Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-05-18

mother with her first born. Here again
i must ask you not to impute heavy
! blame to Isabel. The girl had been
| educated at a somewhat austere school,
could scarcely recollect mothers
! guiding hand, and on arriving in India
found herself worshipped as only reg
ular OLD "qui hies" eau worship fresh
| English maiden whose roses have not
! vet been bleached by the Indian sun.
| She hardly knew her father, whose re-
serve had grown so habitual that per-
| feet confidence between the pair was at
! first impossible. Isabel admireI the
! colonel greatly, used to dub him true
Bayard and all that sort of thing, but
/ he was Just trifie grave, you see, and
youthlike she loved to be in the neigh
borhood of smiles and laughter. Stan
ton Jarvis had plenty of these at his
! disposal, and could not help thinking
his stock increased when he learned
that the Colonel had couple of laks to
his name 1 can no longer delay re-
lating what / wish to Heaven had never
! happened, but these pages only form a
"Reminiscences, not a three volume novel,
so before the close of the Poona season
ii became generally known that Isabel
Holbrook was engaged to Stanton jar
Wis, and that the wedding was to take
place at Bombay some time In Novem-
per. In this sketch | have not space
10 describe the ''ever old yet ever
new; yet some day l hope to give you
a thrilling love story, and all that dear
est Henry murmured under the pal
myras TO sweetest Edith, and what the
latter whispered IN return. | cannot
promise that such conversation will be
very different from what thousands of
others have been under the oak tree in
| England or the maple in Canada, and
vet they never seem to grow stale or
monotonous to the majority of readers,
indeed, when l remarked one day that
there was n sameness IN love-maklng, |
was quickly taken to task by certain
lady who said, ''Ah, my dear, you di |
not think so once" Well, perhaps not,
| but to resume: As soon as Stir ing
! learned that Isabel Holbrook was be-
yond his reach, he declared Poona was
insufferably dull, the ''gymkhana'
beastly slow, and the races the poorest
h. had ever seen. Finally after wreak
ing his ill-temper upon his friends and
making himself generally disagreeable
all round, he betOOk himself off to
Bombay, much, it must be confessed,
to everyone's relief. The Colonel, like
the gallant soldier he was, did his best
to bow to what was inevitable. but all
his grave tenderness to his daughter,
and his scrupulous courtesy to Jarvis
could not disguise the fact that the
projected match was not his choice.
The smile, which had lately been play
ing round the corner of the Coloners
mouth, especially when watching his
% g. 10
and he would sit almost impassive
while Isabel and Jarvis we're laughing
with all their might at Dave. Car sons
great character song "rhe Bengalee
| Baboo." Truly "Man never is but al
ways to be blest," and all the ColonePs
dreams of making a happy home for
his daughter and himself, of which he
had brief foretaste. were vanishing
into thin air. Isabel at first had in
sisted upon her fathers taking mp his
abode with her after her marriage, but
though the Colonel was pleased at hiss
daughters desire not to lose him, he
steadily declined to comply with her
behest, which caused little passage at
arms between two who had uDcon-
sciously been drifting asunder.
"You will be so lonely, papa" said
Isabel, with pleading glance.
"Not more 80 than l have been for
the last dozen years, replied the
Colonel.
"That was no fault of mine papa,
and now that l and Stanton offer you
n home oh, papa, / don't believe
you care for me bit" cried Isabel,
breaking off
Not care for herl Not cire for the
single treasure he had fought so well
for and saved on that fearful day never
to be recalled without shudder. Col
onel Holbrook was an undemOnstrative
man, and hated everything theatrical,
and he simply placed his hand on his
daughters shoulder, saying, 81 think,
my child, the best answer / can give
you will be to tell you something |
have never spoken of to anyone. and
would ask you never to refer to the
subject again"
Then he shortly related the bare
facts of what l have already told you.
There were no embellishments, but |
think Isabel as she listened supplied
those and began to realize what noble
fellow her grave and gentle father was
Before he had finished her arms were
round his neck, and the two approach
ed nearer in spirit than they had been
for sometime, but fate was to bring
them closer yet before the last parting
came.
The inevitable took place at the ap-
pointed time, and Stanton Jarvis, may
the gods confound him, led Isabel to
the altar. Jack Stirling had gone pig
sticking somewhere nelr Ahmnadeb-
had, but Leyden and the writer were
present on the memorable occasion,
and very beautiful Miss Ho brook ap-
peared in bridal attire. The breakfast
was pretty much what all such break
fasts are. Everybody complimented
everybody else, and Colonel Holbrook,
| with the air of "A man riding at a raSp-
ing big fence, said so many handsome
| things about Jarvis that you might
have thought the latter was the one of
all others whom the Colonel would
have picked ont for his son-in-law. Al
I though Jarvis did not seem to appresi-
ate the encomiums heaped upon him,
Isabel's eyes glistened with pleasure,
and | am sure she felt that her father
for her sake was doing his best to give
her unalloyed Joy upon that day.
The honeymoon was Just over when
a panic commenced in business circles
in Bombay and stocks of every descrip-
! ton began to fall, first slowly and then
with a run as though they would never
stop. Merchants and bankers looked
doubtful at one another, Premchund
Roychund, the great Hindoo mer-
chant supposed to be worth one hun
dred laks of rupees, was utterly and
irretrievably ruined. and dark rumors
were whispered about the largest Eng
lish houses, while even the great
Parsee baronet was said to be heavily
involved.
l ought perhaps to have mentioned
that Colonel Holbrook previous to her
marriage had settled lax of rupees on
his daughter in such way that her
husband only benefited to the extent
of sharing the income derived from the