Newspapers / Our Weekly (Charlotte, N.C.) / March 29, 1873, edition 1 / Page 2
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- -. : : - s ; ; - ; - f - ; . ; , , , , ; him, and knowing at last how ho had loved her. Then he stopped atjthe chemist'a window, and saw the bottles with! mysterious labels standing in a rdw, and wondered which of them were poison, and somehow gave up the? idea of suicide after all, and went home again ; and Jennie, walking (with Ir. Prettyman, looked after liim with a sigh, and thought how sad and lonesome poor Tom Brown looked, and half guessed why he looked so. But regret though she might, she could not go back now ; and Alfred was so charming, and Tom Brown commonplace in looks and dress, and nothing but a saddler ; and. if she must break one-heart why it must be, that was all ; and then she looked up into Alfred's eyes, and he looked; down into hers, and became as sentimental as possible. Not that the question had been popped yet. Alfred had some faint misgivings. He thought it strange that he had seen nothing of Aunt Bigwiggin, and half dis posed vo inquire of the object of his adoration as to her relative's intentions. A pretty wife was a good thing, but then the pretty wife should have a tortune. -Still there could be no quarrel, for had lie not heard Jennie speak of 'Aunt" in the sweetest manner, and an inquiry might awaken sus picion as to his motives. It was Mr. Prettyman 's plan to make sure of his conquest without com mitting himselt, and then to dis cover how money matters really stood. Tom Brown, the saddler, was a smart young fellow, who used zood English, and had read him self into a decent education, lie was a man to whom Nature had kindly given a good, solid brain, ! although there was a sou spot '-somewhere in his heart where love for Jennie had stolen in. The wisest man is a little of a fool on the subject of his particular idol in crinoline, and we cannot expect Tom to be superior to his iex in all respects. His love for her was the only fault Jennie could find with his intellect, and xJiat was' not the quality of the amotion, but its object. ' As for Prettyman,1 under the olegant curls reposed the. meanest brain possible to man for heart he had a stone. He had a kind f appreciation of beauty, and' Jennie pleased his eye. Her vcice and manners pleased him Ill 1 " . 1 au;o; ana, n ne couia nave lovea, he would have loved Jennie. The nearest approach, perhaps, to true feeling he had ever had, had been awakened by her; and ! :md whenever he was with her, 1 ie: felt aglow rf gratification in the fact thatsuch aprettj' creature was in lovo with him. But oh I what a different feel- ng was from that , With which ! Tom's heart throbbed. There w;as not ag'ance but he knew by heart not a change oi the cheek or a lall ot the voice; and, prettv as she was he did not 'think only of her fair looks : they might have leit her, and she would have been his dearest Jennie still, lie longed to cherish and protect her to hide her in his str arms fr m every care and trouble of this world and she had turned from him, and chosen this stran ger, with the face of a doll, and the soul of a monkey. So at least said poor lorn, in bitterness 1 of spirit. ' I' ". ;-'" One day there was a grand show at Pottsville a Temperance demonstration, with the Sons of Tem erone in regalia, with banners flying, and drums , beat ing, as they paraled the streets. Tom stood at his door looking out his eyes ri vetted on the form of a bur-y individual on horseback, and his mind with Jennie and his rival, when voices fell upon his ear, and casting a glance toward. the" spot whence they came, be saw Mr. Prettyman and old Squire Roberts: "There's Miss Bi gwiggin's carriage " said the latteK "Eh aw yaas pretty girl with her." !- ; "Yesher niece and heiress." "Heiress ! Ah, "yes. I sup-, pose stie'll divide her prfcerty, you know, between the two eh?" ' V "Oh dear, 'no." ;' "Eh! why?" ;J "Every cent to this, one, sir," said .the Squire, pompously. "Quarrelled withthe mother of the other. I should know, sir I have means of knowing. Not a cent to Miss Jennies" Tom Brown saw a blank look of surprise and disappointment cross the face of Alfred Pretty man. He saw him pull his glove off and on with a twitch that tore it in two, and the truth flashed Upon him. "He thought she had money and sought her for that," he said, and then his fingers itching to clench themselves and knock the rascal down, 1 while his heart leaped up, full of . hope again. If he only shows his base i heart," he said, "she will despise him, and then What then he did not say. He watched and waited. He saw very soon what ho expected to see. Jennie deserted and her lover at Effie's feet. It was a grand triumph to Effie. She never paused to consider, the real worth of Prettyman ; to inquire (whether she liked hirn or whether he were the husband she should have chosen ;; but did aH in her power to make him captive at once. She had envied Jennie her fashionable lover ; - she had felt it a peculiar wrong that he should have admired her cousin, after seeing them both toge and now she had her reventrei Aunt Bigwiggin smiled ap- proval. and the "wooing was brief, Mr Alfred Prettyman was j ac- cepted, and in less than 1 three months such a wedding as never had been seen in Pottsville made Effie Blair his wife. And he had jilted Jennie Doonf poor thing. How she must feel I and had she not been asked tojthe wedding, or would not she come. poor soul i bo the villages gos sips chattered, and Tom ; Brown heard them. At night he walked up to the village and found her, while the Bigwiggin homeTvvas ablaze with lights and ringing with music, sitting alone at a work-table, sewing. Prettier than ever, Tom thought, and he coaxed her out to walk with him. If he knew that his v attentions would be more kiudly received because of the wound her vanity had had, he made only generous and lover-like use of that knowl edge; and it was a singular fact that before the evening was oyer. Jennie found herself thinking how much more charming a clear musical voice that uttered words worth hearing real 1 v was than an insipidly! pretty face and the la test style of neck-tie. ;"'.. - I J Tom wanted to kiss her when they parted, but he knew better. He only made as elegant a bow as he could and held her hand a second longer than was necesary "Rnf V rnmo onraiii on1 ornln and finally summoning courage, began to make What we do in earnest well. up his love. we do J ennie discovered that she had never loved Alfred Prettyman When she really began to I feel the tender passion for Tom J5rown. and when he asked her to be his wife, said "yes" from the very bottom of her heart. They were married in the same church which saw the grander wedding, very humbly and quietly, and then Jennie went to housekeeping over the saddler's shop. Effie had remain ed in the Bigwiggin mansion with her spouse. ; : Mr. Prettyman had "policy enough to make a polite husband jubilant and the lady quijte re and dutiful nephew he was j signed. She was very particular !quite beyond the reach of blame f about the depth of the- crape veil. ;Dut iiiine, alter the nrst pride in her 'husband's r.oustache and boots and hdr own bridal bonnet, began to feel a little weary, j Flirtation was no longer to bo indulged in, and flirtation had been her joy; and Prett3man never made her laugh ; now and then he even looked cross and smoked for hours in silence. .Most husbands did that, to be isure. But then, when 6he saw Jennie so merry and bright, walk ing with Tom on moonlight evenings as though courting days had yet gone by, Effie felt envious. her! So a couple of years passed. Effie was a mother, and Jennie soou after1 dandled a boy on her knee ; and after this' the saddler' home grew full of children, and with the joy came a good deal of anxiety, tor business was not very good nor money plenty. But love was there, and kept their hearts light despite of all while at the Bigwiggin mansion was much that was bitter. Aunt Bigwiggin was still in splendid health, and duns began to j pester - Mr. Alfred Prettyman. J)n the .strength of his expectations he j had run into debt, and how ; to ! get out ot it was a question he did not knOw how to answer. Be- sides, the sight of J ennie 3 on: her n to him husband's arm was a pai also He never loved his wife and he loved Jennie as well as he knew to love ; and she Vas so beautiful, and. his heiress grow ing plainer every day losing her complexion and becoming fat, while Aunt Bigwingin was so dreadfully well. 3 Once stumbling over an asthmatic poodle, to whom the old lady insisted that every living mortal should do reverence' and believing himselt alone, the un- happv Prettyman ' had ventured on a kick, and exclaimed : "Confound you I are you go- mg to live as long as th( old woman ?" i I 1 And he Was terrified by the ap pearance of Aunt BigwiggiD five seconds afterwards. A week from that day the old i lady died in her bed, of too many ,' fried oysters. ! When Jennie heard of theevent she shed a tear or two irpm a sense of duty rather than anything else, and wished that sh had been a better niece. Then she said : "We can't mourning, Tom aitora to wear ; but we must go to the funeral, she was my aunfc Ah ! Effie must be heart-broken 'r aunt was kind to her." j And Tom, after vowing he would hot stir, was coaxed with. a kiss to mind his wife "and gcV ! . Mr. Prettyman and his wife- were in j sables outwardlv but wa inwardly the gentleman and wiped her eyes with a hanker- chief bordered inch-wide with black, and no one - could ; accuse her of sparing; mourning material . for her departed aunt. Yet the- first grief that really penetrated Jennie's heart was caused by Effie's manners. V ' "Aunt was kind to her,? she whispered to her husband, this mourning of hers is al "and out-" side show. Surely it must b we hard to die1 and know that leave none behind who love us.M At la8t--it seemed a long whilo to Alfred Prettyman the lost j.
Our Weekly (Charlotte, N.C.)
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March 29, 1873, edition 1
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