Courtship -- Fiction; Governesses -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
He was engaged to a beautiful girl, but she was poor, so meeting with an
heiress, he was dazzled by the prospect of wealth and married her; but
the marriage had proved an unhappy one, that Mr. T---- had soon tired of
his gay little wife, and now treated her with the greatest indifference
and neglect, and that having married her solely for her money, he was as
much as ever attached to Miss ---- and bitterly repented his folly.
It may be true she sighed, for she knew in her heart that the part
regarding his treatment of herself was but alas too true; but could he
indeed love another, no, she would not believe it, she would dismiss the
thought, but still the words rung in her ears, having married her solely
for her money. Could Marie be right, but no, no, she would not, could
not believe it, O Louis, Louis, how have I loved you, how I love you
still, and is my love entirely unrequited? And now a new feeling springs
up in her heart, bitter hatred towards her unknown rival, with beating
heart and trembling lips she calls to mind the packet and Louis's
embarrassment, the beautiful miniature she had seen by accident, and his
evasive answers when questioned about the original, could she be the
Isabel he had named her darling after, in spite of all she could urge as
to her great dislike of the name. Oh that she could confide all her
troubles to him and tell him all her fears, and if possible have her
mind set at rest, but she dare not, for though she loved him so
devotedly, she feared him too, his fierce bursts of passion frightened
her. Oh I will win his love in spite of this hateful girl, I will be so
gentle, so careful to please him, so mindful of his comfort (as if poor
thing she had not always been so) that he shall forget her, and love his
own little wife, and wearied with conflicting emotions, she laid her
head upon the table and sobbed herself to sleep, and thus Louis found
her at two o'clock in the morning, when he returned from attending a
patient. "Good gracious! Natalie, what are you doing here," said he
raising her from her uncomfortable position, "why you are quite
chilled," he continued as a convulsive shudder shook her whole frame,
"what ever possessed you to sit up, and the fire out, how could you be
so foolish." She raised her large dark eyes to his with an expression
intensely sad and entreating, and whispered "O Louis, tell me do you
love me!" he could not bear the searching eagerness of that wistful
gaze, and turning from her answered "can you doubt it you silly little
thing, come, take the lamp and go to bed, while I get you something to
stop this shivering--he turned to go.
"Do not leave me, oh Louis, stay," she cried, and fell senseless on the
floor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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