An Original Belle

he book she tried to read, and thought g

ew life into her soul, set all her nerves tingling, and her blood coursing in mad torrents through her veins? Was there a stranger, whom now she would sweep with a casual glance, who still had the power to subdue her proud maidenhood, overcome the reserve which seemed to reach as high as heaven, and l

evoking half-exultant

d dreamy, and the girl

two days than in mon

er than a sham, s

arted to her feet. "Who can kn

e mistaken in your touch. Your presence was revealed by the music as unmistakably as if I h

say that I am here in deep retirement

sk your

ent of

agine me a venerable father, dozing after a good di

atly. So I should have to confe

very altar, and in the teeth of the Pope himself.

e I shall

tle peccadilloes. I should like t

your glass should be

th

me, Miss Marian, so far

s from the seat of war

arm-chair is not

me how Southern girls m

o-morrow, if y

hot, and then you would

I am also not a carpet-knight and have not idled in ladies' bowers. I have worked hard and dreamed of you. I am willing to do all that a man can to win you. Cowardice has not kept me from the war, but you. If it would please you I would put on the blue and shoulder a musket to-morrow. If you will permit more discretion and time, I can soon obtain a commission as an officer. But before I

strong, impassioned, fluent utterance, for he was a

ay with the first regiment that would receive him. He was not a man to be influenced by little things, but yielded absolutely to the supreme impulses of his life. If she said the word, he would make good his promise with chivalrous, straightforward promptness, facing death, and all that death could then mean to him, with a light, half-jaunty courage characteristic of the ideal soldier. She had a secret wonder at herse

n, but was caused by her inability to answer him. The conventional words which she would have spoken a few days before died on her lips. They would be an insult to this earnest man, who had the right to hope for something better. What was scarcely worse-for there are few emer

ith some of the sham conventionalities current with society girls. I could stand anything better than that. I am in earnest; I have always been in earnest; and I saw from the first, through all your light, graceful disguises, that you were not a shallow, brainless, heartless c

e in her hands and

he looked down upon her, his face grew rigid and stern. In her sobs he read his answer,-the unwillingnes

u had nothing better in store? I was giving you the homage, the choice of my whole manhood, and you knew it. What were you giving me? Why did your eyes draw out my heart and soul? Do you think that such a man as I can exist without heart and soul? Did you class me with Strahan, who can take a

-I deserve it,

ature shrunk from me, as I see it does, you could have told me the truth months since, and I should have gone away honoring you as a true-hearted, honest girl, who would scorn the thought of deceiving and misleading an earnest man. You knew I did not belong to the male-flirt genus. When a man from some sacred impulse of his nature would give his very life to make a woman happy, is it too much to ask tha

the light in which you put it. Be content; you

will be only one less in your

them, and the increasing pallor of her face. "I have only this to say. I now feel that your words are like blows, and the

d every line of her drooping form suggesting defeat rather than triumph; yes, far m

hat you mean when you say I hav

ing. But there is no use in trying to defend myself: I should have little to urge except thoughtlessness, custom, the absence of evil intention,-other words should prove myself a fool, to avoid being a criminal. Go on and spoil your life; you seem to be wholly bent upon it. Face rebel bullets or do some other reckles

what am I

. He recognizes the possibility of good in the weakest and most unworthy of His

and took her hand. "Lo

eloquent with suffering

"I have wronged you.

ince I began to think-

ve me. I think it woul

ould for

, in bitter soliloquy, said: "O God! I was right-I knew I was not deceived

shudder ran through his frame like that of a

I could-but how can I? Oh, what an unutterable fool I have been! If your love

e; I fear that I have been almost in

d you. I never harbored one thought of cold-blooded malice. Why must I be punished as if I had committed a deliberate crime? If I am the girl you believe me to be, what greater punishment could I have than to know that I had harmed a man like you? It seems to me that if I loved any one I could suffer for him and help him, without asking anything in retur

r full force, and hope to prove that I do; but there is a tenacity in my natu

e-twice more-than any

not answer me now, unl

I am not a shadow of

l how strong and conc

ing I would n

a single moment. I scarcely know what love is; I may never know; but until my heart prompts me, I shall nev

ess teacher, and thus perhaps

they were unjust only because I was not deliberate. Mr. Lane, let me be your

er all. I pledge you my word-all the manh

definitely! I ask very much, very much indeed,-that you make the most and best of yourself. Then I can try to do the same. It will be harder for you than for me. You bring me more hope than sadness; I have given you more sadness than hope. Yet I hav

positively brutal

at now, Mr. Lane. You had no sentimentality to be touched, and my tears

ry, but when I am, my passion, after it is over, frightens me

I have anything to forgive

how pale you are! I

etter all my life for your

ve a power possessed by few. It was not your beauty merely that fascinated me, but a certain individuality,-something all your own, which gives you an influence apparently absolute. But I shall speak no more in this strain. I shall try to be as true a

. Never for a moment will my warm interest cease, and you can see me whenever you wish. I have one more thing to ask,-please take up your old life to-morrow, just where you left off. Do noth

you aske

ubt my friendship, as I

sure of his, but the pain wa