Year: 1861

think nothing so suddenly and effect
ually brings a woman to her senses regard
ing the true state of her affections as a
disastrous rival. By this, I mean that
though she may look with The utmost ap-
parent Indifference upon all the gentlemen
of her acquaintance, and consider herself
as standing in perfectly heart-whule re-
lation to every one of them, let but anoth-
er woman, be she more tr less brilliant
than herself, cross the hunts she has mark
ed out as tho boundary of her own pecu-
liar and inalienable queenship, and she is
awake at once. with all her weapons in or
der to dispute the progress of the auda
cious encroacher; and ten to one before the
battle is ended she will discover some par
ticular one among her vayeriDg subjects
whom she is especially desirous of cover
ing from the attacks Of the enemy. Ten
to one she viii find that all the while she
has been asleep at her post, or lying among
her inactive forces with colors down and
sentinels off guard, the little god has been
riddling her heart with his magical arrows,
/ till, for the life Of her, she cannot count a
! single pulse in the whole of that treacher-
Gus organ that is not beating and futter-
ing with an emotion which has smuggled
itself into her bosom without her knowl-
edge. draw the above conclusion from
my own experience, which I will now re-
late.


| I called Edgar Richards my cousin, al
though he was only nominally so, being
but the adopted son Of my uncle and aunt,
with whom | went to reside after the death
/ Of my widowed mother. From the first
of our acquaintance Edgar and were firm
/ friends; but Inever thought of loving him,
or imagined the possibility of such thing
until be began to talk to me about his
beautiful cousin, Agnes Browne, whom /
/ had nevor seen, and if the truth must be
| known, never wanted to see. I said [ had
never thought of loving. True, I had
dreamed such intangible visions Of love
and happiness as must inevitably come to
every womanly woman, earlier or later
But they were all hero-less romances, aim
! less fancies, air castles that [ was content
to build for the mere pleasure of building,
without stopping to Look for foundation OF
completeness. I cannot remember so far
back that / did not have lover; but he
was always an ideal one-a combination Of
all that was honorable and manly, steady,
upright and pure. Inever paused to trace
resemblences, either real OF imaginary, be-
tween that and any man of flesh and blood
least all Edgar Richards.


I could not account for the decided feel
ing of annoyance that possessed me when
he first commenced telling me about his
cousin Agnes. He talked of his visit to
her. read me passages from her letters,
showed me a crayon sketch of her which
he had drawn from memory, and talked
my patience threadbare with his eulogiums.
Cousin Agnes was beautiful. cousin Agnes
was brilliant, cousin Agnes was graceful,
/ charming sweet, intelligent, bewitehing-
adorable, if l might believe half the com
plimentary adjectives which he exhausted
in her praise.


But the time came when was to judge
| of her charms for myself. During the ab,
sence of my uncle and aunt on protract
ed summer visit, Edgar wrote a pleading
note to his faYorite cousin. telling her how
lonely the old manor-house was, and beg
ging her to take pity upon its most desc
| late inmates, and revive them by few
weeks enjoyment of her sunshiny presence
The result of the matter was, that in les


than a week after the sending of the let


ter. we hailed the arrival of Miss Agne


Browne, who, to use her own words, haC


acome to rusticate and see Cousin Edgar.


1t was quite evident to me which motiv'
| Influenced her the most strongly.