Aunt Madeline's Diary.

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 135, 31 January 1903, Page 17

Aunt Madeline's Diary.

recovered, and tins « a& a relapse- — so his valet told me "I sat beside the bed, and held his hand and that afternoon as I kissed him good-bye, for the first tune, I felt the depths of love's sorrow, and cried all the way home in the carriage. "I staved all night at Aunt Curtis's, and next morning went again to see him, and that day, about tw elVe o'clock lie died in mv arms. "God alone knows hov^ I lived through those awful months that followed — months of gaiety and what was sun-nosed to be pleasure 1 , and how I kept mv reason. Aunt Curtis was my best friend at that time and although Harry begged that I should forget that briefly hapov time and leave it behind me like a closed book I have never married, and never will now. "No onpi has ever known my secret but Aunt Curtis, who died thirteen years ago (except those few who were at the wedding)." > • • There is nothing else in the diary of any interest only a tale of struggle and pain ; and as I write the lovely painted face, in its quaint pearl and gold setting, smile® sweetly at me as if there was no such thing as sorrow in. the world. — Bv Eileen Dovne, in the Sydney "Newsletter "

ON my Aunt Madeline's death, I found that she had left me, m addition to a few old-fashioned trinkets, a miniature, a wedding ring, a packet, of letters, and a yellow-papered diary, bound in faded leather that had once been violet, and in which the ink had turned quite brown and pale. We often wondered why she had never married, and in our young and foolish days had often laughed at her prim old-maidish ways, but still her kindness touched our young, savage hearts, and we loved her in spite oi everything , But now after all these years, the pitiful little story comes to light, and 1 feel a pang of regret that I ever did laugh, but then I never knew what she had suffered. The miniature is in an antique polcl setting, studded w ith pearls, and the face on the ivory is the loveliest I have ever seen, w ith light brown hair waving back from a, fine forehead, and showing a glimpse of tmy, shell-like ears the eyes are of a clear blue grey, and the curves of mouth and chin are perfect. She seems to have been reviewing her life's history bit by bit. It is of no use giving the extracts just as they come, for there are other matters mixed up with the story I want to write, so I have iust put them together as well as 1 can. . . She w as only a girl at tlhe time of her romance and, I believe, one of the beauties of London society. • ♦ * From the Diaky. "It is just fifteen years since I met him — my "love my husband! It is just fifteen years since I dreamt what iove and sorrow must, mean, that brief taste 01 love is a sweet, sweet, memory, the taste of sorrow is nearly as sweet, for without, one I could not have know n the other. "I saw him first at Aunt Curtis s house — 'how* charming he was and how handsome ! — then once or twice at other places, and then that night at Aunt Curtis's ball, in the. beautiful conservar tory, with its mass of ferns and -alms and priceless orchids, where he told me of his love How my young heart leaped in response to his words, which were so passionate and yet so pentle. I threw myself into his arms, and promised that," in spite of Lord Algy and the Duke of Fothorgill, and all the rest of the great matches that mamma had in view I would remain faithful to him all my life. '"And one fair, sunshiny afternoon we went off to an old erey* church in the suburbs, and when we came out a broad gold band was round my finger, and Harry was whispering tenderly in my ea>r, while his brother and best chum laughed at my blushes which only increased them, so that I had to pull down my veil for very shame. ""Then I crept back to Aunt Curtois's, feelins very guilty and very happy and the wedding ring was slipped inside the bodice of my whit© frock. "In those days it was hard for a young girl to escape the supervision of her mamma or chaperone, and I was no better off than others in this respect, but, still I saw him pretty often, for going to Aunt Curtis's was a good excuse. "It was just about five months after my w edding that Lord Algy proposed for my hand, and I remember how furious mamma was when I refused him , and then I was packed off post haste to the Isle of Wight, with our old French governess, who would not allow me to write to anyone but mamma and Betty. I cannot think how, but they must have suspeoted something, and here was I in exile, while Harry ate his heart out in town, never knowing where I was. And after three long dreary months we went back to town. "And, I wistfully dreamed of a time when mamma should relent, and we should beg her consent and blessing , but there would be no hope while Lord Algy and the Duke of Fothingiil hovered round, for mamma was determined that, both Betty and I should marry well, so all that Harry and I could do was to w ait. "A week or ?o after I returned, whern one day at Aunt Curtis's, a letter arrived for me from Harry , it was very short, but it told me more than I could beai at the time for I fainted away. "When I came to myself, I found Aunt Curtis bending over me, with a veiry troubled countenance, amd the sal volatile. "The letter was only this 'My dearest heart., — -I am very ill • w ill you come as soon as possible 9 Do not be afraid, dea<r love. — Yours ever, Harry.' "I showed the letter to Aunt Curtis, who sobbed over our little story, and promised us her best help, and sent me off, there and then, with her maid — a very staid, discreet person — to Harry's rooms. "He was very weak he had been ill