Aunt Charlotte's Yarn.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 685, 4 November 1876, Page 1 (Supplement)

Aunt Charlotte's Yarn.

Aunt Chaulo. :t. bind to her giddy young niece ;—; — 1 Now, I In, my dear girl, take my advice, an-i don't imperil your own future happiness nor be guilty of injustice by sli^utiutf tke-man to wbow you bavo given your troth, or by footfahjy teazmg 14m in order to test his affection. AJfhere is a story ip my,' own memory >4©%t I have never told you ; and I could hot now bring mysolf to do so only that I see you don't lilte mo to lectufe you, and 1 wish you to learn wisdom by an easier -method than that of bil-ter experience. • When I was a young girl w« lived, as Jrou know, in Canada, in one of the small nke-shore towns between Toronto and Kingston. Your grandfather was a man of note in the town, and I was a good deal sought after. I was giddy, too, and selfish, though I did not then consider myself 1 had many admirers and suitors, uuiong whom the one I liked best was i I arry Vane. From mjr very infancy, Harry had been my gallant, and though I sometimes pretended to be and sometimes milly was. jealous of him and otherwise offended, aud he the same with regard to me, we always made up again, and were better friends than ever. There was not really any engagement between us, though Harry had asked me to form one ; but my parents objected to long engagements, and v<" were not ready to marry. Matters i thus when, early one Spring, we had an addition to our list of beaux in the form of a dashing young fellow, an Englishman, sent oat by a wealthy firm of the mother country for the purpose of establishing an agency in their line of business. His head-quarters had been at Montreal, but he now announced his intention of making our town his home during the summer. ' He had a good deal of leisure, and sper' no inconsiderable part of it at our house ' • ' i promenading the streets with me. 1 co' W scarcely set my feet on the sidewalks without encountering him. His name was Bowns, and he.claimed to be of aristocratic parentage. He was handsome and affable, though rather supercilious, with a very distinguished appearance ; so no wonder the girls of our set wished to attract bis attention, and were envious of me Of course I was proud of my conquests and perhaps carried myself a little haughtily in consequence. For some time Harry pouted, then openly remonstrated, even pleaded; but as I angrily assorted my independence, he finally deputed from all apparent notice of the mane- ; ami whenever we met he treated m<- w it h indifferent courtesy, and altogether showed a manly self command which I did not fail to notice and admire. Still I must confess that-at that time I gave very little thought to Harry or to any of my old admirers ; it seems wonderful to me how completely I was fascinated by the prepossessing stranger. 4 To be sure, he flattered my vanity not a little, and my empty head was turned by his lavish, adulatory style of compliments. He raved about ray eyes of htavenly-blu% the golden glory of my mermaid locks, my swan-like neck, and an endless flow of pathos that ought to have disgusted mo, bat did not ; and so I listened and he ranted. About the middle of August we made up among our set a picnic party to drive out to Rice Lake Plains, and spend the day in boating on the lake, gathering huckleberries, wild flowers, etc., and generally amusing ourselves. •You must know that there is an irregular chain of small lakes extending transversely from the Bay of Quinte, near the eastern end of Lake Ontario to the eastern end of Superior. Rice Lake is the first of .the chain, counting from 'Ontario, and it lies' at a distance of from two to four hours' drive from sereral towns on the frontier. We had an early breakfast, and let off at 8 o'clock, so that ne need not be on the road during the heat of tho day. There were several carnages; the one in which I rode was a handsome bnroucho, hired from a livery stable for the occasion, and by ray side tat the all-conquering Mr. Bowns. 1 For some unexplained reason Harry Vane did not go in any of. the carriages, but was mounted on horseback, and_ he ro lo gsyly by the side of first one vehicle, then another. When we had gone a little distance out of town 'the conniry air, sights and sounds were so exhilerating thnt we in our carriage^ began to sing. Harry ; hearing us, rode np and joined in tiie «onjr, he -being' particularly fond of sin^i.ifj Shortly we struck off into an old ditty «whiclr he and I had sung together countless times when we stood each first ia tho esteem of the other and no gay stranger bad come between us. For a st inz i or two Harry sang bravely, but when we came to the refrain suddenly his hoMo bolted and he rode off. catching at Ins hat with one hand and seeming to draw reiu with tho other. Tbo others of the pjirty thought his horse had shied and run away with him, but Isawthrough the whole raanoouvcr, and a sudden pang shot through ray selfish heart. 'On reaching the lake at the point agreed upon, we separated into small companies, and wandered about at will, hut keeping within the viciqity of the camp until the horn sounded for dinner. We were all, as is usual a,t picnics, in hungry mood, and we did not dine mincingly. ' After dinner we lolled about on the grass for awhile, then formed a plan for the afternoon's campaign. There were near by several canoes or row-boats that were kept for hire, and a fair proportion of our band decided in favor of an excursion on tho lake, some parties going in one direction, some in another. The boats would aooomodato only four persons eacii, the rowers and two others. Three boat-loads, twelve individuals in all, determined to pay a visit to the tower on the opposite shore of the lake, and about , three miles further up As yr»- divided ourselves -into parties off- four* I felt an irrepressible desire to have Harry Vane, who had declared for the tower, in our . boat, so I callpd out : f- *•• ' Harry are you coming with^us ?' meaning by us, Bowns *nd. myself, «r ' [ shall nover forget the look of mingled' (urn and pleasure with which he replied, * No Charlotte ; George Law is quartered in your boat. 1 'It was 3. 30 o'clock when wo landed neir the tower and drew the boat up on the beach. This tower was an octagon building four stories in height, consisting

of only one room in carh story, with a narrow spiral staircase leading from base to summit. At the top was an observatory not much larger than a good-sized birdcage, which had once been furnished with a sm»ill telescope mounted on a swivel, but was now reduced to a very commonplace spy glass. The basement was a deep, dungeon-like hole, with a grated doQr, through which one eiiterpd a subterranean passage leading out to the shore of the lake. This tower, with its lean-to kitchen, ,or, rather, cookhouse, whs built on a hill at the distance of about 200 yards from the water's edge, and it was the product of a Quixotic Englishman, and old bachelor's fancy The whimsical man didnotcarry out his original intention of making a complete miniature castle of the feudal times, but suddenly abandoned the enterprise, and went as he same, nobody knew whither. This odd little tower had been surrounded on all sides, save the deep bank next to the water, by a diminutive moat, which was now a dry ditch filled with weeds and wild flowers ; there, too, was the wreck of a toy-like drawbridge, and within the inclosure were several quaint-looking garden-chairs cut into the stumps of trees. There was a family residing in the house, at least they made it an occasional residence during the summor, but that day they were absent, and the garrulous old sorvaut in charge showed us over the premises. We stole down by the light of a lantern through the underground passage to the ; opening on the lake ; we climbed the steep stairs and peeped through theold spy-glass, sat in the grotesque chairs, and gathered bouquets from the quondam moat. All thase vagaries consumed so much time that, before we were aware, the sun was going down the westward slope in a way that, when we noticed it, sent us tp our boats with speed. We were soon gliding over the water in jovial spirits and at a fair rate of motion toward the campingplace on the shore next home. The three boats kent near together, and as we went we sang Tom Moore's Canadian boat-song. Just as our voices were ringing out : " Row, brotbtra, row, forth* »tre»ra runs fast, Tte iapld* ar« near and the daylight ii p*«ed ,' a sudden breeze almost took the light umbrella with which I waslscreening myself and companion from the sun and wind (we" had left our bonnets at the camp) out of my hand. The breeze had subsided for a moment, and then came again more vigorously than before, and held on steadily. Generally or frequently a stiff breeze rises on those lakes about or soon after sunset, but now the sun was certainly half an hour high. Sudden squalls especially when thunderclouds are hovering near, accompanied by dangerous duturb'anceofthe water, are unpleasantly often the concomitants ef boating on those shallow lakes. ' Looking around the horizon we discovered the came of tho suddenly rising wind. A heavy pile of black qlpuds coming up behind us in the north-west were spreading themselves along the j northern horizon, and extending upwards almost to the zenith ; and at the same time ! we began to hear thunder mutter and see th elightening play, though not very near. The weather-wise onps of our party jaid the shower was spending itself north of us, but we might get a sprinkle from its skirts, and the wind is sure to be troublesome. ' Meanwhile we had crossed the lake, and were making our way down to the ] landing adjoining, which was our camp, keeping close in shore to avoid the commotion of the water. 'There is a peculiarity in that lake. The wild rice, from which it takes its name, grows over almost the entire bottom of the basin, and when at its tallest the grain lies floating on the surface of tho water, and the Indians, when it is ripe, paddle round and got it in their canoes. This, however, makes navigation to ordinary rowers rather difficult, and where the basin is particularly shallow, or when the waters are agitated by storms, the passage is perilous. ' I soon perceived that Bowns and Mr. Law were by no moans masters of the situation ; and oh, how I lenged for the tried aud trusty arm of Harry Vane to \ steer our giddy little skiff. Just then Harry, who was ahead, called out to us to make for an islet, a little way out in the lake, on one side of which there was not much rice, and which had been used by the Indians as a landing place, as it sloped gradually into the water ; he said we had better land there and' wait for the squall to pass over. ' The rowers turned the boat toward the islet and pushed out vigorously, I nieaulime holding the umbrella low like a tent. or awning over my own and Nellie Morton's head for now it was raining. Again Harry called to us to shut down the umbrella, lest it should catch the wind and upset the skiff, and the next moment [ Bowns, who had not said one woid to us i girls since the wind sprung up, snapped out, ' Yes, certainly, down with that umbmlla.' ' What with a sense of danger, and what with sudded consternation at being spoken to in snch a tone and manner, I had no •elf command, and, in shutting the umbrella i somehow lost my balance, and next instant Xjvras sinking in the blinding waters. , 1 1 must have ri«n very quickly, foil the boat was there, and I laid my hands on its side, but quick as n. flash, Bown's hand came down on mine, and, though he afterwards said th&t he tried to lay hold of me to assist me, I know that he disloged my hand. True, I should have upset the boat, and just as true he flung me off to perish. As I sank again, even through the' gurgling in my ears, I heard the voice of Harry. Vane, 'Courage Charlotte, I'm ooming. ' 'Again I rose and again sank. Then I ceased to struggle, and the pain of suffocation was gone. I knew that I was dying, and like electricity all my past life flashed before mo. I had no terror of ■death, but I longed to ask Harry's pardon. Bowns I seemed to have forgotten. The tgll rice was all about me, and I knew no more until a deadly sickaess and great pain woke me to conciousness. Was it the gurgling water or human speech that Tumbled ia my ears P I did not know ; I did not care ; I only wished not to be disturbed— not to suffer. ' Slowly my comprehensions returned, and I' found myself on a bed in the log-cabin of the man who kept the boats on hire, and it was night, for candles were burning. Some of my companions of tho picnic were there, but I was too weary to Atk queitioni,

, ' When next I opened ray eyes it was daylight, and my fatter and mother were bending over mo ' 1 * Suddenly I remembered something of tho drowning and 1 cried out, ' Where is Harry ? He said ho was cormag. 1 ' They hushed and soothed me, and I suppose administered a narcotic, for I have only a faint recollection of lying on a bed in a covered conveyance, and of being annoyed by the jolting. ' The next time I awoke my mind was clear. I- recollected all, and begged to be told .how I was saved. 'My friends evaded this question, and my suspicions being aroused, I demanded 10 see Harry Vane. Finding they could no longer put me off, they told me that Harry had rescued me and swam with me toward the islet, where one of the boats had just landed. Another gentlemen waded out breast high to meet him, and drew me to the shore, suposini; that Harry was following. But Harry did not follow, and in the excitement'about me he was not missed until too late. Whether he was exhausted or whether he took ' cramp, no one could tell. This only I know and never shall forget : Harry Vane was drowned in saving my life. This also I know : I shall live and die Charlotte Kemp. As for Bowns, I hated then, I hate still the sound of his name. He left our town almost immediatley after the occurrence, and I never saw his face after the day of the picnic'