Year: 1859

was born an heiress The day entered
the world, my poor dear mother left t. Twas
her fr,t and o ily child and my father. who
loved her paasionately, was sadly qrieved at
his loss The very light Of bic eyes was gone.
and in his place he mad ouly me--a sickly,
irritating baby, so poor comfort, aud 30 great
care. Mama's property was secured TO
me, and till came of age, papa was 10 enjoy
the interest Of it Dear papa how faithfully
he carried out the implied sondidons of that
will; how tenderly be loved me. not surely for
my own sake, but for hers that was gone He
spared neither tin e nor expense 70 make me
the most accomplished of my sex; everything
that could possibly tend TO improve me men.
tally OF physically, was freely granted, and
grew up fully prepared to support the position
that came to me by birth But as the sunshine
seldom lasts through the day, my good, dear,
sell sacrificing papa was taken from me when
was on the eve of womanhOod and at The
most critical period OF life lie did his best 70
secure mo from my inevitable dangers; he
left for my guardians his two cousins aud
former companions who were honest above
suspicion, and only anxious TO do their duty to
me


Under their care / continued my stud
les, and till lived in seclusion, spending
only the interest Of my fortune; and 90 /
grew end grew, and lived on in an ideal world,
dreaming rather than acting, and feeding an
already too active an imagination But there
are few lives so quiet that have not some CAV
occasions, and 50 It happened to me when
was somewhat past twenty. ] was staying
with my aunt at HOrngrave, which happened
to be the headquarters of the WesseN militia
Wherever there are military there are sure to
be music and dancing A ball celebrated the
conclusion Of the period of annual training,
aud everybody in Horngrave was going
protested TO all my acquantances that | did
not care for balls--that I bad never danced
much-and that my guardians. knew, did not
think we'll OF those promiscuous meetings in
country towns. But hatteIy soon conquered
all my sCruplcs l could not resist being told
that with my beauty and my known wealth /
should be the pride of the ball. And why,
thought !, have these advantages, aud not en-
| joy them2 1t was a misciievous spirit chat
urged me to an exhibition of vanity; but who
that Las felt the pleasure of being admired,
eau refrain sometimes from ndulging in it,
y cut to the ball with some friends, and dressed
l felt, to perfection; | wore some of my family
jewels, which were valuable enough TO show
every enc my wealth, even il it were n,t
known.


How brilliant, how gay, how unlike every
thing else in our quiet mOuotOnOus lives, n we'll
lighted all room s-how iairy.like and be.
witching the ccgances of costume, how Joyous
tAe atInospl ere, how inspiring the music of the
dance. | bad not been in tho room ten min.
utes before felt how fiat and tame my life had
hitherto been as compared with the enchanting
present was not wrong in the anticipation
Of my success. l was eagerly sought As a
partner, and enga red lor every dance Of the
evening. / used to fancy young men were
much alike tall or short, dark or fair, they al.
ways appeared to say the same things, to have
the same ambltions, objects, and thoughts; TO
be, in short, uniformly uninteTestng, | came
back from the ball an altered being. One
there was who had danced more often with
me who seemed to say precisely what l cared
to listen to, to think precisely what | felt, and
to meet my ideal of man in some unaccOun-
tably wonderful way,


l do believe in love at sight; and am con-
vinced that l could no more help loving that
man, than ! could have felt passion for any
other of my partners He was Capt Nor.
man His father heard mentioned as cold,
stern, hard hearted aristocrat whilo tho son
was as kind and generous as il all his anccs-
tors had been professional philanthrupists.
fRnoied he was pleased with me; otherwise
why did he dance again and again with me-
and why did he hope, when we parted that we
should meet againl l heard him answer to
some question put by bystander, Very, very
charming Was itIi


But now the ball was over, there was re-
action, and felt sadder and duller than had
ever been before. But my pride was reused.
| would display my wealth in some way, and
not live on as if pinehed by poverty. / was
fond Of driving | would have pair of po.
nies, and drive them myselii there would at
least be some excitement about that | was
quite right, and enjoyed myself exceedingly,
but was it not partly IN the hope of meeting
Captain Norman that ! acted thusl At any
rate | did meet him, and, of course, as oppor-
tuniGes will occur when hearts are willing, we
improved our acquaintance. was soon dos-
perately in love, Ibelieve / would have Civ
en- up all for that man, even then lie was no
less ardent and seeing, as he must have done,
my disposition, he WAS not slow in breathing
hts vows, and askng my love. 1t had been
given long before, though in secret; and now
there had been mutual confession. How
smoothly everything went in the dreams Of that
happy bour-nothing was wanting but my
guardians consent, for ] was not yet of age,
and for that impationtly waited. At length
their answer came, IL was written in the Joint
name OF both, and was az kind in expression
and feeling as their letters had ever been.


II made me feel very, very sad, and almost
wicked in my love aud yet, in what they told
me, there WAS 10 appearance of il-feeling
their honesty was unimpeachable, and what
purpose could their warnings serve Still my
betrothel husband, my beauidcal was, in their
language very doubtful, even dangerous
character. His family ia aristncratic by birth,
but seldom visited, and there 10 hereditary
danger ia the blood no is known TO be iasen
Rtng. and very clever, an admirable actor,
(this cut me 70 the heart,) but changeable, VIC.
lent md unreliable They warned me 10 be-
ware of letting my feelings be too much en-.
gagged, as such an alliance could not result we'll
This letter was the first great shock had ever
had my life hitherto had been so calm, that
was quite unprepaled for such a blow II
seemed to me that an the world was opposed
Ia our union, and combined to make me wretch
ed but this feeling in itself only drew me
closer TO Arthur.


To bis impatient pleadings for our union.
urged my present dependence, and the impOss-
bllity of marriage ill was of age, which would
occur in three months. This interval passed
in q mixed state Of anxiety aud pleasure de-
light in tho society Of Ahhhr, but with a con.
stantly irritating remembrance Of the warning
| had received At length my birthday drew
50 near that l determined 10 see my lawyer, and
make my own disposition Of ny property, TO
be sgned when of age Arthur nobly askcd
nothing from me, though he must have known
my wealth. and know his comparative power
~ In a feeling OF generosity at his noble dis
interestcdness, determlned 10 give him the
half Of any property irreyocably, but u reserve
for the day he should cali me wife to tell him
what had done On the evening before my
birthday and our wedding day 1 received a
large packet Of papers from my late guardians
kind, pensively kind, but unaltered in ex-
preston. ln resigning their charge, they said
that my conduct had been exemplary during
the whole period Of their dutiesi theyhad never
had any difference with me. and every recon-.