Part 12 (1/2)
”And this,” said Luzerne, taking her hand in his, ”is the way I feel towards you. Surely our souls have met at last. Annette,” said he, in a voice full of emotion, ”is it not so? May I not look on your hand as a precious possession, to hold till death us do part?”
”Why, Mr. Luzerne,” said Annette, recovering from her surprise, ”this is so sudden, I hardly know what to say. I have enjoyed your companions.h.i.+p and I confess have been pleased with your attentions, but I did not dream that you had any intentions beyond the enjoyment of the hour.”
”No, Annette, I never seek amus.e.m.e.nt in toying with human hearts. I should deem myself a villain if I came into your house and stole your purse, and I should think myself no better if I entered the citadel of a woman's heart to steal her affections only to waste their wealth. Her stolen money I might restore, but what reparation could I make for wasted love and blighted affections? Annette, let there be truth between us. I will give you time to think on my proposal, hoping at the same time that I shall find favor in your eyes.”
After Mr. Luzerne left, Annette, sat alone by the fireside, a delicious sense of happiness filling her soul with sudden joy. Could it be that this handsome and dignified man had honored her above all the girls in A.P., by laying his heart at her feet, or was it only a dream from which would come a rude awakening? Annette looked in the gla.s.s, but no stretch of imagination could make her conceive that she was beautiful in either form or feature. She turned from the gla.s.s with a faint sigh, wis.h.i.+ng for his sake that she was as beautiful as some of the other girls in A.P., whom he had overlooked, not thinking for one moment that in loving her for what she was in intellect and character he had paid her a far greater compliment than if she had been magnificently beautiful and he had only been attracted by an exquisite form and lovely face. In a few days after Mr. Luzerne's proposal to Annette he came for the answer, to which he looked with hope and suspense.
”I am glad,” he said, ”to find you at home.”
”Yes; all the rest of the family are out.”
”Then the coast is clear for me?” There was tenderness and decision in his voice as he said, ”Now, Annette, I have come for the answer which cannot fail to influence all my future life.” He clasped the little hand which lay limp and pa.s.sive in his own. His dark, handsome eyes were bent eagerly upon her as if scanning every nook and corner of her soul. Her eye fell beneath his gaze, her hand trembled in his, tears of joy were springing to her eyes, but she restrained them. She withdrew her hand from his clasp; he looked pained and disappointed. ”Have I been too hasty and presumptuous?”
Annette said no rather faintly, while her face was an enigma he did not know how to solve.
”Why did you release your hand and avert your eyes?”
”I felt that my will was succ.u.mbing to yours, and I want to give you an answer untrammeled and uncontrolled by your will.”
Mr. Luzerne smiled, and thought what rare thoughtfulness and judgment she has evinced. How few women older than herself would have thought as quickly and as clearly, and yet she is no less womanly, although she seems so wise.
”What say you, my dear Annette, since I have released your hand. May I not hope to hold this hand as the most precious of all my earthly possessions until death us do part?”
Annette fixed her eyes upon the floor as if she were scanning the figures on the carpet. Her heart beat quickly as she timidly repeated the words, ”Until death us do part,” and placed her hand again in his, while an expression of love and tender trust lit up the mobile and expressive face, and Annette felt that his love was hers; the most precious thing on earth that she could call her own. The engagement being completed, the next event in the drama was preparation for the wedding. It was intended that the engagement should not be long.
Together they visited different stores in purchasing supplies for their new home. How pleasant was that word to the girl, who had spent such lonely hours in the home of her uncle. To her it meant one of the brightest spots on earth and one of the fairest types of heaven. In the evening they often took pleasant strolls together or sat and chatted in a beautiful park near their future home. One evening as they sat quietly enjoying themselves Annette said, ”How happened it that you preferred me to all the other girls in A. P.? There are lots of girls more stylish and better looking; what did you see in poor, plain me?” He laughingly replied:
”I chose you out from all the rest, The reason was I loved you best.”
”And why did you prefer me?” She answered quite archly:
”The rose is red, the violet's blue, Sugar is sweet and so are you.”
”I chose you because of your worth. When I was young, I married for beauty and I pierced my heart through with many sorrows.”
”You been married?” said Annette with a tremor in her tones. ”Why, I never heard of it before.”
”Did not Mr. Thomas or Mrs. Lasette tell you of it? They knew it, but it is one of the saddest pa.s.sages of my life, to which I scarcely ever refer. She, my wife, drifted from me, and was drowned in a freshet near Orleans.”
”Oh, how dreadful, and I never knew it.”
”Does it pain you?”
”No, but it astonishes me.”
”Well, Annette, it is not a pleasant subject, let us talk of something else. I have not spoken of it to you before, but to-day, when it pressed so painfully upon my mind, it was a relief to me to tell you about it, but now darling dismiss it from your mind and let the dead past bury its dead.”
Just then there came along where they were sitting a woman whose face bore traces of great beauty, but dimmed and impaired by lines of sorrow and disappointment. Just as she reached the seat where they were sitting, she threw up her hands in sudden anguish, gasped out, ”Clarence! my long lost Clarence,” and fell at his feet in a dead faint.
As Mr. Luzerne looked on the wretched woman lying at his feet, his face grew deathly pale. He trembled like an aspen and murmured in a bewildered tone, ”has the grave restored its dead?”