An Old Man's Darling

rew herself on her lover's

ng?" holding her fast agains

e sobs that came heaving f

g

It seemed to her that she would die of her grief as

to bear it bravely, my Bonnibel. We both are young. We can bear to wait a few years unti

and Leslie could feel her little heart beating wildly agains

t the agitated girl that he did not he

hem, and the echo of her weird and mocking laugh blen

y bonny maid! Ah! said I not that the cloud

closer to her lover, whil

grily and rebuke

e prowling about this lady with your croakin

d looking at him malevolently in the moon

breast. But destiny is stronger than you or I. Her doom is written. Take the little maid in your

iterated the young

ating, with her mocking, discordant

ean nothing! Try and calm yourself and listen to me. I have much to say to you to-night for it is the last time we shall m

d brokenly, stifling

ere when I have so much work to do. Remember I have

out of his arms and sinking down on the peb

from her shoulders and wrapped it carefully a

ith such a prize in view, and I hope the time of our separation will not be long. I shall go at once to Rome and place myself under the best mas

t seems as if you were going out of the world. Why need

for studying the paintings of the world's greatest artists in the beautiful old churches and cathe

ar-wet face in the moonlight

ame and fortune, Leslie

er, laying her hands in his, and looking up into his face with eyes b

at you ask. You have been reared in the lap of luxury and pride. You could not

u, Leslie," said the poor child, who had but the faintest

troy you as quickly as some hot-house blossom would die when transplanted to regions of ice and snow. No, darling, I am to

nswered, sadly; "but, oh, how can I bear the

o you in your happy home, under the devoted care of your Uncle Francis-only you must not p

ow as if to dispel some gathering mist from her sight. The solemn, mystical sound of the foam-capped waves

are you thinking?"

t, it was so pitifully pathetic. He had never seen anything but happiness on that beautiful face.

strangely altered voice, "do

ed at th

e in such things, would it not? And yet may not a merciful Providence sometimes vouchsafe us warnings

ng hand in his and looked

eeling. Perhaps you will laugh at it. I shou

he pleaded; "I wi

mething like awe shin

if we part now-like this-that before you win the honors you covet, some terrible bar

nded from his little Bonnibel, who but an hour ago was as gay as a butterfly in the sunshine. Now

n that your uncle would marry you to some

t was a dim, intangible something I could not fathom, and took no peculiar shape. But h

, Bonnibel, this presentiment of yours troubles me. Perhaps I am fo

hat rose in her throat; "Uncle Francis will dig some impassab

e had been soaring in the blue ether, her fair plumage bathed in sunshine al

ought you sorrow," h

aning; the flowers have been sweeter, the sunshine fairer, the sound of the sea has seemed to have a voice that[Pg 16] spake to me of happiness. If you had gone away from me with your love untold I sho

. He was struggling mutely against it, trying to fight it down in all

whispered jealousy, "some other man will see that

r own now," w

here so angelically fair in the beautiful moonlight, and knew that he should never love another as he loved this beautiful, i

h a passionate clasp, longi

ncle may persuade you against your will, may even bring force to bear with you. But there is one way in which we can bridge any gulf they may dig between

gasped the child. "How

in a few hours, and then I can leave you without being haunted by a terrible foreboding of losing you forever. They will think you are asleep in your room at home, and no one will miss you or be the

without a moment's t