LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 523, 21 February 1876, Page 3

LITERATURE.

HOW MY GRANDMOTHER CAME TO MARRY MY GRANDFATHER. ( Concluded,.) ‘We came up to this room to take off our bonnets. It was impossible not to be delighted with Mrs Pretyman and Bella, who were quite the nicest women I had ever met, and our visit concluded with mutual invitations and assurances of the pleasure we felt in making each other’s acquaintance. Bella was to come and stay with us ; I was to go and stay with them. They had heard of my sudden and terrible bereavement from John, who was evidently without peer and perfect in their estimation—and really he did show to great advantage as host and head of the family—and they extended towards me the readiest sympathy and even friendship ; indeed, as I have said before, it was quite impossible to resist the fascination of their frank homely benevolence. ‘ For some time—it might be a year and a half—this intimacy continued without let or hindrance. The neighbours smiled when I mentioned Mr Pretymen ; and one or two old friends, such as Mrs Baker of East Hay and Mrs Lyon of Cloverly, went as far as to hint that some day— But I never would have it; indeed, it used to make me very angry when such a thing was said in my presence. I was so certain that I could never love any one again as I loved my dear. And I was right. But love is not all of one sort, any more than flowers ; and she who should despise the violet because it is not the rose would be justly termed foolish by all sensible persons. Mind that Barbara. * Well, as I say, things kept pretty even until one day father informed me that John Pretyman wished to pay me his addresses. * ‘lt is no good,’ I replied, ‘ I shall never marry. You must tell him so.’ * * Don’t be such a fool, girl!’ exclaimed father quite angrily. ‘ I’ll be the bearer of no such message. Pretyman’s a match for the Mayor’s daughter; what can you bo a thinking about ?’ ‘ * I was thinking of him who is gone,’ said I sadly; whereon father’s face softened ; but he ceased not to protest against my folly, as he was pleased to term it. *At length, however, by dint of earnest and grave pleading and mother’s intercession, it was settled that I should be given a year to consider my final answer ; Mr Pretyman meanwhile to visit at the house and see as much of me as was convenient and agreeable to all parties. Bella was very desirous that I should be her sister-in-law, and the old lady s'gnified her willingness to embrace me as a daughter with equal promptitude. ‘ * I shall soon lie beside my dear John,’ she said to me one Sunday afternoon as we walked in the garden— * his father, than whom no truer Christian or nobler man ever lived; and knowing as I do the blessings which arise from a prudent and reasonable marriage, I should go to my last home happier for the thought that my good son was united to a God-fearing and loving wife; so if you can bring yourself to see his virtues and care for him, my dear, pray do so, and you will add a mother’s gratitude to the rest of your possessions.’ ‘ ‘ Dear, madam,’ I exclaimed, ‘Mr Pretyman’s virtues are very evident to me and all who know him; but lam as much a widow as yourself, and have no heart to give to any man!’

‘ Whereupon the dear lady laid her hand tenderly upon my arm, and gazed at me long and pityingly. ‘ ‘ Poor young thing,’ said she, * may God comfort you, my child !’ ‘ Months passed, and still no change occurred in my attitude of mind towards my much-respected suitor. Then Mrs Pretyman died of an inflammation of the lungs, taken whilst superintending the planting of those rose-trees by the summer-house ; and Bella went for change of air, being far from well herself, to Scotland; and John was left by himself to bear up against his sorrow as best he could.

‘About that time, too, father fell ill of the complaint which ultimately carried him off, though he lived for three years after his first attack; and what with the disturbed state of the country, ricks blazing in all directions, and the badness of the season, we were in no small trouble, I do assure you. * During this period of distress and anxiety, mother found Mr Pretyman’s advice and practical knowledge—for he was a farmer as well as a butcher—of the utmost assistance. Indeed, I think we must have been beggared had he not stood between ua and ruin, with his purse ready in his hand to supply deficiencies, and his head full of plans for our benefit. ‘ Seeing as much of him as I now did, being the daffy, hourly witness, I may say, of his goodness, I should have been a perfect monster of ingratitude if it had produced no effect upon my feelings. * Fred’s memory was just as precious to me as it had always been. I did not love your grandfather any more than I had ever loved him, but by degrees I grew to think of him as I thought of no one else ; to look upon him as his mother looked upon his father, as the truest of Christians and noblest of men; and so it came to pass that when the day came round on which he was to ask me for my final answer to his offer, that answer was ‘ Yes!’ ‘ Yes !’ to the joy of every one concerned, I do-believe—meaning relatives —and most certainly to my profit and happiness throughout these two-and-forty years that we have lived as man and wife.’

‘ And is that all ?’ I inquired after a pause. ‘Yes, my dear,’answered granny; ‘and quite enough too, I think !’ •0, but I don’t!’ I returned hastily; ‘ I should like to know what you were married in, and how much you spent on your trousseau, and a heap more.’ ‘ Dear, dear !’ laughed she ; ‘as if that mattered !’

‘As if it didn’t!’ responded I. ‘But what a wonderful story! and every word true ?’

‘Every word true,’ echoed my grand* mother solemnly— ‘ true as gospel.’ ‘ Fancy !’ I ejaculated; and therewith fell a musing, Fred Alwyne’s portrait on my knee—there is so much food for reflection in these stray chapters from unwritten books!