The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-10-31

not prevent the divergence of character.
the safety OF habit, the destruction of
illusions, the growth of new passions-all
which is inevitable in human nature, and
in utter defiance of which marriage, the
supreme idiocy OF social laws, has been
made eternal"
"You are not encouraging"
81 desire so little to encourage" said
John Vernon with some violence, ''that if
you will take back this evening the prom
ise you have given my child this after
noon, far from blaming or reproaching
you, shall thank YOU. She does not care
Tor you. You hatter and dazzle her. and
she is in love with your house, but she
would forget you in week if you with
drew your word. Withdraw it; both she
and YOU will be spared mich SORROW
"Your prophecies are painful 20 me, 7"
said GuilderOy; "but will risk their
realization. I think she 8Jvts me already
as far as child of her years can undert
stand love. She would be less innOcen-
than she is if she loved me more. have
had enough of passion-too much OF 1t. L
desire repOse."
"And in six months time you will say,
4 am tired of repose; give me passion ."
y
incapable OF inspiring it?'
81 think she will be incapable of inspir-
ing it in you because she will be your
WIFE," replied John Vernon.
His heart was heavy and his forebodings
were founded on his knowledge of man
kind. He was we'll aware that his dislike
TO such a marriage for his child was in
gratitude to fate and would have seemed
70 q kind of madness III a "
well aware that the future of his young
daughter had been often a subject of dis
quietude and anxiety to him, and that, in
a worldly sense, no destiny more brilliant
than this now offered could be desired for
her.
But he despised worldly advantages. He
had learned to know that happiness comes
from within, not without. He considered
that the contentment which she had
learned with himself to feel amongst sim
pie things and homely joys were worth
more than the pomps and vanities OF
great position. He did justice to the
generosity and gentleness OF GuilderOy's s
temperament, but he did not believe in
its stability or in its loyalty nay, he be-
lieved in no mans, because he knew that
the affections, like the senses, are beyond
our own control. He saw thousand rea-
sons why this union should become a
source of ultimate regret and unhappi-
ness TO both of them. He saw few proba-
bilities that it would end otherwise than
in estrangement and disappointment to
both of them.
"The child is wholly unfit for your posi-
tion," he said angrily. ''She knows the
names and qualities of all the apples in
England, and she knows something OF the
history OF England from first sources; but
she knows next to nothing more, and no
one wants to hear of pippins and russets
or of Hengist and Horsa in your world.
Go away, my dear lord, and you will have
forgotten that she exists in ten days time.
'She has not an idea OF what you mean" "
he added bitterly. Marriage is only a
word to her. She thinks of living in
Ladysrood as a child of five years old
would think of it-as a delightful and
roomy play-place. All that ignorance will
excite you and interest you entirely
for a few weeks-I know that-but at the
end of those weeks you will ask yourself
angrily why you took a country child to
make YOU ridiculous. When YOU have
disspated the ignorance, what remains
behind will not interest you In the least.
You will begin TO expect womans Wis
dom and patience in her, and you will not
find them-children are never patient or
wise You think me prophet of i'll. |
am one, certainly. 1t is utterly impossi-
BILE that girl like her and a man like you
can live together without bitter disap-
pointment and endless friction"
"She Is too youngl She is too young"
he repeated TO himself again and again
that night on his return from Ladvsrood.
He had said nothing to the child alone
what was the use of questioning her? She
did not know her own heart; how could
she answer for it?
"You are not glad?' she asked him
wistfully when she came to bid him good
night He looked away from her and
drew her head down on his breast and
kissed her curls.
81 hope you may be as happy, my dar-
ling, with him as you have been with me.
/ do not think you can be more so" he
said tenderly, and said nothing more.
What use was it TO alarm her young soul
with suggestions Of perils and sorrows
which she would be wholly unable to un-
derstand? Life looked to her like the
gilded and illuminated pages of the Ladys-
rood missal. Why tell her that these
pages would be stained and blotted by
tears2
In the little parlor Of Christslea Guide