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Page 16
"On arriving at home, to my surprise and mortification, I learned that
my intended was just on the eve of marriage with a cousin of mine--a
worthless fellow--who, urged on by the relatives interested, and his own
desire of acquiring the handsome competence of twenty thousand dollars,
had taken advantage of my absence to calumniate me, (in which design he
had been aided by several worthy assistants) and supplant me in the good
graces--I will not say affections, as I think the term too strong--of
Elvira Longworth.
"The lady in question I do not think I ever loved--at least as I
understand the meaning of that term--and now--that she had listened to
slander against me while absent, and, without waiting to know whether it
would be refuted on my return, had engaged herself to another--I cared
less for her than before;--but my pride was touched, that I should be
thus tamely set aside for one I heartily despised; and this, together
with my desire to thwart the machinations of the whole intriguing clique
arrayed against me, determined me, if feasible, to regain the favor of
Elvira, and have the ceremony performed as soon as possible. This, Ella,
I know you think, and I am ready to admit it, was wrong--very wrong;
but I make no pretensions to be other than a frail mortal, liable to all
the errors appertaining thereto; and were this is the only sin to be
laid to my charge, my conscience were far less troublesome than now.
"I determined, I say, to regain my former place in her favor or
affection--whichever you like--and, to be brief, I apparently succeeded.
The day was set for our marriage; which, for several reasons unnecessary
to be detailed, was to take place at the residence of my father; and, as
the will specified it should be with all due rejoicings, great
preparations were accordingly made, and a goodly number of guests
invited.
"At length the day came--the eventful day. Never shall I forget it; nor
with what feelings, at the appointed hour, I entered the crowded hall,
where the ceremony was to take place, with Elvira leaning tremblingly on
my arm, her features devoid of all color, and approached the spot where
the divine stood ready to unite us forever. All eyes were now fixed upon
us; and the marriage rite was begun amid that deep and almost awful
solemnity, which not unfrequently characterizes such proceedings on
peculiar occasions, when every spectator, as well as the actors
themselves, feel a secret awe steal over them, as though about to
witness a tragic, rather than a civil, performance.
"I have mentioned that Elvira trembled violently when we entered the
hall; but this trembling increased after the divine commenced the
ritual; so that when I had answered in the affirmative the solemn
question pertaining to my taking the being by my side as mine till
death, her trepidation had become so great that it was with difficulty I
could support her; and when the same interrogative was put to her, a
silence of some moments followed; and then the answer came forth, low
and trembling, but still sufficiently distinct to be generally
understood; and was, to the unbounded astonishment of all, in the
negative!"
"In the negative!" exclaimed Ella, suddenly, who had during the last few
sentences been unconsciously leaning forward, as though to devour each
syllable as it was uttered, and who now resumed her former position with
a long drawn breath. "In the negative say you, Alger--a--a--Mr.
Reynolds?"
"Call me Algernon, Ella, I pray you; it sounds more sweet and friendly.
Ay, she answered in the negative. Heavens! what a shock was there for
my proud nature! To be thus publicly insulted and rejected--to be thus
made the butt and ridicule of fools and knaves--a mark for the jests and
sneers of friend and foe! Oh! how my blood boiled and coursed in lava
streams through my heated veins! I saw it all. I was the dupe of some
artful design, intended to stigmatize me forever; and wild with a
thousand terrible brain-searing thoughts, I rushed from the hall to my
own apartment, seized upon my pistols, and was just in the act of
putting a period to my existence, when my arm was suddenly grasped, and
my hated rival and cousin stood before me.
"'Fiend!' cried I in frenzy; 'devil in human shape!--do you seek me in
the body? What want you here?'
"His features were pale with excitement, and his lips quivered as he
made answer: 'Be calm, Algernon, be calm; it was meant but in jest!'
"'Jest!' screamed I; 'do you then own to a knowledge of it,
villain?--were you its author?--then take that, and answer it as you
dare!'--and as I spoke, with the breech of my undischarged pistol, I
stretched him senseless at my feet. Under the excitement of the moment,
I was about to take a more terrible revenge; when others suddenly rushed
in--seized and disarmed me--bore my rival from my sight--and, to
conclude, placed me in bed, where I was confined for three weeks by a
delirious fever, and then only recovered as it were by a miracle.
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