Year: 1871

IF that girl should ever love and be
deserted, may Heaven help the man I!
said Hubert Walden, a cool, clear-head.
ed, calculating Yankee, to his wife, as
| they sat gazing upon q daTk-haired and
dark-eyed brunette beauty, who was
walking upon the sands, in company
with their daughter, and watching the
| incoming tide and the fishermen's boats
scudding before the rising wind.


why, Hubert%


Because she has the most fiery and
unfOTgiving temper I ever saw in any
human being-let alone girl--quick as
lightning, and lasting as red-hot irOn.-
And she will love as madly as she will
hate he continued, half musingly. 4
never saw one of her nature but what
did-a sort of tigress affection, that eth
er made them intensely happy or in
tensely wretched, God help her if it
should be the latterl [ am very glad
she is no child of mine, and that am
not going to have the care of her long, }


Innocent of being the subject of re-
mark, FlOride LIE Brun, the one child
of daughter of the South by creole
father, was watching the waves as they
crept up with a puTring sound upon the
Tifted sands almost at her feet. Al
though girl In years, she was woman
in passion and thought, had matured
very early (at eighteen), and was the
superior of most of her sex at one-and-
twenty.


This was the cause with the physical
as the mental powers. The tropical sun
ripens the 1OWer-the fruit quickly fol-
lows the blossom. Gifted by nature
with rare beauty both of figure and face,
the charms of WOmanhood were deveI-
Oped in her before the line of girlhood
had been passed. Never, perhaps, were
eyes of more intense brightness or black
ness seen-never more expressive ones
and as no attempt was made at conceal
ment, they melted now with love, dane
ed with mirth, or played with indigna-
ton. All well had the old man said
that her love would he dangerous thing!


How I love the ocean y said her gem
tie cousin, Edith Walden, as they paced
slowly along, when it lies sleeping, and
its Watery lips are murmUring lullaby


And when its great waves are break
ing in foam, when the wind is hOwIing,
and it is laundering wrath and DOOM
To my mind, there can be no more in
sipid thing than the ocean in an hour
of calm


The few words were true index to
the characters of both, One was gentle
and yielding as the willow, and would
bend to any storm; the other, defiant as
the oak. Ofwhich would be the happi-
er there could not be question.


But, as yet, FlOride LIE Brun had had
nothing to stir her heart to its lowest
depth-tO quicken love into its tempest
uOUs flow, or kindIe the fierce fires of
jealousy that were only slumbering
in her bosom. Yet both the hour and
the man were near at hand, and one
would follow the other just as certainly
as night does sunshine. And so it was
with the heart and impulsive and fiery
nature of the Southern girl. Love and
hate came twin-mated and at the same
moment.


Even as they were looking at the
storm that had fast gathcred--Ed
shrinking and mourning over the wrecks
and deaths that might follow, and Flor
ide glOrying in the fierce war of the eIe-
ments-a tiny boat was driven towards
them swifter even than the glIls that
were seeking sheltePing lee. There
was but rag of sail to be seen as it was
lifted for a moment upon the crest of the
billOws; but as long as it remained, it
was salvation. That gone, the boat
would be instantly swamped.


Inere IS but one man in it, hOarsely
whispered Floride, who was INSTANTLY
absorbed in his perilous position; 'but he
stands erect and firm, and defies fate.-
On, that were with him, for -


He will be lost y interrupted the
shuddering and terrified Edith. TN an
other instant, he will be in the line Of
breakers, and no human hand can save
him. Oh, Heaven how many have I
seen perish there? and she bowed her
head and shut her eyes to what she was
certain would follow.


No? answered Floride, proudly. He
will conquer. How glory in his daunt-
less courage! Such man is fit for a
kingv


'Merciful heaven! the boat is lOstv


The practical eye of the Northern girl
saw the tiny sail as it was rent in tat
ters, and drank in the danger. Even as
the words were leaving her lips the boat
fell into the trough of the sea, rolled
heavily for an instant, and then the
waves broke above and entirely sub
merged it.


'Oh, Heavenp exclaimed the fiery
Floride, he will perish, and we stand
ing idle lOOkers-Onp


And she dashed down to the water's
edge.


what would you dog demanded her
companion, as she ran after and clung
to her.