"I have to implore your forgiveness for neglecting to obey as to the
advertisement, but the truth is----" and he hesitated--"I have a plan.
It may not meet with your concurrence," he added, "but I wished to
submit it before you made other and irrevocable arrangements."
"You have thought of some position for me?" she forced herself to say,
all the bloom and delight vanishing from her face.
"Yes. I know an individual who wants precisely such a person as you
are, for--a wife."
"Colonel Pinckney!" she exclaimed indignantly.
"Do forgive me, dear Miss Featherstone. I am such a confounded
poltroon"--and he seized her hands again--"that I dare not risk my
fate; but that person is"--and he looked down upon her, his heart
beating so violently that he could scarcely speak--"that person
is--myself!"
Of what happened then Mrs. Pinckney, roused by her brother-in-law's
return, was cognizant, for actually, in the open air, with her blue
eyes bent eagerly upon them, he clasped the governess in his arms. "It
is a fact accomplished!" cried the fair widow with a sigh, and sank
back upon her pillows.
THE HOME OF THE GENTIANS.
There is a lonesome hamlet of the dead
Spread on a high ridge, up above a lake--
A quiet meadow-slope, unfrequented,
Where in the wind a thousand wild flowers shake.
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