Year: 1871

school, and we saw each other at church


and l think"


81 think that you both ought to be horse


whippedr' he said, fiercely interrupting


me "and as for my consent to Clara's en-


gagement to boy like you-I will even


go so far as to say whipper snapper like


you"


A whipper-snapper, sir?"


81 repeat it, whipper-snapper r' cried
old Rowley, becoming veryred and apoplec-
tic in appearance. "I decline to listen to
your preposterou proposal for one instant
Clara is only sixteen, and does not know
her own mind-she is mere child"


"But we shall both grow older, Mr..
Rowley."


"Ah, and more sensible, I hope. Good
morning."


"Good morning, SIR"


did not wait to tell him of my expecta-
tions from my grandmother, Or to reason
with him on his want of justice and consid-
Grafton. I went away crest-fallen and
heart-broken. l dashed from the library
in despair, and brought my forehead against
that of my beloveds with conclusion that
was nearly the means of stretching our
senseless forms outside the tyrant's den,
the victims of his cruel obduracy. Clara,
naturally interested in the result of my in
terview with her guardian had forced her
pure but anxious soul to listen at the libra
ry key-hole. 1 had retired in haste and
floored her.


"Oh, my gracious p she sobbed forth
" / did not know you were coming out like
that !! Oh, my head Oh, how dreadful Oh,
Alphonse, we must part forever p


She rested her head on my shoulder and
shed many tears. kissed away her tears
patted her head fondly, keeping clear of
the bump which I had raised there. /
could scarcely see her golden hair for tears
myself-the water had risen into my eyes
Immediately we had met each other.
sought to calm her emotion. l bade her be
firm, and l recommended vinegar and
brown paper for her damaged brow.
said that should try them myself when
got home. l told her that would rather
die than relinquish her =; she said the same
thing in burst OF uncomfortable emotion;
we renewed our VOWS of eternal fidelity, and
tore ourselves from each others arms,
crushed in spirit, but strong yet to resist
unjust oppression.


told all my troubles to Jack Edwards,
my bosom friend and adviser. Jack and l
had been school-fellows together we were
going into the medical profession together
presently my father had resolved that
should walk the hospitals instead of the
rosy path of love. Jack heard my story,
and said that he would not have stood half
OF old Rowley's nonsense but what he
would have done under the circumstances
he did not impart to me at the time, and
forgot to ask him afterward.


Clara and l met clandestinely. We were
lovers from our youth the flinty heart of a
guardian who had outlived mortal passion
was not to stand between our fresh Young
souls.


l met Clara in the village I scaled the
park fence and met her in the green wood
and Jack, good fellow, kept watch on the
door of the hall, and old Rowley's library
windows, with telescope, lest we should
be surprised at any moment. Clara and
passed much Of our time talking of what
we would do when she came into her proper
ty at twenty-one, and my grandmother
favored me by departing from this earthly
sphere but it was a sharp winter, and our
teeth chartered over our prospects. Clara
and used to arrange our meetings in this
wise Clara had confident in the game
keeper, Peter Stokes, an invaluable man,
with weakness for tobacco, and with a
heart all charity toward his fellow-creatures
Peter was always getting up subscriptions
for his ellow-creatures in tho village; and
what with his subscriptions and his tobacco.
i kept him entirely in tobacco, my pocl-
et-money knew but little rest. Still, he
had good heart, and was kind to us. He
took charge of our correspondence, which
was carried on by circumlocutorys but
sure process. Clara gave it to her maid
Selma, another confidan, who alas
proved herself a prefdious snake,-and
Selma intrusted it to Peter, who took it TO
a gnarled monarch of the forest-an oak
tree, in fact,-and concealed it from all
human gaze in small hollow cavity some
ten feet from the ground, where, at late
hour found it, and deposited my answer
to be conveyed by the same process, in to
my dearest Clara's hands.