Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-05-23
A JUST IMPEDIMENT.


whom have known for less than month,
and detest as if had known him all my life,
while Fred-you know you met Fred last
summers staying in the same house and
can hardly speak word to me- such is the
devotion of my odious fiance."
The foregoing extract from a letter to q
girl friend represents the condition in which
found myself not long after my 10Th birthday.
AS now look back what happened long
ago wonder how it was that Gilbert Darien,
my odous fiance," managed to put up with
my i'll temper and evident dislike for his COM
pany, not to mention my incessant Irritation
for Pm afraid did iirt-with Fred.
Poor Gilbertl He certainly was awkward
one Of those big men who cannot move
without upsetting something, whether it be
valuable china vase or your equanimity; with
heavy, colorless face, and nothing charac-
teristic about him save the difficulty he al
ways experienced in disposing of his hands,
which is not, however, uncommon amongst
men. To these shortcomings must be added
his method of breathing; it was stertorous,
and could be heard at distance of twenty
yards. But oughtn't to abuse it, seeing that
it often gave us warning in our stolen inter-
views of his approach, and became, ultimate
ly, the means of my release from him.
father addressed me at breakfast: eva,
Mrs. Darien wants us to go there on the 5th."
This apparently innocent remark nearly an
initiated me. The long expected blow had
fallen at last. Shortly after his return from
India my father, who was little better than a
stranger to NE, had thrown out certain ON
nous hints as to the expediency of my get
ting married; and then one fine day informed
me outright that it was his one wish to see
me happily welded to the son of his old
friend Darien. was, not unEaturally, aghast
Not to mention prior engagement"
had never seen Gilbert. How could | marry
an utter stranger? How could 1 throw over
Fred because he had only 940O year, while
his unknown rival had four thousands Ihad
no mother to confide in, and had not the cour-
age to confess all to my respected parent,
who had returned from India broken down
invalid, whose one object in life was, as he
informed me some twenty times day, to see
me happily married to the son of his old
friend. Happily married, forsooth, to a
man one detestsl" l bitterly exclaimed, per-
haps rather unfairly, as / had never seen Gill
bert, who, for aught 1 knew, might have
been an Adonis, as well as future Croesus,
though, from my fathers significant silence
as to his personal appearance, l had my
dounts.
At all events, one thing was certain, and
that was that I was not going to give up
Fred; and with this resolution I sat down
and wrote long letter to &m, in which l set
forth my woes When l received Fred's an
swer, I was agreeably surprised to find that
the Dariens were not strangers to him, as he
had etayed with them as friend of younger
brother of Gilbert's. "There is something"
he wrote, 'fshy about Gilbert The fell
low never leaves home, and is about as ill
bred hippopotamus as have ever met.
The idea of your marrying himl" And here
followed long diatribe on my father, and
what he called the 'scussedness" Of things in
general, and his financial affairs in particular.
However, there was a crumb of comfort at
the end of his letter, and that was contained
in the information that he would fish for an
invitation to Darien hall while we were there.
My curiosity was excited by the mystery,
the something fishy'' about the man whom
my father had chosen to be my future hus-
band. Was he subject to fits of madness2
Was he klepto- or dipso-, or anything
else horrid ending in omaniaca l deter
mined to cross-question my father, and that
evening set about the task.
ultimately succeeded in eliciting the fol-
lowing information: "That Gilbert was the
image of his poor father" c'The fright"
mentally calculated, for had seen a photo
of the poor father, in big, baggy white trou-
sers, the legs crossed, and regarding with
wondering smile-as well he might-an enor-
NOUS, misShapen silk hat that he very rarely
left his home, having been educated there by
private tutors@ c'keepers," exclaimed to my
self; "that Darken hall had the reputation of
being haunted; that it was my fathers one
wish in life to see me happily married to the
son of his dear old friend and that he (my
father wished I would not poster him with
my idiotic questions" This last because l
asked if Gilbert's eyes were blue Erred has
the most charming blue eyes you ever saw.
My father and l arrived at Darien hall late
one evening, and a single glance showed me
that my worst fears were realized The pho
tograph of my fathers "dearest friend"
might have been a portrait Of the Apollo
Belvidere compared to the dearest friends
son, to whom, however, it bore striking re-
semblance with regard to the inane smile
a smile which, in addition TO his general
sheepish manner, told me plainly that Gilbert
was aware of our respective parents plans
that we two should come together.
The next morning there was a kind OF SOL
emn betrothal scene, at which Mrs. Dafiep
and nv father officiated, and during which
Gilbert, like the person in the nursery rhyme,
continued to smile perhaps at my misery.
The following three days l spent in coyly
repelling the advances of my prospective hus-
band.
Twas only sustained by the thought that
soon Fred would arrive, and the hope that he
would find some method of relieving me from
my painful position.
Gilbert had the impertinence to remark
that he hoped should like young Fred Hall
well, though. between ourselves. he was
rather prig." Finally, Fred arrived, and
was soaenlnly introduced to me as an utter
stranger One of the few occasions on which
1 saw Gilbefts smile dry up was when he
saw how rapidly got on with man whom,
as ne thought. ! had just met for the first
tune
The days went by, and zay position grew
more and moro hateful More than once !
determined to make a clean breast of it to
nv father; but / could never screw UP my
courage to pay such an insult to the memory
of his dearest friend as to decline to marry
his son. Moreover, though | bad attained
the age of 10, had, strange to say. the rem
rants of a conscience, which ffep time to
time gave me horrible mental tweaks for
what it was pleased to call my double faced,
ness. being practically engaged to two meh
ct the same time. But what excuse could
give my father for breaking off my engage
ment to Gilbert9 1t would not have been the
slightest use to plead that didn't love him,
or to find fault with his mental or bodily fec
lures: while to confess that was III love
with Fred would have resulted in obtaining
that penniless youth bis congo from Darien
hall.
Fred, in the happy-go-lucky way which is
one of his chief failings emo, Pp not, is
here interposed in the manuscript which
gave my husband to eorrecH-Fred, lrepeas.
with Micawber like trust in the future, in
sisted that sonaethipg would turn up sooner
Or later and that We had better welt until
that sooner or later. and spend our time
meanwhile in making the best OF it, which
we did SO effectually that even the long suf-
fering Gilbert suddenly took it into his head
to demonstrate with me on my manner to
hot Ho1Uo11