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4
<£>rantlcy pnncv.
BY LADY GEORGIANA FULLERTON.
CHAPTER 1.
It halt rained all day. Toward five
o'clock the sun was making a desperate
effort to shine for a moment before his
final disappearance behind the grassy
hill which rises in front of Grantley
Manor. A heavy mass of clouds, just
tinged at the edges by a line of purple
light, was slowly rolling along the sky,
overhanging the Abbey Woods, Heron
Castle, and the ridge of muirland which
extends far up the valley of the Grant.
The red maples and tins yellow beeches
in the park wore their gaudiest autumnal
hues, though many of their bright colored
leaves were strewed on the grass be
neath, or floated down the lapid stream,
as it made its way through the valley to
a tide river, some twenty miles farther
to the South. A fine November day
has an indescribable mildness peculiar
to itself, a calm and mournful beauty
which pervades the soul, and soothes it
into a deep tranquility. On the day and
at the hour of which 1 am speaking, two
persons were standing together by the
stone balustrade which separates the
bower-garden of the manor-house from
the park beneath it. One of these
was an elderly woman, whose set
features and vacant ga/.e might have
indicated either a total absence oT
thought, or an absorbing pre-occupa
tion. She seemed to be either pen
sive or sleep)'. By her side was a girl,
half-sitting, half-leaning on the parapet:
her slight and graceful figure was wrapped
in a fur pelisse, which hung about her in
heavy folds, her arms were crossed on
liar breast, her eyes sometimes fixed on
the ground, sometimes raised toward the
road across the park, and then hastily
withdrawn. Now and then she snatched
a China rose from the bush beneath her,
and scattered itsjleaves abputwith rock-
Margaret Lessie was a beautiful girl.
Her eyes were of tlra! peculiar color
which varies from iron-gray to the deep
est violet; her nose was small and acqui
line, and her mouth admirably formed,
but slightly curved downward at the
< orners, .so that when she did not smile
there was something perhaps not quite
agreeable in its expression, but the smile
was so enchanting and so frequent, that
there was hardly time to miss it before it
beamed again in all its brightness. Her
eyelashes were black and long, and her
hair fell, not in stiff ringlets, but in rich
brown flakes round her white and slender
tiepk- As she watched the flying rose
leaves, and vainly attempted to guide
their descent into the basin of a small
fountain under the terrace, her narrow,
delicately pencilled and arched eyebrows
contracted into a frown which might have
kept in order anything less unmanage
able than flying rose leaves. Indeed, to
expect that they would not blow about
in the breeze, which was just getting up
as the sun sank behind the hill, was san
guine; but Margaret’s expectations were
rather apt to be unreasonable. For in
stance, she was at that moment almost
provoked that Mrs. Dalton, her governess,
did not perceive by a kind of intuition
that she was tired of watghing for the
travelling carriage, which according to
her calculations ought to have brought
her father to the fates of the avenue an
hour before, and which had not yet made
Its appearance.
“Really, dear Mrs. DWton,” she said
at iast, “ I cannot stay here any longer.
As my father is not yet arrived, I am sure
he will not come in time for dinner.”
“ My dear, it is only six o’clock.”
“ How short the day s are getting, then !
What a blazing fire they have made in
the hall 1” Margaret exclaimed, as she
threw open the entrance door.
Is Mr. Sydney arrived ?” she inquired,
aa she crossed the billiard-room, and
rolled the balls about in an impatient
manner.
As they tumbled “headlong into the
pockets, she said, half aloud and half to
licrself, —
“ I shall never love my father as much
as Walter Sydney!”
“Oh, but, my dear, you ought,” sug
gested Mrs. Dalton.
Margaret turned suddenly round, and
while she untied the strings of her black
lace bonnet, and pushed back from her
cold checks the curls that hung heavily
about them, she replied,—
“ When will you learn, dear Mrs. Dal
ton, that you ought is no argument at
all?”
“ When will you learn, Margaret, that
you ought should be the most powerful
argument in the world ?”
It was not Mrs. Dalton who had ven
tured on this reply. It was made by one
who always spoke the truth to Margaret,
and from whom she was always willing
to hear it, for she loved and respected
Walter Sydney, and had often been heard
to assert that he was the only person she
knew who made the truth agreeable, and
on this particular occasion she was so
glad to see him, thttf even had the re
THE PACIFICATOR A: CATHOLIC .TOUENAL.
mark displeased her, she would still have
held out her hand to him as she passed
through the room. After closing the
door, she opened it again, and said to
him with a smile.—
“ If you knew the subject of our dis
pute, you would not, perhaps, have taken
Mrs. Dalton’s part. But you always
think it right to assume that I am in the
wrong.”
He shook his head, Hut «he was gone ;
and he heard her on the stairs and in the
passages, carolling away like a bird'on
the wing.
This Walter Sydney was a man of
about thirty-five or thirty-six. He was
tall and thin ; his complexion sallow;
some might have thought that there was
beauty in his pale high forehead, in the
lines of his face, and in the expression
of his eyes ; but the awkwardness of his
figure, and a want of ease in his man-
I ner, generally destroyed that impression,
j and the usual remark of those who saw
liini for the first time was, “ What a
strange looking man Mr. Sydney is !”
To Margaret Leslie he had always ap
peared the personification of goodness
and of wisdom, and she looked up to
him with the strongest affection. He
had been very intimate with her father
from an early age. Heron Castle, the
gray turreted house which stood in the
midst of what were called the Abbey
Woods, on the hill opposite to Grantley,
was his father’s place, and he aud Henry
Leslie had been friends and companions
from the days of their boyhood. Leslie
was the older of the two, and when
Walter, a shy and awkward youth, who
had been entirely educated at home, and
who, with a passionate love of study,
| had an insuperable dislike to new scenes j
j and new associates, joined him at Ox
ford, he welcomed him with a warmth'
and a joy which excited the surprise of
his own gay and dissipated friends.
Before his first departure for Oxford,
Henry Leslie had determined in his own
mind to marry his cousin, Mary Thorn
ton, a gentle, quiet girl, whose father
was the clergyman of the village, and i
who had been his and Walter Sydney’s .
constant companion ever since they J
could remember. He had called her in j
play his little wife, and she had taken it I
so much for granted that they were to be j
married as soon as they were old enough j
(for he had told her so whenever they had ;
parted with fresh tears, or met with fresh i
i joy at each successive holidays), that
i when he, one day, seriously asked her if
I she would indeed be his wife, she looked
iat him with unaffected surprise. Their
I engagement seemed to her only the con
tinuation of a state of things to which she
bad never anticipated any interruption :
! their relations approved, their friends
j congratulated; they corresponded during
| the university terms, and spent the vaca
tions together at Grantley'. They sat in
the gardens, they strolled in the woods.
He taught her to ride, and she sketched j
for him his favorite hunters.* He made j
her read Walton’s “Angler ;” and while
he fished, she sat patiently for hours by
his side, holding in her breath lest she
should frighten the trout away. In the
autumn many a time did she walk across
the turn’ip fields to meethim, and to hear
how many brace of partridges he had
killed, aud how well Juno had pointed;
and on many a misty morning in winter
did she ride on the white pony he had
given her, to see the hounds meet and
to watch for the distant view-halloo! In
the evening they sat in the old library,
and examined together the map of his
estates ! She learned the name of every
village, and planned new roads and new
plantations. They retired to the billiard
room, that he might knock the balls about,
and make all sorts of hazards before her
wondering eyes; or to a recess in the
drawing-room, that he might conquer
her at chess; or to the piano-forte, to
sing together sundry duets, while Walter
Sydney, then a shy and silent youth, laid'
down his book and listened ; and his
mother (who, having found nothing but
disappointment in her own marriage,
watched a love affair with that tender
interest which the sightof happiness, un
derstood but not experienced, awakens
in a gentle and subdued spirit) invariably
grew absent at whist and revoked ; an
enormity which her husband justly re
sented, though he bore it, in his own
opinion, with truly angelic patience, only
suddenly putting down his cards, and
saying in a mild, impressive manner, —
“ Pray, Mrs. Sydney, may I be allowed
to ask, are you playing at whist, or are
you not?"
This produced a start, a readjustment
of the spectacles on her nose, and a re
newed attention to the game, coupled
with the ejaculation, “Dear children!
They seem made for each other!” And
so these dear children seemed to think,
for they troubled their, heads singularly j
little about any one else.
And thus the course of their true love
ran on as smooth as it Shakspeare had
not pronounced against the existence of
such a case. And theirs was true love
in spite of Shakspeare, in spite of ap
proving parents, in spite of the easy
channel which favorable circumstances i
bad wrought for it. True happiness it
j was when, on a lovely summer’s rlav,
Henry Leslie and his bride went to the
! village church, and pledged their faith
i to each other in the eyes of their de
j. lighted families and a rejoicing tenant ry;
: when the bells rang their loudest peal of
joy, and heartfelt acclamations rent the
air, as they walked down the narrow
pathway toward their homes.
And there was happiness in that
| home, for they tasted that bliss of Para
i dise, which alone, Cowpersays, has sur
: vived the fall. Neither temper nor
neglect shed one bitter drop into their
| crystal cup : -while it lasted it was unim
i paired and pure. A child was born to
I them, the Margaret of our story ; and
when she was carried to the village
| church, and the sacred waters of bap
tism poured on her infant head by the
| same hand which had joined theirs in
i marriage, Mary looked at her husband,
and in that look there was, perhaps, too
much happiness for this world of ours.
Two years later a grave was dug under
the yew-tree in the old churchyard, and
to it was conveyed all that remained on
earth of the blooming bride, of the
young mother, of the Mary who had so
often played as a child on that spot, and
who had chosen it herself for her grave,
when, a few days before her death, sup
ported by her husband, she had reached
the place where their first words of love
had been spoken, and where she now
wished to be buried, that he might never
look upon that view, or sit under that
tree, without a thought of her
“ Who in her springtime died.”
At her request no boasting inscription,
no pompous memorial was placed on her
tomb; the date of her birth, of her
marriage, mid of her death, and a sim
ple stone cross, alone marked the spot.
Henry Leslie had flung himself on the
ground in an agony ot grief on the day
of her funeral, and when Walter Syd
ney spoke words of comfort to him, he
shook his head despairingly, and bade
him be silent, for life had lost for him all
the bright hues with which youth and
hope had gilded it. Truly had he loved
his wife, and truly had he mourned tor
her; but what is true is not always deep),
and what is vehement is not always
lasting. Alter many days had come and
gone, his grief grey calm; and then
new hopes and interests arose, aud other
joys and other pains, aud various alter
nations of misery and of bliss vsited
him in the course of fifteen years which
he .spent partly in Italy, partly in the
Peninsula, where he served as a volun
teer, and subsequently in long voyages
by sea and land. Meanwhile there was
one at home who visited, day by day,
the grave where the friend of his child
hood and of his youth was buried, and
who gathered and treasured up in secret
the spaing flowers that grew there ; and
there was one blooming flower which he
watched with unremitting love and care.
Walter Sydney’s affections were few and
deep: for the child of Henry and of
Mary Leslie lie would willingly have laid
down his life, Much as his books and
his writings usually absorbed him, there
was no day and no hour that he would
not lay them gladly aside if a merry
peal of laughter summoned him to his
window to welcome a little horsewoman,
proudly* mounted on her Shetland pony.
Henry Leslie had left his child in the
care of his parents at Grantley ; both
had died during his absence, and Mar
garet had been intrusted to Mrs. Dalton,
an old fashioned governess, whose plans
of education were superintended by Mrs*
Thornton, who was established _at the
vicarage, and by Walter Sydney, in wh'cm
Leslie had more confidence than in any
member of his own'family. It was lucky
for the little girl that such was the case ;
for, an only child, an heiress, and a beauty,
she ran considerable risk of being utter
ly spoiled, if Walter had not watched over
her with a father's care and a brother’s
tenderness. He soon discovered in her
character those impetuous qualities which
are equally powerful for good or for evil,
according to the direction which they
take. The overweening indulgence with
which she was constantly treated, had at
least, among many evils, one good re
sult ; Margaret was the truest of human
beings, and from the moment that she
first lisped a few words in baby language,
no falsehood had ever passed her lips.
There was no moral courage in this ; it
was the result of a frank and fearless
nature, and ofan education which, though
it had not sufficiently checked the bad,
had not impaired the good impulses of
her character. There was no merit in
it, I repeat; hut it was beautiful —as a
bright day, as a clear sky, as a pure lake
are beautiful! It was something fresh
from the hands of God and unspoiled by
man: and often, when Walter gazed into
the child’s blue eyes, or parted the curls
which clustered on her fair open brow,
the words of commendation which our
Lord pronounced on Nathanael rose to
his mind, and lie would murmur, as he
pressed the little girl to his heart, —“One
in whom there is indeed no guile.”
As she grew older, and became con-
scious of thoughts which her grand
mother and governess could not com
prehend, and of capacities which they
knew not how to direct, and therefore
strove to stifle—like the unskilful hus
bandman who would dam up the stream
he knows not how to turn—she went to
Walter, and to him she revealed them in
language which he understood, for ge
nius has a simplicity of its own which
appreciates and is appreciated by the
simplicity of childhood. When she first
perceived that religion meant something
beyond going to church once a week,
and repeating the catechism by rote—
that poetry was not merely verse-making
—that conversation was not always
merely talk—that life was not child’s
play; when its forms and its spirit, its
realities and its mysteries, appeared to
her in anew shape, and with a strange
power; it was again to Walter that she
turned, aud from him that she learned
glorious truths which give to our destiny
a .meaning, and to our actions an end.
He gave her books, and while he care
fully guarded her mind from what might
taint, he filled it with high thoughts and
noble images. Self-sacrifice, in even
form, was the theme of his lessons, the
object of his reverence; and Margaret
listened with a kindling eye and a flush
ing cheek when he recited deeds of he
roism, and lauded acts of self-conquest,
the real true courage of the soul; when
he spoke of the honor due to the martyr
who dies for his faith, to the patriot who
bares his breast to a thousand foes, to
the missionary who confesses Christ
with the scalping-knife before his eyes,
to the sister of charity who braves the
horrors of pestilence in the loathsome
abodes of disease; and lastly, not least,
to those lonely martyrs—to those un
noticed confessors —to those meek souls
who in the humble walks of life, in deso
lation unrepining, go through a fiery
trial, with no witness but that God,
“Who to the wrestlings of the lonely heart.
Imparts the virtue of His midnight agony.”
j To hr. continued .]
A T »'S\B€fL
The undersigned Has this day
associated with him in the General
Commission Business, Mr. W. C. JONES.
The business will be conducted in the name
of BROOM & CO., at the old stand, 238
Broad Street. J. ,T. BROOM.
Augusta, October 4, 1864 —121,
ATKINSON & SIIECITT,
A UCTIONEERS AND COMMISSION
J-i. MERCHANTS, Augusta, Ga., will
give prompt attention to all business en
trusted to them. Consignments respectfully
solicited. »
References.- —Jackson & Miller, Augus
ta, Ga., .T. T. Paterson & Cos., Augusta, Ga.,-
Stockton & Cos., Augusta, Ga., Chichester
it Cos., Augusta, Ga., Walsh & Blome, Au
gusta, Ga., Geo. E. W. Nelson, Richmond,
A a., T. I>. Wagner, Esq., Charleston, 8. C.,
Maj. E. Willis, Charleston, S. 0., W. 11.
Stark, Esq., Savannah, Ga., Burke, Boykin
<t Cos., Macon, Ga. Oct. B—-It
WEAL. & Vo HITIiOCK,
General agents and commis
sion MERCHANTS, for the sale of
Manufactured Tobacco, or any kind of Pro
duce, at No. IS3 Broad Street, two doors
above the Express Office.
References. —Edward Thomas, I’resi-
Union Bank, Jno. Bones, President Augusta
Bank, S. Wyatt, Merchant, Wilcox it
Hand, Merchants, Alfred Baker, Merchant.
James If. Taylor, Merchant, Lnmback &
Cooper. Oct. B—Bt
THE BIAGSOLSA WEEKLY.
A FIRST-CLASS LITERARY AND
xIGENERAL NEWS JOURNAL.contain
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in addition to a summary of varied and
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The “Magnolia Weekly” is especially the
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Home Circle, and wherever a polished lite
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The publication of anew Serial, of ab
sorbing. interest, entitled “The Aldkrley
Tragedy,” by Tobias Guarnerius, Jr., au
thor of the prize romance, “Guilty or Not
Guilty,” will bo commenced about the 1 st of
October, to extend through twelve or fifteen
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ettes by our best writers.
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SMITH & ROBERTSON, Proprietors,
Oct. 8 Richmond, Va.
HEW MUSIC STORE,
No. 200 Broad Street, Augusta, Ga.
r H. IIEWITT ALWAYS ON
«* • hand a large selection of the newest
Musical Publications, comprising Yocal and
Instrumental Pieces of the most popular
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chandize and Stationery.
The Trade and Academics furnished at the
usual discount. Music sent by mail to any
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of the pi ice of the piece or pieces ordered.
Oct. B—3m
M. O’DOWH,
GENERAL COMMISSION MERCHANT,
No. 273 Broad Street,
Anyunta, Ga.
Etas for sale—sixty sacks su
-- GAR, 21 boxes Sugar, 10 biffs. Apple
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Oct. 8 _ M. O’DOWD.
AUGTSTA IHOTESs.
THE 'UNDERSIGNED WOULD RES
PECTFULLY inform their old friends,
patrons and the travelling public, that they
have leased the above named Hotel, and
having had it thoroughly refitted and reno
vated, can confidently promise to give all
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JONES & WHITAKER,
Late of Washington Hall, Atlanta.
S. M. JONES,
Late of Commercial Hotel, Memphis, Term.
Oct. B—4t
Prospectus of the St. Mary’s
College,
COLUMBIA, S. C.
This institution, undertaken
with the sanction of the Right Rev.
Bishop, and already so favorably known to 1
the public, is situated in the most healthy
town of the Confederate States, and affords
young men all the advantages of a sound
and moral education. Respoctable children
of every denomination are received, without,
distinction, and the strictest attention paid
to their moral and physical well-being; their
Professors being not only the directors of
their studies, but also tlio companions of
their recreations.
Accessions have been made to the Mathe
matical and Scientific Departments, which
greatly facilitates these studies.
A mild and paternal system of govern
ment is observed, as far as may be compati
ble with the strictest attention to established
discipline: the diet of the students is whole
some aud abundunt: the strictest attention
is paid to their well-being* in every respect.
The collegiate year consists of two ses
sions, of five months each-—the first com
mencing in September, and the second in
February, and closing with a public exami
nation and exhibition.
The various departments of a Classical,
Scientific and English Education are already
filled by able and competent Professors.
Students will be received at all times; on
entering, each will be examined and placed
in the classes for which his pnfvious attain
ments qualify him.
The educational system is the same which
is pursued in many of the leading colleges
in Europe. It embraces three courses :
1. The preparatory, lasting usually one
year, aud comprising Reading, Penmanship,
Arithmetic, Grammar, Modern Geography,
and the elements of such branches as are
afterward to be pursued.
2. The Commercial, which lasts three
years, and comprises the elements of Phi
losophy, of Geometry and Algebra, Book
keeping, History, the English and French
languages.
The Classical, which lasts six ve*rs.
and comprises Literature, Ancient Geogra
phy, the higher branches of Mathematics
Astronomy, Natural Philosophy, Chemistry.
Logic, Metaphysics, Ethics, the Greek and
Latin languages.
Having been incorporated as a College,
we are authorised to confer Degrees, anil do
such other acts as a College rightfully may
do in its corporate capacity.
The liberal patronage extended to tiffs
institution is the surest warrant of the
fidelity with which our engagements have
been fulfilled; and we again renew them
with much pleasure to the patrons of the
College.
Terms —For Board and Tuition, per session
of o months, in advance - - SI,OOO 08
Doctor’s fees, in case of sickness, the
postage of letters, washing, with bed and
bedding, will form extra charges.
terms for day scholars per session or
FIVE MONTHS.
1. English, including Grammar, Modern
Geography, Arithmetic, Writing, History,
the elements of Philosophy, etc., - S4O 00
2. Book-Keeping, Algebra, Geometry, Eng
lish Composition, Astronomy, Elocution,
Philosophy, Ancient Geography, Ancient
History, Mensuration and Surveying,
with all, or any of the branches mention
ed above -------- SSO 00
3. Latin and Greek, with all, or any of the
above mentioned branches - - 575 00
The German, Spanish, French, Italian
and Hebrew Languages form each an extra
charge of S2O 00 per session.
Payment in all cases invariably in ad
vance. No allowance for absence except in
cases of sickness or expulsion. Pupils will
be received only between the ages of 9 and
15 years, as boarders. g
Vacation if spent at College - SIOO 00
No advance in money is made for clothing
or other expenses, unless a sum is deposited
for that purpose.
Rev. J. P. O’CONNELL, D. D ,
Oct. 8 Secretary.
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