Jessie Graham

sky. The refreshing rain of the previous night had cooled the sultry August air, and all

n seldom found entrance to the velvety plat where Walter had built a rustic bench, with Jessie looking on, and where Jessie and Ellen now were sitting, the one upon the seat and the other on t

e boarding-school, for the only child of the millionaire must have accomplishments such as could not be obtained among the New England mountains. No process of polishing, however, or course of discipline had succeeded as yet in making her forget her country home, and when Mr. Graham, whose business called him West, offered her the choice between Newport and Deerwood, she unhesitatingly chose the latter, greatly to the vexation of her grandmother, who delighted in society now even more than she did when young. If Jessie went to Deerwood she must remain at home, for she could not go to Newport alone, and what was worse, she must live

ormed a striking contrast to the merry, frolicsome Jessie, with her darker, richer style of beauty, and neither ever appeared so well as when they were together. In all the world there was no one, except her father, whom Jessie loved as she did Ellen Howland, and thou

en he would be in her father's employ, for it was settled that he was to enter Mr. Graham's bank as soon as he was graduated. And as on that su

. I wish you could spend the winter with me, and see something of the world. I mean to ask your mother. Father will buy your dresses to wear to parties, and concerts, and

resence of fashionable people, and who continued: "I don't believe Walter will like it either, unless he changes greatly. He used to

it did me good, for I deserved it, I was such a high-tempered piece; but I did not know he hated me. Do you sup

use, whose gable roof, small window panes, and low walls had provoked a smile of derision, while he wondered what Jessie Graham could find to attract her there. Particularly was he amused with the quaint expressions of Aunt Debb

f he should find her setting on the damp ground, as she presumed she was. Ellen was weakly," she said, "and

rned William. "

more firmly upon her nose she peered curiously at him. "I want to know if you are one of them Bellengers? Wall,

od-natured, even if he possessed no other virtue, and having a

ned toward him, but he scarcely heeded it in his surprise at another view which greeted his vision. A slender, willowy form was more in accordance with Will's taste than a fat chubby one, and in Ellen Howland his idea of a beautiful woman was, if possible, more than realized. She was leaning against a tree,

w, if she were only rich I'd yield the black-eyed witch of a Jessie to my milksop cousin. But, pshaw! it shan't be said of me that I fell in love at first sight with a vulg

upon the face of Jessie as she exclaimed, "Does he hate me no

the other one? I would, if the million were on her side," and in t

nfluence, for as that lo

the house," and she arose to her feet, just as the pine

essie exclaimed. "

thinking I should stumble upon two wood nymphs instead of one," and again the peculiar glance

and then Ellen rose to go, compla

n her hat, when Mr. Bellenger touched her

here w

o caught the words. "It is plea

the distance William sat down beside her, and after expressing

had the pleasure of hearing the charity boy's valedi

; "I thought Walter Marshall w

your father pay his bills?" asked Willi

iam's face grew dark while waiting for her answer, which, when it came, was, "because he saved my life;" and then

ne?" she asked, her manner in

, and knowing well that insinuations are often stronger and harder to

ed strangely familiar, and I heard other

's,-that an older and wiser head had helped him in its composition. William did not believe this, but it suited his purpose to repeat it, and he watched narrowly for the effect. Jessie

his own!" she exclaimed. "It isn't like

an beside her, carelessly thrusting

essie asked in some surpris

rofessing ignorance of what Walter'

r heard the story. I asked my father once and he seemed greatly agitated, saying he would rather not talk of it. Then I asked Ellen, but if she knew sh

idea of public disgrace. Once convince her of the parent's guilt, and she will sicken of the

f it, perhaps; but this I will say, if Seth Marshall had his

t. Is it true? Oh! is it true?" and in the maiden's heart there was a new-born feeling, which, had Walter bee

"It must be that you are more deeply int

ve liked him so much that I never dre

the child is somewhat like the father, particularly if it does not inherit any of its mother's virtues, as Walter, I suppose, do

ie whispered. "What

ontinued, as he saw the flash of Jessie's eyes, and readily divined that she did not wish to have Walter slighted. "I cannot help it. Our family are very proud, my grandmother particularly; and when my aunt married a poor ignorant country youth, it was natural that she should feel it, and when the disgrace came it was ten times worse. There is such a thing a

marrying Walter as a preposterous and impossible event, she accepted it as such, and wondered why her heart should throb so painfully or why she should feel as if somethin

r. Like most young girls she was fond of flattery, and Walter had more than once offended her by his straightforward way of telling her faults. William, on the contrary, sang her praises only; and, while listening to him, she wondered she had never thought before how very

o the fence which surrounded the home of dead; "that is hers

iam, directing her attention to the flutter of a blue

e reached the gate, where she stopped suddenly, and beck

n asleep, and like some rare piece of sculpture, she lay among the tall, rank grass-so

on, who replied; "Yes, wonderfully beautiful," so

ne to sleep, for I dreamed that I was dead, and that the man

ar Miss Howland, I would dig the grave of almost any one sooner t

on his arm, while in a very tender voice he asked if she felt better. Ellen Howland was wholly unaccustomed to the world, and had grown up to womanhood as ignorant of flattery or deceit as the veriest child. Pure and innocent herself, s

and the shining black of Jessie's, and when at last he left them, and was alone with himself and the moonlight, he was conscious that there had come to him that day the first unselfish, manly impulse he had known for years. He had mingled much with fashionable ladies. None knew how artificial they were better than himself, and he had come at last to believe that there was not among them a single true, noble-hearted woman. Jessie Graham might be an exception, but even she was tainted with the city atmosphere.

, or better yet, if there were not something in her nature which would sometime respond to him. He did not think of the harm he might do her. He did not care, in fact, even though he won her love only to cast it from him as a

a gallows, with Walter standing underneath beseeching her to come and share the s

ot intended for the other. Drop by drop was he infusing into Jessie's mind a distrust of one whom she had heretofore considered the soul of integrity and honor. Not openly, lest she should suspect his motive, but covertly, cautiously, always apparently seeking an ex

had pursued his study faithfully, and, in doing so, had become so much interested himself that he would have asked Ellen to be his wife had she been rich as she was lovely. But his bride must be an heiress; and so, though knowing that he could never be to Ellen Howland other than a friend, he led her on step by step until at last she saw but what he saw, and heard but what he heard. He was not deceiving her, he said, somet

garden he talked with her alone, and saw the varying color on her cheek, as he said, "We may never meet again." "If

en to acknowledge to himself the love which really and tr

id. "Jessie will be here. You'll want to visit

wish me to come and see you, Nellie?" and the dark, handsome face bent so low that the rich br

wish you

when the trees on the mountain where we have been so happy together are c

r William Bellenger was greedy, and his lips ha

not like me, I fancy, and I cannot bear to have him prejudice

ishing her friend to know that she, who never aspired to notice of

and knowing well his power over the timid girl, he felt sure that

d as there was a secret understanding between himself and Mrs. Bartow, the

mer. It's all owing to your obstinacy, too, and I think you ought to come back and entertain me. Mr. Bellenger will attend to you, and you couldn't ask for a more desirable companion. Old Mrs. Reeves says he is the most eligible match in the city, his family are so aristocratic. There isn't a single mechanic or working person in the whole line, for she spent an entire season in tracing back their ancestry,

should never have been spoken. "It's probably because I've not been much with her of late, and she never seemed at all interested in him, except indeed, to say that pa ought to get him a situation in a grocery, or something to pay him f

with her in the city the coming winter was not as pleasant as it once had been. Her grandmother might find out who he was; William would tell, perhaps, and she c

inite is arranged, and persuade father to secure Walter just as

e was no one whose judgment Jessie regarded so highly as her father's. He knew Walter,-he r

was fitted to occupy. "I won't go," she said, at last. "I'll stay and see Walter again, at all events, though I do wish Will hadn't told me about his speech, and his father, too. I mean to

ot and see him off. "I shall be rather lonely when he is gone," she thought, and walking to the

yed here a whole week? Nell, is that you?" and Jessie started as the young girl glided into the room, her face unusually pale, and

eplied, trembling lest she should betray

she made some incoherent answer, and, seeking her pillow, lived over again the scene in the garden, blushing to herself as she recalled the dark face which had bent so near to hers, and the tender voice which had whispered in her ear the name s