Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-12-26
The Girl 1 Left Behind Me.

When hired lodgings at Mme Hampton's,
 I had no idea that she owned so precious a thing as a daughter. Not that it would have made any difference if had known it.
 had become indifferent to women; they inter- ested me only as trivial study. You will say that woman a study is too dangerous, 1 but it had never proved so with me. In the meantime neither sought nor avoided them those whom fate threw in my way placed under my mental microscope, not caring much for what it revealed. My indifference, 1 however did not arise from any lost illu- sions had never been in love, and it never occurred to me that the thing was possi- ble. had been on friendly terms with blonde and brunette, with the prude and the coquette, the clever and the designing; but had forgot | ten their existence half an hour later. Mime. Hampton herself never left her room she was doubtless dying, but she had been so long about it, and made so little circumstance 1 about it, that nobody gave it a thought, it would seem. She saw her lodgers, and ar ranged terms and sent in the bills; and yet | the house and all it's appointments seemed to share the order of the planetary system. The motive power was madame's daughter. in voluntarily pictured her, since we always l picture those who appeal individually to us in any way, as coarse featured woman, with ''silver threads among the gold" face more or less wrinkled, a sharp voice, big rough 1 hands, and genius for snubbing the servants and haggling with butcher and baker. 1 On entering madame's room one day in | order to settle my account, according to the custom of the house, behold slender being before the open fire, with one tiny hand on 1 the mantel, @ lavender morning gown turned the knot of yellow hair at the back of her head, from which some curls escaped, into pure gold. There was an air of luxury and 1 leisure about her which was simply delicious 1 in view of the facts.
 1 My daughter said madame presently. ''Estelle this is Mr. Van Huysam; you have heard me speak of him."
 Estelle turned a beautiful, naughty face in my direction, bowed slightly, smiled vaguely. ''Indeed, might say have heard you speak of no one else" Plainly the old lady had been singing my praises, and the young one did not fancy the tune.
 do not know what chord thrilled in my 1 heart at those words, in that soft minor voice, capable of all melody, of terse expression, nor how got myself out of the room. A man who has received fatal bullet in the breast does not recognize the sensation, for the req son that he has never experienced it before; hesdoes not know its import. We met often after this, always by accident, it would seem, on the staircase, in the hall, and finally one night I made so bold as to knock at the door of her music room. She welcomed me with her naughty cordiality, if haughtiness can be cordial. There were three or four young men already in possession, but she placed her seat near my own, and while she anon threw out javelins of wit for the general benefit, 1 received the lions share of attention. This was lattering to my amour propre. But still, whenever I repeated my call, had always to wrestle with handful of | f6a I confess that before I reached this point I had been obliged to wrestle with myself to overcome a prejudice. A Van Huysam in love with his landladys daugh- ter was an anomaly. What would my family and friends say to such an affairs With what eyes would they regard it? What would Miss Douglass think, for whom I had been destined, but who had been hobblede- hoy girl of i3 when 1 had last seen her? Of course she could care nothing for me; 1t would be a wound to her vanity at the most; had never intended to marry her; had never consented in fact; that bony, shy school girl, with the big eyes and lank figure, had never appealed to me; I had never been able to forgive her for stammer- ing and blushing. Besides, there had been some rumor that the coffers of the family had suffered during their sojourn abroad and had lost sight of them through their own negligence. But landlady's daughteri The idea would wither all my acquaintances However, love not only laughs at locksmiths but at ones relations. When I stunned myself in Estelles presence I cared no more for the worlds opinion, or for that of any Van Huy- sam but myself, than for the inhabitants of Flatland; but once away from that subtle magnetism, then my poles changed. saw a thousand reasons for giving her up-if one can be said to give up what one does not pos sess. Such thing Van Huysam mar rying out of his sphere had never been known in the family annals. But how did I know that Estelle would marry me? To be sure, if had been quite certain of that perhaps I should have hesitated to proceed further The far off, unattainable and dim is dear to the soul of man-at least till it is his to take or leave. One day, when we were reading a new poem together, a card was brought in ''Tell MT. Chester that I am engaged and cannot see him tonight" overheard her say to the servant. "Mr. Chester does not ap- preciate our author" she apologized to me- land l am not self sacrificing enough to ac- cept him in exchange for Browning" It oc- cured to me at that time that there were other young men belonging to aristocratic families who had no fear of mesalliance with a landlady's daughter, although to be sure they might be simply anus AAS oAC4llSS4NSo, Sl1uSu' yOuIu were wont to do. Estelle would never go out with me; she had no chaperon, she said I wondered what my sister-in-law would an- swer should I write her to chaperon my land lady's daughter to Lohengrin, she who chap eroned only the very elect, so to speak
 One evening the conversation drifted into the subject of marriage. MT. Chester and some others were present, and led the theme 1T would marry the woman I loved" said MT. Chester, Eff she were beggar, and my father disinherited me on the spot"
 "Beggary signifies nothing" returned an other. "One would not ask has she a dot, but has she blue blood"
 "An ancestral tree, in short, with more roots than branches" spoke a third "As for myself, confess should prefer my wife to belong to the impecunious old families rather than to the nouveau riche. Poor Bishop, how his world came down upon him when he fell in love with shop girl, with neither blood nor bullion, his mother espe- ciallyl But Bishop stood to his guns; it must have taken lot of pluck to weather all he did from friend and foe."
 "You call that pluck?" said Chester. sI call it obstinacy, in his case It was such an easy thing for Bishop to fall in love that he might have pleased his mother and given up the girl"
 "And what do you think, MT. Van Huy- samp asked Estelle.
 "I2 think Bishop was a fool. tbat is T