Page:Peterson's Magazine 1842, Volume I.pdf/147

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GERTRUDE.

“Gertrude,” said a low, but manly voice, aa the hand of the speaker opened the glass door that led into tn epartinent on the ground floor of a neat little country parsonage “ Gertrude.”

At a table, within the chamber, sat a fait-haired maiden, her check resting on one hand, while, with the other she caressed an Malian greyhound, that nestled on her lap. As the door was softly unclosed, the animal sprung forward, and with a low whine of delight welcomed the intruder. Gertrude sterted to her fort, and, in a voice which ill concesled the joy his presence imparted to her aod bosom, exclaimed :— “Is this well done, Hector? I thought you had been on boant the Windsor Castle by this time ?”

“On board the Windsor Castle,” he replied reproach- folly, “on my voyage to the East, without other leave- taking than the cold formal farewell in presence of our relatives—without plighting to you my érofh, and re- ceiving yours in rcturn ;—no, no, Gertrude; you could not—you did not think 60 meanly of me.”

A sad smile was her only reply, as Hector re-seating her, placed himself hy her side.

“I bad ascertained, before leaving the Rectory, that my presence on board would not be required for @ few days; but kept my own counsel, and bidding a final adieu to your respected father, at the termination of the firet stage, saw him eet out on his homewurd way. Lingering aroong our romantic haunts till night should shield me from prying cyes, £ approached the rectory. ‘The stillness within and without the house assured mo that all had retired to rest, and traversing the shrubbery with cautious steps, I spprouchod this side of the build- ing, and never did the sea-tossed mariner hail with moro intense joy the friendly port that offered him a refuge from the tempest, than did I the ray of light which streamed from yout cssement. I doubted not a cordial reception from the whole houschold; but the scene of to-day must have recurred to-morrow ; I must again have uttered a constrained edieu—again repressed the over flowings of a bursting heart; and departed an unblessed wanderer to another hemisphere.”

The feclings of Gertrude were too intense for utter- ances she leaned her head on the shoulder of her jover, and burst into tear. ‘Tho soothings of affection, a brilliant fature, depicted by the pencil of hope, in no long time, however, calmed the agitation of her soul; and the first rays of the rising en found the youthful pair still engaged in converse.

Six yeara previously to this period, Cofonel St. John, on boing ordered to India, had entrusted his motherless boy to the care of Dr. Montgomery, the rector of St. Bude, bis school-comrade and college-chum ; and

faithfully had the worthy divine fulfilled the sacred trust. He regarded Hector with ‘an affection little lese lively thon that he felt for his own Gertrude, As the youthful pair attained to the age of adolescence, the rector perceived, or thought he perceived, a growing allection between them, which he feared might ripen into love. He lost not a moment in communicating his euspicions to Colonel St. John, who, by the next packet, sct hia heart at rest, by requesting him, if he approved of his boy as a son, to let things take their course; but the epring arrivals from India brought an unexpected summons for Hector to join his father at Madras. For a moment, the confidence of the Rector in the honor and sincerity of his early friend wavered but the same conveyance brought him an explanatory letter from Colonel St. John, in which he stated, that having obtained a tuerative, though not a permanent, situation in the civil department of the Government, for his con, it was necessary that he should embark with the first fleet, “The lovers are young enough,” he added, "to wait two or three years, at which period Hector’s engagement will terminate, when I hope also to visit my notive land, and witness the union of my

boy with the daughter of my eurlicst and most esteemed °

friend”

‘The heart of the good divine was lightened of a painful load by this communication, and he further rejoiced that no engagement had taken place between the lovers, which might have fettered their liberty, though it could not have endangered their peace throughout life; littie was he aware of the midnight eseapade of his pupil, or the solemn vows of never= ending love and fidelity the youthful objects of his paternal anxiety had pledged to each other.

The absence of Hector, who Was an universal favorite,

diffused a gloom over the housohold at the Rectory.-

Gertrude, habituated to self-control, suppressed her own sorrow, in order to administer to the amusement of het father. Sho supplied the place of his pupil at the chess-board, became the companion of hie morning walks, and read to him in the fine summer evenings in a romantic grotto at the extremity of the garden.

During those hours, however, which Gertrude could call her own, che would hurry to those epots, econsecra- tod by the tenderest and most endearing recollections; where, with Hector for her companion, she bad enjoyed pure and unalloyed happiness—for it was a happiness ‘unmixed with fears for the future.

‘Thus posed the autumn and winter after the depare tare of Hector; but when April, with its sunshine and its showers, began to deck the fields and meadows with the flowers and foliage of early spring, the hope of a letter from ber lover created a restless anxiety on her bosom. ‘Though aware that weeks and months must elupse before she could receive news from Madras, yet

seats Sanam �