Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-10-28
AGiRL WIFE.
The Old Bacherlor Curate of Amberly.

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1t was beautiful young American girl,
Lettice Lee by name, who so!ourninR
among her English friends for awhile, Cross
ed their fair garden, bright with tne ten
der green's of Spring and all abloom With
hawthorn, and, tempted by the shadows Of
the lane beyond, strolled slowly down u, D.
til, coming to an old church set about with
trees and h.nked by an ancie Mt graveyard,
she entered there and wandered among the
messy stones, reading their quaint lnscrp-
| tions and thinking such thoughts as youih
and beauty do of graves and death-thlnk
| ing pityingly and with a certain sad tender
ness, but not as Of anything with which
she had to do, or even would.
The vii ows were very old. The shade
was very deep. The gray church flung its
own dark shadows on the spot. Ths Ivy
of centuries draped its walls.
| It wss so different from anything the
girl-who had come from the LAND where
all the fine buildings have a brand pew
| lleok. and even the ivy that is tsssaed
against church-walls speaks oil a ge0zietri-
oally-minded gardener-had seen, that 1t
fascinated her. She was romantic and poe :
ical and it is very hard to be romabtic in
| America. @ E tEsb
ed down upon the gray grave-stones.-
Most of them were so old that no one lived
to deck them any more. And yet the ages
| written on them were often less than her
own was that day. One at her very feet
| bore this inscription
ssHere lieth Lucy-aged sixteen"
| A tear came into the girls eyes as she
read it. Perhaps more would have follow
| ed, but at that moment voice close beside
her broke the silence.
'You are looking at the graves, my dear.
These are only humble stones. Inside
the church there are some very fine tombs.
| If you would like to see them l can tell you
| all that is known of them. l have been
curate of Amberly for thirty years"
The giN turned towards the speaker
Thirty years! That was nearly twice her
| whole life. A very old man this must be
to speak of thirty years as mere portion
of his.
She looked up into his face and answered
back the kind smile that shone upon it, and
felt thrill of wonder at the sweetness In
the eyes and on the lip, for in her short ex-
perience old men were generally either
harsh or testy, or at least cold or unsympa
| thizing.
She had no father, or grandfather or any
aged relatives. A little woman, something
of an heiress, and very beautiful, she had
always been petted bv her friends, and had
never been unhappy; but of strong home
ties that cndear even the old and tho ugly,
she knew nothing. An old gentleman was
some one who did not like noise and was
rather averse to music, whom it was not
unpleasant to see go out OF the room, and
who generally paid the bills for some
body.
She gave the curate another smile, and
said: Eyes, she would like much 10 sse the
church and the tOmbs Her name Was
Lettice Lee, and she was visiting Mrs. Hol-
den, at the mansion yonder, and she was
Just from America for the first time. Per-
haps he knew" and the cura,e sgnified
that be did know. and that Mrs. Holden
was his dear old friend, and they went into
the church tagether
There are old faces that are more beantl-
full than any young on-s can be. Not
many, it is true for the evil PASSIONS u
our race-anger and greed, and ma :ee and
iealousy-are sJrong within too many
breasts, and mark themselves outwardly
upon the features, through the long, slow
years of q long life, too deeply. Griefs
also line themselves upon the brow, and
hollow out the cheeks and dim the eyes,
but now aud then some one, alike strong
and sweet, putting by the sin and bearing
the sorrow patiently, comes to the autumns
of existence with such countenance as,
it seems to me, God meant that an old man
should have. The curate of Amberly had
done this.
The old bachelor curate had no reminis-
cences to make of youth sweet, no memory
Of young head plllowed on his breast, or
fond hands that had clasped his.
Somehow, he thought of this as he ush-
cred the young girl into the old church. -
She was SO fair, and delicate and sweet
her movements were SO gentle ! A daugh-
ter like this now--a--.-He checked the fan
| cy, put it away with smile, and walked
on among the tombs. On the tomb of Lady
Margaret, sculptured form lay with clasp
ed hands and closed eyes. On that of Sir
| Percival Percy knelt mailed warrior at
prayer. Not more cold and silent and at
rest were these than had been the love that
should hive warmed that good life; and still,
with closed eyes, love slumbered in the
American girls breast. They looked at
Lady Margaret, at Sir Perciva, at the gray
tablets in the floor, and the white ones ON
the wall at the painted windows and at
the strange old Bible and the ancient pray
er-books at the fine carving on pulpit and
pews. They talked great deal to each
other, and when, at asst, she left the church
to take her way homeward, he said to
her:
''If you should feel like reading, I have
a tolerable library; and though 1 am an
old bacherlor, my housekeeper, Mrs Pratt,
is very good old woman, and will do her
best to oblige you in every way. This is
my little home, you know" and he pointed
to the tiny house that hid itself among the
trees.
She thanked him and went her way, full
her.
II should have liked SO very much to
kiss her," he said to himself.
1t was the first time he had said it of
any woman even thus, aud the blood flew
to his smooth brow as he spoke, and he
blamed himself very much; for he knew it
was no fatherly kiss of which he thought,
did that old curate.
And SO strange, sweet friendship grew
into existence. The difference in their
ages and his Office gave them privileges else
impossible in decOrous England Lettice
could walk and talk with that old cul ate
as much as she chose, and she chose to do
it a great deal. The library was an excuse,
and there was the garden, and what more
proper than that Size should 60 to evening
prayer?
Aud the old curate began very soon to
watch for her; to count the moments OF her
absence, and to know that, that which had
never come to him in youth had come to
him in age; too late for him to taste Its
sweetness, but not too late to feel the bitter
ness that love must ever bring when II Is
nothing but an unrequited longing.
Oh, if he could but keep her thus! he SAID
to himself. If only she could love no one
else. And they might be friends forever;
Then he could be happy. But this could
not be- Young, sweet, beautiful, some
one must claim her soon. She would be
the wife of a young man. She would love
him, and have for the old curate only KIND
| mem Dry