The Cottage Girl [pp. 275-280]

l43.] The ('otlege Girl. 277
his confusion would have given the assent; but,
just at the time, the carriage rolled up to the door.
James Bertram was always proud of his son;
his pride had been somewhat increased from the
late honors William had gained at college. He
appeared fonder of other children than his own,
from the false idea that familiarity with children
somewhat lessens the respect and obedience due to
parents: forgetting the mere fact of being a parent
does not always ensure fillial love.
William was proud like his father; yet, open and
ardent in manner, he never approached him except on matters of the world —There was always a
restraint between the two. Perhaps, if the father
had been more open and affectionate, the son would
not have sought so early, congeniality of,feeling in
the heart of a female; that Jane was every way
suited to fill up the vacuum, we have just shown.
Albert Morton, the college friend of our hero,
resembled, yet was of a different nature; he lacked that depth and pathos of character, that gave a
charm to Williain's most trivial action. Both presented a gay and light-hearted exterior. There
was something that appeared half concealed in
Albert's manner. When he spoke it did not appear
to come from the heart; you could not receive him
as a bosom friend; you listened to him half increduloes, doubting if he himself believed what he spoke.
Not so with William; you read his thoughts in
his eyes, and heard them breathed from his heart.
Two days had passed since their arrival; the third
brought the Sabbath. William, in preparing for
church, paid greater attention to his toilet than
usual, for he then expected to meet Jane. It was
with a slight degree of pride he viewed himself in
t he mirror; for, th e la st ten months had improved
his per son as wel l as m ind. M any a neck-dress
an d ringlet were adjust ed, as the handsom e young
men entered the church door. Jane remained the
same, such was her surprise at seeing one whose
image had ever been before her. She did not expect to see him so soon; it was like waking from
a pleasant dream into its glorious reality. What
too were her thoughts at the time? They were scarce
known to herself. Had she never before known,
as indeed she had not, that love had placed his
throne on her heart and ruled with the sway of a
despot, that moment would have spoken the reality.
Her ear, long deaf to the soft whispers of her heart,
now listened to its eloquent pleadingss with rapture.
W~ho can paint the feeling of the young and innocent heart, when lovre is first admitted into its sacred
portals. But Jane scarce admitted the truth, ere
she struggled to repel it. A startling tho)ughlt
rushed before her. She had thought of William
Bertram, as William Bertram himself; she had not
thought of him as the son of the proud Bertram of
W, oodland. She had always looked uponl him as a
companion; his soft and courteous manners had
neveor shown her the distinction between the rich
and poor. The difference made by the world, now
rose up before h er in its most cruel aspect, and her
young heart sighed as she beheld it.
William had no soone r taken his seat, tha n his
eyes roamed through the dense o ngregation in
search of his little Jane. He saw her in her accustomed seat, the same meek and placid Jane she
had always been; yet, more lovel y st ill. The b ud
of her cheek was full blown, her hair was a s hade
darlher, and t he pencile d curve of he r eyebrow s
more fully developed. Their eyes met, and that
momen t convin ced them they were loved by each
other. It was a momet w of s ublime inter est to
bo th, as they dr ank in the deep i n spirations o f love
with intoxicain wne h er eting draughts. Their meeting after
so long an absence more fully revealed their handsome exteriors, which before w ere half concealed by
a mutual admiration of qualities. Woe will pass o ver
their meeting aft er church. But, suffice it to say,
there was not the same open, unreserve d greeting
as in f o rmer days. Ther e was a shyness which
each inwardly condemned in the oth er, and, a t th e
same time, felt a sli ght displeasure wit h themse lves.
William saw a lso his o ld friend Christopher; there
was no change in him, except his hair bespoke a
green old age; perhaps his shoulders were a little
m ore rounde d. Ther e still reinained the same
warm, yet respectful manner that eve r be come s
one of h is station. Wi l liam promised t o visit him
so soon as his young friend left, which would be in
a few days.
" You seem to have a plenty of pretty girls in
your neighborhood," observed Albert Morton, next
morning, while drawing on his boots, " judging from
the many I saw at church. By-the-by, what pretty,
modest looking girl was that I saw you speak to
just after service? I never saw you look as grave
in my life, and that too as if you were afraid some
one would see vou."
" It was the daughter of Christopher Mathews,
whose house we saw the other day on the road,"
replied William;'4 and, as to my gravity, you cannot wonder at that, after so affecting a discourse.
What did you think of that part of the sermon
where the minister spoke of ricl-ies as more frequently a curse, and poverty often a blessing i"
William gave this turn to the conversation in
order to divert his fiiend, with his quick-sighted
suspicion, from seeing more than he could well
have concealed.
" Poh! I did not believe a word of it; such notions will do only for the pulpit. Take away man's
desire to accumuatiae, and youl males him a mere
passive being. It is the impulse more or less of
all hsis actions. I speak in tihe aggregate. Thlis
world would be a wilderness in place of a garden;
and, as to poverty, if it is a blessing, it is more than
I have evrer seen."
" But do you not observe," replied William,
" that you are looking at the results of wealth and
Tli,e t,otioge Girl.
1843.]
277