Year: 1865

4


My Plain Lover.


l was coquette. Many lovers heart Ihad
lacerated by refusing his offer of marriage, at
ter had lured him on 10 declaration. My
last victims name James Frazer. He was u
tall, awkward, homely, ungainly man, but his
heart was true as steel. respected him
highly, and felt panied when / witnessed bis
anguish at my rejection OF him. But the TACT
was, L had myself fallen in love with Captain
Elliot, who had been unremitting in his devo-
tiOn to me.


MIR. James Frazer warned me against Eliiot;
but l charged him with jealousy, anu took his
warning as an insult.


A few davs afterwards Elliot and were en-
gagged, and my dream OF romantic love SEEM
ed TO be in a lair way OF realization. had
week OF happiness. Many nave not SO much
in a lifetime, Many awake from the bright
short dream to find themselves in lifelong
darkness, aud bondage from which there is no
escape. Thank, God, was not to be so mis-
erabie as they!


My mother was widow in good circum-
stances, bat having very bad health. She was
also OF an easy, listless, credulous nature
hating trouble, and wiling to take thin IS just
as they happen to present themselves. She
therefore made no inquiries about Captain
Eiiiot-but fondly believed that inasmuch as





of honor also, especially as he had served in
the CTimea and in India and won medals.
His regiment was quartered in our nelghbor-
hood, and he had the reputation of being one
OF the wealthiekt as he was ceartainly the
handsomest officer in it.


l remember well the day we became engag-
ed. He was on duty, but had managed to
ride over to our house In his uniform, and
while we were walking in the garden he made
the tender avowsl. referred him to mama; >
he hastened TO her-returned in three minutes,
ana led me into her presence to receive the as
surance that the maternal consent had been
readily and freely given.


a,y dear mother hated trouble, and she
moreover loved me tenderly; so that she was
well pleasedsto fad husband presenting HIM
self in form and manner apparently so eligi-
bic for her beloved and only daughter


Well, week passed quite delightfully."- ASH
have said; and at the expiration of this there
might have been seen gay equestrian party
winding through our old Dev0nshire woods
and quiet country roads. Elliot and led the
cavalcade. / rode my own beautiful brown
Bess. Captain Elliot was mounted on a hand
come black horse that had been cent him FROM
London. Following us was bevy Of merry
girls and their cavaliers; and among them
was tail, awkward and silent James Frazer
His presence had marred all the pleasure OF
my ride, and was glad to be in advance OF
them all that might not see him.


And so we rode on through the woods, and
l listened, well pleased, to the low but ami
mated words OF the gallant Elliot, who wish
ed himself knight and me a faire ladye of
the olden time, that he might 60 forth to do
battle and compel all men to recognize the
claims OF his peerless love. Very eloquenty
he spoke OF the Inspirations of love, OF the
brave deeds and perilous exploits il had pro-
moted, wishing again ano again that he might
proclaim and maintain his love before the
world. 1t pleased me to listen to this and to
believe its:ncere, though / surely had no wish
to put my lover to such test.


A shot suddenly%rang through the woods
and wounded bird. darting past, huttered
and fell at the feet of brown Bess. With
bound and spring that nearly unseated me,
she was off.


Struggling to regain my seat, had no pow
er to check her, and even as she flew, the fear
and madness OF the moment grew upon her.
l could Only cling breathlessly TO name aud
bride, and wonder heiplessly where this mad
gallop was to end. she swerved from pass
ing wagon, and turned into path that led to
river. La the sudden movement the relns
had been torn from my hands and could not
regain them. l clung to the name and closed
my eyes, that l might not behold the fate that
awaited me. How sweet was life in those
precious moments that / thought my last y
How love rose up before me / thought Of
the pang that would rend Elliots heart as he
saw me lying, mangled and dead and then
the thought would come if he were pursuing
and trying 10 save me, even, as he had said,
at the risk of life and limb.


/ remembered no more. / felt a sudden
shock, fearful rushing through the air, and
knew no more, until days afterward, l woke
TO faint, weak semblance OF life in my cham
Der at home. e


Inever saw Captain Elliot again. The last
words ever heard from his lips were those of
knghtly daring. The last action Of his life in
connection with mine, was to follow in the
train offrightened youths who rode after me, to
contemplate the disaster from afar, and as soon
as he saw me lifted from the shallow bed OF
the river, into which had been thrown
when my frightened horse stopped suddenly
on its bank, TO ride hastily of That evening
he sent to make enquiries, and Learning that
was severely, but it was hoped not fatally,
injured, he thencesorth contented himself
with such tidings of my condition and i'm
provement as could be gained from mere ru-
NOR.


At last 1t was known that would never re-
cover entirely from the effects OF my ipj ury,
and that very day Captain Elliot departed
suddenly from the neighborhood. He made
no attempt to see me, or send me any fare
well. When was once more abroad, and
beginning, though with mnch unalloyed Bit
ternees, to learn the lesson of patience and
resignation that awaited me, / received a let
ter from him, in which he merely said that he
presumed my own good judgement had
taught me, that in my altered circumstances,
our engagement must come to an end but to
satisfy his owu sense of honor This honor y he
wrote TO say that while entertaining the high
est respect for me, he desired formal renun-
citation OF my claim Writing on the bottom
of this letter, "Let ii be as you wish," l re.
turned it to him at once, and thus ended my
: brief dream OF a romance.


! had heard ere this of Elliot's coWardly
conduct on thatday but now first bethought
me to inquire who had rescued me from
that imminent death. And then l learned
that James Frazer, his arm already broken by
the jerk with which Brown Bess tore away
from him as he caught at her bride. had rid
den after me and had been the first to lift me
from the water. Many times daily he made
inquiries concerning me; his had been the
hand that had sent the rare flowers that had
decked my room: his were the lips that breath
ed words of comfort and hope to my poor
mother; his were the books that l read du-
IiL g the days Of convalescence; and his, now,
the arm that supported me, as slowly and
painfully paced the garden walks.


have been his wife for many year.
have forgotten that he is not handsome-or
rather he is beautiful to me, because see his
grand and loving spirit shining through his
plain features and animating his awkward fig
ure, have long since laid aside, as utterly
untenable, my theory that beautiful spirits
dwell only in lovely bodies. 1t may be provi-
Dental compensation that, in denying physi-
cal perfection, the soul is not dwarfed or mar
red by petty vanity or love of the worlds