Page:Peterson's Magazine 1842, Volume I.pdf/278

.

THE COUSINS.

BY ELLEN ASHTON.

"WHAT do you think of Charlotte Estaigne ?" said Fletcher Cowell to his friend Henry Desmond, and removing his cigar from his mouth, he suffered the smoke to curl up in a white silvery line, along his face.

" She is dazzlingly beautiful-a perfect Juno !" enthusiastically responded Desmond.

"Do you admire her more than you admire her cousin, Helen Steevens ?" said Fletcher, and he replaced his cigar, and pushed the flask. "To be sure. Helen is pretty, sweet, amiable and all that ; but she has nothing of that magnificent beauty which characterizes Miss Estaigne. The one might pass for a queen, the other would only do for her humble companion . One's fancy pictures the one on a throne, while the other sits at her feet, looking up into her face." 66 But, after all, the humble companion, though not so showy, may have more real merit than your dazzling queen." "Never. Give me a dashing, brilliant creature - a little aristocratic, haughty if you will- and I would not exchange her for all the amiable young ladies you can rake together from now till Christmas. No-no, Charlotte Estaigne is as far above her cousin, as the star is above the fire-fly. What a superb walk she has ! And then her air, -why, my dear fellow, Helen Steevens, should she live till doomsday, will never excite a buzz like that which follows her cousin every time she enters a room. I wonder how you can compare the two !" "I do not compare them : their characters are too opposite. But that Helen would make, for either you or me, the better wife, I have no more doubt than that I am now knocking the ashes from this cigar. Granting all you have said in Charlotte's favor, she has one fault that will always make her and those around her unhappy -she has a bad temper."

39

is selfish and high tempered, which Helen is not. Nor can Miss Estaigne ever love as her cousin could love. The one is too much occupied with herself to bestow a very large share of her heart on a lover ; but the affection of the other, when once she yields to the passion, will endure till death, I would marry Helen to-morrow ifI thought I could win her." " And more fool for it ! Give me her queenly cousin. As for your prognostics of her ill-temper I mind them not; and even should your prophecies turn out true, I could soon correct this evil in my wife.” " I fear you would find it more difficult than you suppose. Of all habits that of indulging in bursts of passion, is the most difficult to overcome ; and it can only be broken by a long and rigid course of self-denial . Charlotte is not capable of such a struggle, and though love is a powerful ally, it cannot always win the victory. Besides love to Miss Estaigne would always be a secondary matter." "C You are incorrigible," said Desmond, drowning his chagrin in a glass of champaigne, " and I am half minded to challenge you for abusing Miss Estaigne ; but I believe I shall pass it by, only retaliating by saying what I really think--that Helen Steevens is as pliable as willow, and as simple as a child. But come, if we talk this way of the cousins, we shall get at dagger's points. Let us have charity for each other's opinions, for I begin to suspect we are both in love. Suppose we adjourn our discussion, and each drink his charmer's health." "With all my heart," said Fletcher, " and I will add to the toast, may you never be deceived in Charlotte."" "Hush !" said Desmond, lifting his finger, " not another word. Let us stick to our compact, and each, as the Scotch say, dree his own doom." Fletcher had, however, formed the more accurate estimate of the characters of the two cousins ; and indeed his love for Helen was based on his superior appreciation of her merit. Like most others, he had at first been dazzled by the wit and beauty of Charlotte, but a more intimate acquaintance had dissolved the charm, by convincing him that her sparkling satire was in reality the offspring of an ill-tempered heart. Of the wit of the imagination she had but little. She was selfish, exacting, vain, jealous, and superficial. Fletcher soon turned from her in disgust, the more readily because the sweetness and intelligence of Helen had won on him more and more at each succeeding interview. He found that Miss Steevens, though less showy, was more solid than her cousin, that her beauty, though not so dazzling, better endured scrutiny, and that her affability of temper was the result, not of an imbecile, but of a well regulated mind. Where

" Pshaw ! she has been giving you a bitter retort, and you have not yet forgiven her. A bad temper ! -if wit makes a woman ill-tempered, or if a proper spirit is to be called anger, then indeed is Miss Estaigne passionate. Believe me she has a temper far better than her cousin, who indeed seems never to think for herself, but to submit to imposition with an inertness that often makes me question her intellect." " So much for a superficial study of these fair cousins. Catharine, I grant, is showy, but she is also shallow ; her wit is the ripple on the surface and not the deep tide ' below. But Helen is the very opposite. Her modesty, at first, conceals from you her real merit, but once gain the footing of a friend with her, and you will soon be convinced of the superiority of her intellect. True, she always yields to her cousin, but that is because Charlotte Miss Estaigne was only accomplished, Helen was well