrank from such a thing | at
ball Moths dimlv lighted room J
suits me better. Jasper was right. But
then, if he had still loved me. would |
my youth and beauty have gone so |
soon? Perhaps not-but they are gone. t
And what As left to me? a dull, joy- |
less life of regret"
But she was wrong-she was not !
quite as old as she thought. A few c
years passed away. Her violent sorrow t
became changed by degrees into a a
melancholy, and then into gravity. i
They rarely saw her laugh, but she was
very often cheerful. She had put awav :,
her ornaments her Jewels it is true, but :
her attire was ALWAYS becoming aud !.
friends, She mingled With them but Z
seldom, and smiled when the odious lit n
tie lady, now Mrs. Somebody, talked $
about old maids Meanwhile Jasper was
never heard of-his angry father having a
refused to correspond with him. He S
seemed to be everywhere forgotten, and t
he everywhere but in one place.
But grief will wear itself out. After t
A while Annabel at first listened, and !
then joined in the conversation of her \
fathera guests and found herself by de
grees returning the interest evinced for
her by country gentlemen of some pro- )
pertv in the neighborhood, about ten !
years older than herself She was now
thirty five.
The next thing was wedding at the !
hall, and no one seemed in higher spirits |
than the bride herself, decked in the S
ornaments which had laid in their cases
for five years. Annabel was young
again. Let us pass over five years Of
quiet domestic happiness although {
her feelings toward her husband were
very different from those called forth by ]
her first love, still she was attached to '
the worthy man.
5
Her black dress and ugly cap, no less
than her slow gait and saddened air,
showed her to be q widow. Lonely and
desolate since her bereavement, she has
again taken up her residence with her (
father and inhabits the same little room ,
she formerly did,
A few months more. and her .tstl fathsa..s .s...
no relatis,r left arth and
and bitterly does she pray that sne may
die. and leave this world OF sorrows.
She receives no visitors, and never aP-
pears abroad-only now and then, late
in the afternoon, when the weather IS
fine. her tall, closely vailed figure may
be seen walking slowly through the
shady walks about the castle, and the
village children coming home from
school peep at her through the hedge /
and whisper, 'It is only the old lady |
/ taking her walk"
We said visitors were never admitted
there, and they were not. So much the
greater then was the surprise of all the
servants when, one day, tine-look1ng,
middle-aged man was seen in the large
parlor in converse with their mistress;
this was repeated so often that at last 1t
became quite customary thing. She
took no more solitary walks; her black
vail was laid aside; her close cap again
gave way to her glossy hair-glossy still,
, though streaked with gray. Her youth
was coming back-for was not this JAS
ner-the Jasper of old-her first love?
{ Poor Jasper! he had been unhappy IN
= his marriage, and upon his wifes death
u u had come home with his son after long
y wears spent in poverty abroad.
\ ! He did not think the Lady Annabei
Il too old for him now, so the castle was
/ tbe second time illuminated for mar
! riage and a second time were the le"ep
= taken from their cases.
n casper" said Annabei, the w8rl, or,
! will call us an old couple ~ = 'ru
= !. sea,-s have passed over rs. We nav
q i been old, both of us, but it was sorrow
that made us so, not time. Sorrow ha
), left us now, and time has brought us t
&c &c this, our second youth. Isit not SO. Foj
- although they speak the truth when thg
n n say both Of Us have gray hairs, yet, /
:, thev did but see our hearts they wo5
nr m say there is youth yet in them-as
n the day when | would not dance wh
" you because you were a head sholt
ar a. than I, or the day when you desert