Tales and Sketehes.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1014, 4 March 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

Tales and Sketehes.

CHRISTIANA. A man—an American, you could see at a glance—sat on a projecting rook on the side of a mountain in, Germany, ono.suinmer day, and looked down upon a rural scene below. A' littlo cottage stuck 'like a bird's nest in the mountain side; an open door; a Blonder woman's form, at a wheel, tho sun shining down upon her golden braids of hair that fell almost to tho ground; a.man near her in a chair, smoking his pipe, : ."A pretty picture;" mused the AmericanCarl Westoven, of Mow York. "Whata difference between tho life of that woman and BOino of our aocioty dames, I wonder if she is young?"., Aud having nothing to do, our friend sauntered, or rathor scrambled, down the mountain side, and presented himself at the door of the cottago, In very good German he begged for a drink of water, Tho florid-faced, kindly-eyed man in the ,chair took his pipe out of his'mouth, aud called out in his own nativo tongue to the girl—for she was young—at the wheel, "Bring tho gentleman a glass of water, Christiana "-and thon to Carl—"you are a foreigner, eh, from the hotel yonder?" Carl responded in the affirmative. from the hotel, aud ho had beau rambling about the mountains all day, until he had grown tired and thirsty," Just thon Christiana roturned with a glass of water, which .she handed to tho stranger, hor eyes modestly cist down, Ho took it, bowed, drank, with his oyes on her face, and found her both young and fair, A lovely complexion, wonderful hair, long curling eyelashes, aud a mouth like a grieved child. When she lifted the drooped lids, as ho thanked her and returned the glass, he saw that her eyes wero "deeply, darkly, boautifullyblue," with a look in their depths that corresponded with the droop of her mouth, "' Longing for something better than she haa known.'" quoted Carl. "No doubt alio is sighing for tho groat world which I am so weary of. flow lovely she is!" . " Would you not ait down and rest ?" mine host continued, as Christiana returned to the whoel, and Carl seemed about to move on. And glad of a few moments longer, during which he might sit facing tho blonde maiden, he took the proffered chair and fell into convorse with mine host, who very soon gave him a brief history of himself and family, in response to Carl's query if this mountain nook had always been his home. "Yes, and the home of my father before mo. This house is the same I was born in, and I played a child in this yard, eTen as my daughter Christiana yonder did, But that bit of pasture land and tho field beyond—both mine now—l have added to my inheritance. My. father had only this house and a few sheep when he died, and left me to care for my aged mother, And she, too, died a few yoars later, and then I married Marguerite, wiio used to watch my sheep beside her own when I was a b&y, And now we have many herds of sheep and both those fields yonder, and not a debt in the world j and wo are growing old, and there will bo no one but Christiana to inherit all we possess, But Christiana is.a good girl, and will not wasto it unless she marries some spendthrift rascal who will waste it for her."

" But she will not do that," Carl ventures, to encourage his companion to proceed, for she was still at her wheel, her eyes cast down and the suu glinting on her hair, "Oh, I don't know, One can never tell what a girl may do, Christiana seems in no hurry to wed—she has refused the finest young fellow for miles about, Hassau Oronoff, who has the fattest sheep in tho whole country, I would gladly have seen her marry him, and told him so; but Christiana, she would nono of him, And so I worry somotimes about her, for it is the girls who aro too particular who pick up the crooked stick at last. But there is Frau Marguerite calling us to supper, and will you not come in and share it with us ? It is a long walk back to your hotel, and you will need something to refresh you before you set forth, evon if i,t is only the plain faro of a mountaineer." And Carl accepted, first informing his kind host that his name was Carl Westoven, and that he was an American tourist,

"And mine is Haus Schiegel, at your servico, sir,"mino host responded. "But you cannot be all a foreigner if your uame is Carl ? That is a German name as well as Hans."

Carl laughed. "Yes," he said, "my mother was an American born German. I loarned to speak the language from her, and I love the land and its people,"

And an hour later our friend was chattering very sociably with the blonde maiden whom he had watched from his seat on the mountain side whilo ho wondered if she was young.

He found, to his surprise and dolight, that she spoko English very correctly, and with only a charming accont, She read it, too, very readily. "How is it?" ho queried, "Have you been to an English school?" No, she had not been at school, but four yoars ago she had met some Amorioan peoplo, who hud spent the summer thereabouts, and sho hail learned to speak the language, and she had studied it a great deal ever since, iu spare hours. "Some Americans I Who were they? Perhaps I may kuow them," Christiana dropped her lids again,

"Oh, there were two or three—one an artist, who made sketches for some great paper, a Mr, Regal, I believe that is the name; but ono forgets, you know, after years." . i

"Regal!" cried Carl. "Is it possible? Why, to be sure, I remember his sketches in the papers that summer. And did you know him well, then?" , , ■ "No, not well. He was reserved and did not talk much to me, though he let mo look at his pictures sometimes, and once came to the house to finish some sketches one clay, and I gayo him' broad and milk, I remember that so. well, He, talked to me that day," and Christiana sighed,' Carl looked at the girl narrowly. "I wonder if she, too, has had an affaire d'amoiir,'sai with Regal'?" he thought... ■"Rpgai'ia'a. good artist," he said. "He married.a.friend of mino-a beautiful girlabout six years ago." "Yes; he showed me her picture that day, with others. J.remembered it well. Ho was a kind, good man," •

; When Carl walked liome to his hotel that night he carried the face of the German girl in his memory, -.

"She is so naive, so fresh; so fair," he said, "so unspoilod! I mustsee her again." liefore.rhe slept he took from his pocket a .■little leather, case, in which lay the portrait of. another' girl's iface-a brilliant face, with sparkling eyes and a spirited expression, and framed.'in a mass.of rich dark hair, coiffuni. It was tho faco of one of society's belles— Edith; Morrow.i." ',-,■•■.-,■; i' :■■■;'

" How different, Jiow.different I" bemused; " and yet both are beautiful, .But one is as. God' made.iher—the,other spoiled by the world and .society. One has a heart, to love with —thof other, a heart worn with the praise of many tongues,", And he closed the case and, replaced it iu his pocket, and retired, to Jiis;Couch to dream of. long eyelashes; and blondo hair ; and a pretty German accent. ,;,,-,)(*; .-■ ~. .-:!■;. :; Carl .had left America in a bitter frame of mine, ' He was a bachelor of thirty.-; two, of independent, foi'tuue and tastes. He "had experienced a score of affaires it cam; and at last had felt a

genuine (\ttaolimcnt for one o! society's belles —Edith Morrow. She stirred his heartwith a power he vainly Btrovo to combat; for, like most blast- men, he wanted a wife who hadno "past"—no experience in matters of the heart. And Edith Morrow had been a belle for fully eight years, had been engaged twice to his knowledgo, and had had half the men of his sot crazy about her on? timo or another. He had always felt a contempt for this sort of women—had openly expressed his disgust for Edith Morrow 'long before lio mot' her. Yet when they did meet, in spite of it all, he found himself following in the footpaths of his predecessors and falling in love with her —Bhe was so bright, so full of lifo and fire and magnetism, so witty, and so apparently free from any idea of desire of conquest. He. had fancied her full of' airs and affections. But as soon as he realised his danger-know that he was falling a victim to her fascinations—he fled; He was too much a man of tho world, top wise, not to know that Edith. Morrow was as much in earnest with him as he was with her. It was no flirtation. He could win her and keep hor if ho choose to stay.

"But what man wants a woman who has. given the best of herself or her affections to ono or a half-dozen others ?" he asked himself, bitterly, "I do not want a wifo who has been in love with another man, much less one who has beoii ongaged two or three times, My wife must give the first, and best, and only lovo of hor heart," So he had gone abroad. And now he had. a girl quite as beautiful in hor way as Edith .Morrow, and wholly unspoilod by the world, He thought of her the first thing on awaken: ■ ing in the morning. ,■.''" "Slie could.'' bo made into a glorious woman," he' soliloquised. " A year or two of travel; fashionable,attire, : a little teaching, and she would bo superb, She.has suoh perfect repose of manners already, and I'know by her face she has an affeotioiiate nature, and would worship the man who gave her all theso advantages and was kind to her," , "> So with more Berious thoughts concerning her than the fair .Christiana dreamed of, Carl Westoven made his way to the cottage again tho day following' his first sight'of her, and for many days after. And at the end of two weeks he had. asked her to be his wife, and she had referred him to her father. "I will marry you if ho does not forbid it," she said, precisely as she would have said, " I will get you a meal of victuals if he is willing," Carl, secretly disappointed at Christiana's lack of omotion, yet believing that she simply controlled her feelings, laid his suit before Herr Schiegel, The old man rubbed his eyes, and looked at Carl in amazement.

" Eh, marry our Christiana I A nice man you would be to tend the sheep and till the land. No, no; we should all come to want I"

• Carl laughed. "But I have money enough to live without your sheep, Herr Schiegel, And I will buy you a hundred more besides, and pay a good man for taking caro of them; and I will build you a new house and buy a meerschaum pipe that a king might be proud to smoke, if you will let mo make Christiaua my wife next week and carry her away with me. I will promise to bring her home to you, for a visit every Summer, and I will be kind to her, I give you my word of honor," "Well, well," he said, " you may take her if she will go. Christiana is a strange girl. I would rather see her married to a good man who is of her own class, and settled near me, but Christiana has high notions in her head. Four years ago, when she was but sixteen, and used to watch the sheep on the mountain side before I had the bit of pasture land' fenced in, some Americans saw her and praised her pretty face, and talked to her of the great world, aud over since then she has looked with a good deal of scorn on our mountain lads. I suppose she will be glad to go with you, sir, and if you use her well, and buy mo the sheep you speak of, I caunot complain." And so Carl bore away his bride from her mountain home, and from the clinging arms of Frau Marguorite, who wept as if her heart would break. Christiana, too, showod a depth of feeling that was a revelation to Carl, when she parted from her mother.

" For all her composure, she has a depth of feeling," he thought, " and she must love me very intensely, cold as she seems," They proceeded to Paris and remained six months. Carl robed his bride elegantly, and placed her in the hands of excellent teachers. Then ho employed a "companion" to travel with them a year, and to speak nothing but French to her young mistress. Christiana possessed a clear, sweet soprano voice, and in Italy she was placed under the best teachers, Her progress was flattering, and Carl became every day more and moro onamored of his beautiful wife.

Yet, while Christiana was over Bweet and kind, she never exhibited any great degree of affection for him. She often expressed her gratitude, but novcr her love. Yet Carl was content, i

"She is beautiful and true," he mused, "and her acquirements are already equal to many women born to the advantages she has enjoyed but a year, And all her thoughts and dreams arc mine, There is no man anywhere who shares one thought of hers—she has no old "affairs" to sigh over. When they had been married nearly a year Carl met one of his American friends abroad.

"Lovely wife you have,"said the friend, when they were alone together. "Bit, hang it! old fellow, it was hard on the fair Edith—thia marriage of yours, She took it hard, too."

" What do you mean ?" said Carl, with a sudden pain in his heart, ; " Why, I mean Miss Morrow, whom everybody knew was at last in love with you, and whom we all thought. you were quite ' gone' .over before you went.abroad. And when sho heard of your marriage, hang me I old fellow, but she fainted dead away.at the. opera, Only a few of us knew what the cause'was-itwas called 'heat' and sudden 'indisposition,' etc.—but we, who were in ;the: secret, knew otherwise. And she was ill for some weeks." :,.':-.'■ ,• | ■,

■" You' must mistake the cause," Carl re.; plied, coldly. " Miss Morrow's heart was not fresh; enough to feel : anything so decrlly as that, and, besides, there was nothing like an'affair': between us." , , , • j ' ■ " Oil,, hang it! 'you know you were quite struck with her, as we all have been, one time or another, "answered the young American, bluntly; "but your hopes of success were brighter than any of :your predecessors had been. - Edith loved you, old fellow, no doubt about it, and she isn't the same girl since your marriage," and tho friend moved away and left Carl to his meditations.: !j' He looked at Edith Morrow's picture again that night for the first time since he was married. Then he put it away, determined never to see it again. Somehow, the very picture seemed ;to possess more fire and magnetism than the,woman herself whom lie had made his wife. And it stirred him,as no look from Christiana's eyeß ever had, : j They went for a brief visit •to Christiana's old home, then for another year of travel, and then home to New York. Carl felt willing to let any of his most fastidious friends seehis wife now. .She,spoke French and English with only a charming accent, she, spoke her own, language perfectly, and slip saug beautifully, Her dresses were all rich and elegant, her form and carriage superb, and as for the ways of society, Carl felt sure her repose would carry her through all that without any trouble,, ..,,.■'. , ' r, News of her beauty had preceded her,: and ■Carl-.found, all; his frieuda ready to.do his lovely wife homage,, Sho was the" rage" a£ once l| bu't,sh,e 1 l)ore' all the adulation, compli-, 'ments'aiid'flattery'just as she bore Carl's attentions—with perfect coldness,

" An ioiolo," thotfghfc Carl, as he watched her day after day in tho whirl of her new life —always calm, composed, undemonstrative, "Aniciolo, but'allmiue." i Thoy had been in Now York several weeks when one afternoon a lady, whom Carl know to be a great lover of gossip, called. She was vory affable and pleasant, but just as sho was about to tako her departure, sho turned to Carl with a sweet smllo and the words: ,

"Your oldflamo, Edith Morrow, has rp. turned to tho city after a few weeks' absence, Mr. Westoven. She ran away when you were coining home, but she has regained her courage, I daresay, for she told me she was coming to call to-morrow. Ah, you were a sad flirt, Carl I-and Edith has never been quite the same sinco the affair. But, dear mo, I don't blamo you since I have soen your wife—no ono could.; Only"—turning to Christiana-" only, dear Mrs. Westoven, you must keep'an eye upon him, and see that tie docs not go back to his old ways, for housed to be a wicked flirt!" And tho kind lady smiled, kissed her gloved hand, and tripped away. Carl felt his faoe slowly orlmsonlng under her words, and it was long before ho dared lift his eyes to his wife's face ; but when he did he found it calm, fair aud serene in expression, as usual. He wont and sat down by her, "You do not mind what this old gossip says of me, Christiana ?" Christiana looked him quietly in the eyes, "I have heard It before, she said. "More than one person has been kind enough to tell me of this girl whom you once loved. And now I think you ought to tell mo all about it,' . Sho was so calm, so mild, ho felt ashamed of himself for not having told her something of the affair bofore, But lie had found it very hard to talk of Edith Morrow to her, Now he knew he must; so he told her briefly. "It was nothing. Only he was somewhat attentive to this Miss Morrow, and might have grown to love her had she been a different woman. But «ho was a sad flirt—a coquetto-ani had had one or two affairs of the heart, and he could not bring himself to take the loavingß —the crumbs of any woman's heart, So he went away, and never dreamod she would oare, but it seemed she did."

"I am sorry for her," Christiana said, with a tremor in her voice, " I am very sorry for hor. She must have felt very, very unhappy after you.had goneaoros3 the wide ocean and left her. I think nothing can be so sad as to have the ocean lie between you and one you love-hopelessly love 1" Carl looked at his wife with surprise. Her oyos were wide open, and looking far away; her sweet mouth drooped at the corners, her voice trembled. How strange that she, usually so cold, so unmoved, should feel so deeply in his former real's heartache, Carl began to think his wife was a mystery—a riddle,

He tried to be absent tho following afternoon—" business called him out during calling hours "-but Edith Morrow was late making her call, and he met her on the stairs as she was «omlng out. She had changed—he could see that; but she gavo him a bright smile and a pleasant word of greeting, and he was the more agitated of the two, Christiana saw that he was paler than usual when he entered.

"You met your old friend on the stairs, did you not ?" she queried, " I think she is vory lovely, I wonder you did not marry her, Carl!" He looked at hor uneasily, Did sho see his agitation—thd agitation he could not control at the sight—at the thought—of Edith Morrow?

"You know why," he answered. "I do not want a wife who has only the remnant of a heart for me. I want all or nothing." She flashed her eyes upon him for a second with a look he had never seon before,

" And suppose I should want all or nothing of my husband's heart!" she queried, "how' very fortunate it would be for me, would it not?" And then she laughed, " But no," she added, " it is not so with me, lam quiteuptent to be last. I think that is best, affSTall. And lam very, very Borry for Mis 3 Morrow for all she has suffered, and that my gain should be her loss," And for the first time since their marriage Christiana slipped her hand into her husband's of her own accord, and rested her head upon his shoulder, It makes a possession so doubly dear to know another oovets it, Two months later Carl sent a note to his wife one night saying he had been invited out to a club supper, given in honor of two old friends of his who had justretiirned from China, "Isaw Mrs, Barclay," he added, "and she is to call for you to attend the : theatre with you to-night. I will join you later in the evening." The club supper was a success, given in honor of Grant Somers and Regal, the artist, whom Carl had not seen for several years, "I hear you have-married a beautiful foreigner," Grant Somers said during the evening. "I was surprised, for the last news before that was that you and la kilt Morrow were to go to the altar, How was that?" Carl had been drinking wine freely, and was in that excited state that makes a man's tongue loose and his wits Boarce, Had he beon himself, he certainly, if he had claim to any breeding or worth whatever, would never have been guilty of speaking a lady's name in a club-room in the manner he now spoke of Miss Morrow.

"La belle-Hottovi i." he repeated—"why, what'man wants to take a romnant of a woman's heart-aßecond place, even? The lady in question had had too many affaires rfWwtosuitmc." ■

"Miss Morrow has been a great belle," Grant Somers answered, "but I never knew that she had ever been seriously interested in any man herslf. And even it sho had, is not last love most always better than first ? I think so."

Graut Somera was a great "lady's man," and not altogether a man of principle, but he was careful in his speech of women, and did not like the way in which Carl spoke of Miss Morrow, . ~ ' " It makes no difference to me what others think," Carl responded, " I could never take a second place in a woman's heart, It must be all or nothing," ■An hour later the party broke up and proceeded to the theatre, Carl parted with his friends, Grant Somers and Regal, at the door, and sought out his wife, She was looking royally beautiful, and he was proud as he saw the glance of his friends from across the house fixed upon her,. "There are two friends I dined with looking at you now," he whispered to her, " and, by-tho-way, one of them is your old friend Regal. I wonder if he will know you ?" Christiana lifted her glass, glanced at the gentleman in question, and suddenly fainted away. There was a scene of confusion for a time, and Christiana was carried out, accompanied by her alarmed friend and husband, She recovered afteua few moments, and said it was nothing at all, only the heat, but begged to be carried home. And Carl took her home, a wild storm gatheriugin his breast all tho way. _ .. Once there, alone in their room, he faced his wife, She was very white, very beautifnl, as she sat there in her evening dress, He, too, was so white and stern sho scarcely knew his face.

" So you lied to me," he began;" lied and deceived me concerning this artist, Regal; led mo to think you scarcely remembered his name. Woman, what was thatmantoyou?" She smiled wearily. , "He was nothing-nothing to me," she answered; "only a good friend to the last" 'He ground his teeth in rage. " "Why do .you try to deceive me now?"

he cried; "you know it ; is use>s7worte than ÜBelesß. Your swoon meant more thap th'o heat of the room. It meant an-omotura, 'tho oauso of which I .swoar I will, know this night, or leave you for ever!" "You shall know the ioauso, 1 ' 'she at swered,very calmly, as she looked him full in the eyes, very quietly, very'sadly.' '-'I was strangely, strongly stirred to-night—stirred, perhaps, even as yon were a few months ago when you mot Edith Morrow on the stairs J for I saw a man who. had been as muohj or more, to me than she had been to you. No, not Regal, the artist, but his friond and yours-Grant Somers." , "Grant Somers I" repeated Carl, in amazement, "Howis it you have never mentioned his name before?" . Christiana Bmiled„Badly and bitterly. "For tho Bamo reason; perhaps, that you never mentioned Edith Morrow's name to me," she said, " until you were compelled to, as I am compelled now. Icould not mention it to you unnecessarily, and no occasion demanded it." . " Then lam to understand that—that this man is your lover?" Carl asked, his voice hoarse, his lips white. "I loved him," answered Christiana,, very Bimply, "and I thought he loved me. I was but Bixteen then, a simple mountain girl. He came with Regal, the artißt. I was watching my father's aheep that day, and they talked with me along time. Mr. Somers came again and again. He told me of the great world; he said I was beautiful and fitted to adorn it. He made me dissatisfled with my simple surroundings and the people I had always known. He told me that he loved mo, and flaid that I must go away with him to the great world. I was very happy for a few days, and then Mr. Regal, the artist, came to me one day—the day of which I once spoke to you. He told me Mr. Somers was a wild, reckless man, that he did not mean well by me, that he had left a beautiful, girl, far above me in social position, in America, whom he was to make his wife; that I must not see Mr. Somera any more. But I did seo him once more. I told him what his friend had said and he laughed. 'lt is quite true,' he said) ' I am very fond of you, Christiana, but I could never make you my wife.' When he said that, I tnrnod and left him, He followed me, but I shut the door in his face, The next day he left the hotel, and I never saw him again until to-night," Carl had listened with clenched teeth and hard-drawn breath. He was white as death, and trembling in every limb. He had married this mountain girl, and lifted her to his station in life, because he had bolieved her wholly nnsophistieated-hor heart entirely his own; and all tho time she had loved another man,

"Goon," ho said,aa she paused—"tell all."

"Ihave told you," she replied quietly—"all save the sorrow and the pain and the bitter loneliness of the months that followed I For one cannot kill love in a moment, I knew that Mr. Somers had not been a true friend to me, yet when I know the wide Bea lay between us I was very, very lonely. And when you came I think I cared for you just because you were an American at first, and I married you because you would take me to the world where he belonged I" "Great God! and do you dare tell me this to my face I" he cried. " Yes-I am going to tell you the whole truth. I married you without loving you, and in a very little time I learned yon did not love me, I heard you speak another woman's name in your sleep. I saw you look at her picture. I heard what that young man in London told yon, and I saw how unhappy you were for days afterwards. Then I felt very sorry for you, as indeed I did for myself. But after a time I felt differently—remember I am telling you the truth, Carl— I grew to love you; but I knew you did not care for me, and I would not trouble you with it, But I have been very unhappy for many months. To-night, when I saw that man so suddenly and unexpectedly, it oame upon me like a blow. It was not love of him. It was more liko foar, and a strange rising up of my past beforome, That, was all. It was not the emotion which mado you so white and trembling when you mot Edith Morrow, Carl" Carl had risen, and was excitedly walking to and fro. The revelation was so unexpected, so startling. The knowledge that his wife had loved another man somehow made her seem doubly, precious. Edith Morrow seemed a distant dream, Christiana was the only woman in the world, and she was lost to him I

He put his hand over his eyes, " Oh, God, I oannot bear it I" he cried. "I thought you were all mine, Christiana." She rose up and came and stood before him There were tears in her beautiful eyes, and she put her white arms about his neck. "I am all yours," she said—"all yours, Carl, if you will only love me. And, dear, you must be very good to me—very kind to mo, even if you cannot love me—for our child's sake." •

CarlWestoven looked down on the fair, flushed, tear-wet face of his beautiful wife, and he drew her to his breast in a sudden passion of ardent love and unutterable tenderness.

" Let tho past allgo," he whispered. "Let us forget everything but our present and our future, my darling, No matter what has been in either life, we belong to each other now, for ever and ever till death parts us," " Till death parts ui," she repeated, softly, and it seemed to both that they were newly wedded. A few weeks later Carl Westoven and his wife wero bidden to the wedding festivities of Edith Morrow. Grant Somers was one of the guests, but though Christiana chatted pleasantly with him, she showed no trace of emotion in his presence, Carl noticed, who, it must be confessed, watched her narrowly. And Christiana was equally happy in seeing her husband so unmoved as he congratulated the fair bride, who had no longer any sway over the heart that was at last wholly her own. .

That was years ago. And this very slimmer, Carl and Christiana, and their beautiful fair-haired boy, are sojourning in the mountain home, with the dear old parents, who,' thanks to Carl's generosity, have every comfort and many of the luxuries of life, and who worship, above all earthly objects, their blue-eyed grandson,