Page:The Lady's Book Vol. I.pdf/27

BLANCHE OF BROOMSIDE. 21 vows of love with a fervour unbecoming woman. Yet he had hoped, and believed, since the devotion of his valet to her, that she placed her heart in a more fitting sphere; and he had even promised them a pension when the next day should have made them one-and Isabel--the thought was madness-- it burnt on his brain, for now all was utter hopelessness for him on this side of the grave.

In a few days Isabel was wedded Queen of England at Poictiers. This, with the fact that she yet again stood at the altar as the bride, and became the wife of La Marche, is well known from the pages of England's histories. And we will add, her love was more chastened- more holy in its fervency-yet not less true than before time had passed his blanching hand over the once raven locks of La Marche; neither did he look with less rapture on the comely matron, than on the once slight girl.

It may be questioned if Isabel truly performed her duties as John's consort, "ay, and as the mother of John's children." Yet it would seem she proved not truant to her soul's idol when her duties allowed her thoughts to turn that way; for once the sworn revenge ofLa Marche had placed him as prisoner in John's castle at Rouen. Yet was he soon set at liberty. Who would not fancy by whose interference? Thus she illustrated Madame Cottin's summary of woman's duty to Heaven-"servant Dieu par sa patience et sa soumission."

From the Court and Fashionable Magazine.

BLANCHE OF BROOMSIDE. BY MRS. S. C. HALL.

"Farewell, farewell, your flowers will glad and feed the bee; The bird, And charm ten thousand hearts, although No more they'll gladden me." ALLAN CUNNINGHAM.

A Joyous and a happy girl was Blanche Seabright-the beauty and favourite of Broomside -a lonely and pastoral village in Devon. She was the only daughter of a gentleman of small, but independent fortune; and as her mother died in giving her birth, and her father had remained unmarried, Blanche was exactly what old maids and bachelors call a "spoil'd child," before she entered her teens. Nor was this much to be wondered at- her extreme beauty would have rendered her an object of admiration even in crowded cities, where female loveliness is so frequently seen ; moreover, she had precisely the acquirements that are valuable in country society-she danced and sang to perfection, played on the lute, and possessed more wit than any one in the village-excepting, perhaps, old Admiral Granby, a hale veteran of seventy-six, who told all the stock jokes of the navy for the last fifty years, with an energy which astonished the clergyman, 'squire, and justice, every Christmas and Michaelmas, when they regularly met at the Bell and Crown, to settle all matters touching church and state; and to discuss the question whether the county member did his duty or not. Certainly Blanche's wit was the most original-but her auditors were seldom particular as to that. The maiden's spirits, when she was about seventeen (that age of sentiment and insipidity, when the girl is donning the womanly robe, and has not made up her mind whether she will at once become stately and artificial, or remain joyous and natural) ; at that critical age such were her spirits, that every body set her down as a confirmed mad-cap-when, suddenly, or as old people say, "in less than no time," matters changed, and she became serious and reserved; her cheek, even that blooming cheek, faded ; and her bright blue eyes were often filled with tears-then "every body” wondered what could be the matter some talked of consumption- others of catarrh and even some of love ; this the wise ones laughed at-Blanche Seabright in love ! With whom? Not old Admiral Granby, or the lame boy at the apothecary's- and they were the only 'presentable' bachelors in the district. It could not be in love, indeed ! What absurdity! Were the wise ones right or wrong? We shall see. I have said before that Broomside was beautifully situated, but I have not stated that it possessed attractions, passing great, to sportsmen; there was a fine trout stream-good covers for gameand, moreover, about a mile up the hill, a shooting box, which was let in a miscellaneous way every season to whoever chose to take it. The resident gentry knew nothing, and cared little, about its inhabitants-who were seldom seen at that legitimate place for all people to be seen at -the parish church- sweet, tranquil spot, which centuries scarcely altered, save that moss and lichens entirely covered with their bright greenery the patches of roof, from whence some ancient storm had scared the ivy. The parties who, at the time I allude to, occupied the lodge, were the Roue, Lord of Dunmeade, and his cousin, Mr. Eversham. Dunmeade was a childless widower, with broken constitution, and well known in the fashionable circles as un homme celebre. Plain, simple-minded people would call him a "dangerous character," but the haut monde are too well bred to designate things by common terms. Eversham was a very different being from his