The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-11-22
MABEI'S LOVER.

MABEL'S LOVER.
Under the shadow of great fig
tree q young girl sat in a deep rev.
erie. Such tender light was in her
ewes. such sweet smile of full salts
faction on her face, that . stranger
would certainly have said:
"She is thinking of her lover"
But no lover had Mabel Rae Her
pleasure sprang from far less dan
gerous source-from the handful of
tuberoses IN her lap. Their spiritual,
dreamy beauty and rare, rich per-
fume always held her as in spell of
measureless content, and the lovely
waxen flowers, pale, pure, and white
as moonshine, haunted her heart and
Imagination, and reaeiyed from her
a perpetual love and worship.
There she sat until the heat a nd
stiffness of the tropie noon drove her
to the house, a grand old home, hid
among giant live oaks gray with the
solemn waving Southern moss She
went to the large dim parlor, intend
ing to put her favorites amCng the
damp moss of the hanging baskets,
but the dreamy languor of the room
overcome every desire but that OF
sleep, aud she lay down on the near
est couch, holding hee flowers in her
hand.
Halt an hour later Mr.. Rae open
ed the door, and ushered in gen
tleman who had accompanied him
from New Orleans.
"Sit down, Allan" he said, 81 will
soon arouse the house. You see it
is the hour for siesta, and believe
all take it at the time whim | am
away"
For few minutes the young man
believed himself alone. A subtle,
powerful perfume was his first SEN
sation.
Then, as his eyes became accus-
toned to the dim light of the care
fully closed latices, he saw picture
that he never more forgot, most
lovely girl, in the first bloom of
maidenhood, fast asleep on the silk
en- cushions piled on a low divan.
Her white robes made kind of glo-
ry in the darkened corner, one hand
had fallen down, and the flowers
gemmed the carpet at her side; the
other lay across her breast, as il en-
bracing the tube roses which it had
scattered there.
Never in all his native mountains.
never in any dream of love or fancy,
had Allan Monteith seen a woman
half so fair. He stood gazing on
Mabel as if he had seen a vision.
There lay his destiny asleep. he
knew it, and opened his whole soul
to welcome Loves young dream"
But when Mr.. Rae, followed by a
negro valet, returned, and Mabel
languidly opened her great pensive
eyes and stretched out her arms for
her fathers embrace. Allan almost
thought he should faint from excess
of emotion, and it was with difficult
| ty he controlled himself to receive
the introduction and apologies nee
essary.
Allan Monteith was a young
Scotchman, the only son of gen.
tleman with whom in early life Dir.
Rae had formed a most ardent
friendship.
He was rich, and by nature and
birth equally noble; nor was he des-
titute OF the traditional business ca
pacity of his house, as some late
transactions in cotton and sugar in
New Orleans had proved to Mr. Rae.
And partly because he liked the
young man, and partly as matter
of interest, he had invited him to
bis home among the woods and la
goons of the evergreen bayou. Ma
bel, in this transaction, had scarcely
been properly considered but to
her father she was yet child.
True, he recognized her beauty,
and was very proud of it, and she
possessed an exquisite voice and
great skill in music, and the passing
idea of showing his pearl of price to
the foreigner rather fiattered his van
ity than alarmed his fears. He did
not dream that he was introducing a
new claimant for its possession.
Allan fingered as if in an enchant-
ed castle, till he had no life, no will,
no hopes, but those which centered
in Mabel Rae.
And she soon returned his passion
with love even more absorbing and
far less selfish than her lovers.
Oh, the sweet, warm, love laden
days in those solemnly shaded
woodsl
Oh, the blissful hours in the cool
evenings, when the perfume of tube
roses and jasmine filled the air,
when the soft, calm moonlight glo-
rifed every lovely and every COM
mon thing!
1t was like a dream of those days
when the old rustic gods reigned,
ard to live was to love, and to love
was to be happy.
With the fall. however, there came
letters from Scotland, and Allan
could not longer delay. MIR. Rae
would hear of no engagement for'two
wears, by which time he said he hop
ed to be able to give Mabel such
fortune as would make her accepta-
BILE in the eyes of Allan's father. But
for the present he absolutely de-
clined to look upon the young peo-