Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 095.djvu/192

Rh merry laugh would be abruptly stopped, and the cheerful conversation hushed at his approach; the very children would pause in their sports, and draw back out of the way until the 'dark man' had passed.

"But I knew of these things rather by hearsay than from what I saw myself; for at our house he would, in a great measure, throw off his reserve, and show a desire to please, which those who knew him would have thought impossible. His voice was deep and sweet, and when he chose to throw open the rich stores of his imagination and memory, his hearers would feel as if entranced. But his conversation seldom left a pleasing impression on the mind; and the night that followed an evening spent with him was often disturbed by strange and startling dreams of spirits and demons, which not unfrequently took the face and form of the young baron himself. Towards me, in particular, his desire to please was most conspicuous; and before long, I saw that he loved me. Perhaps, at first, with natural girlsh vanity, I felt pleased at having gained the heart of one so cold and haughty to all else; but, if so, my pleasurable feelings were of short duration, for the love of the young baron was a thing rather to be feared than desired. That love I knew, I felt, I could never return; but yet I did not say so. And here the natural fault of my disposition began its work of mischief. Had I openly and candidly told him, in the first stages of his passion, that it could not be returned, I should have perhaps raised one of his wild, ungovernable bursts of fury; but, doubtless, it would have ended there, and all would have been well. This, however, I feared to do. I dreaded his anger, and though this feeling might have been conquered, I was still more influenced by my repugnance to give him the pain of thinking that the only being in the world on whom he had placed affections had coldly repelled them. True, he did not openly confess his love, but it was apparent in every look, every word, and every tone. I could not plead the excuse of ignorance.

"Matters were in this state when my poor father embarked nearly the whole of his property in some speculation. It failed. The shock overthrew his already impaired constitution, and he died, leaving me almost penniless. After the first burst of grief, I consulted with an aunt, my only living relative, and it was agreed that the house should be sold, and that I should go and reside with her.

"On the evening before I was to leave the old place, I was walking alone in the garden, taking a last look at the dear trees and flowers, and the little arbour that had been made on purpose for me, and thinking how they were soon to pass into the hands of strangers, when, on turning suddenly the corner of a path, I met the baron. I would have shunned him if possible, but it was too late. He came towards me, and I saw that his lips were compressed, and his face very pale. He seized my hand, and his touch felt cold as ice. Without a word in reply to the trifling observations I made, he led me to the arbour, where, seating himself at my side, he made, for the first. time, his avowal of love. As he began, he spoke almost timidly, and I felt his hand tremble; but when I told him, as gently and kindly as possible, what I knew to be true and imperative—that I could never be his—then his hand became firm, the blood rushed furiously into his cheek, and he poured forth such a torrent of vows, entreaties, nay, almost menaces, that, frightened at his vehemence, I, as usual, partly gave way; and he wrung from me a solemn, though reluctant