THE LADY'S 6
THE DOVE.
BY MRS. E. H. MAY.
"How beautiful," said Eveline, " not a speck any where on his glossy coat-oh! what a pet we shall make of him," and she gazed up in admiration at the dove which her cousin held caressingly to her lips.
"It is indeed a treasure," said Alice, again caressing it, "how thoughtful in Roland! Let me see, I will call it Roland, after the donor; and so think of him and of the time when he will return."
Alice and Eveline were cousins; but Alice was a rich heiress, while Eveline depended on the bounty of their mutual uncle, Sir James Morton , the guardian of the orphan heiress. Brought up from childhood together, the two cousins had scarcely one thought which was not in common, each sharing the others little confidences, and evincing a love which led many to suppose them sisters. If Alice was sick, who watched by her so tenderly as Eveline ? If Eveline could not leave her chamber, did not Alice deny herself the glorious sunshine and the gallop through the park that she might read to the invalid? In childhood they had slept together, and now, though both were budding into womanhood, they still shared the same couch. Eveline knew, as well as Alice knew herself, the whole progress of the affection which had grown up between the young heiress, and Roland De Villiers.
But who was Roland De Villiers? A young cadet, descended from a distant branch of the family, who had come, about a year before, to reside at Morton Castle in the capacity of secretary to Sir James. Graceful, and accomplished in every manly exercise, it became at once his understood duty to attend the cousins in their rides, on one of which occasions he opportunely rescued Alice from a frightened horse who had galloped with her to the very edge of a precipice, and who in another moment would have plunged with her into the abyss below. The gratitude which this act called forth soon ripened into love on the part of Alice, and it is scarcely necessary to say that the feeling was returned, for, from the first moment when the young cadet beheld her, he had imbibed for her a passion which was to end only with his life.
The growing attachment between his secretary and ward escaped the notice of Sir James ; and both, yielding themselves to the delicious emotions of the hour, took no thought of the possibility that other destinies might be planned out for them by the haughty baronet. Thus a year passed smoothly on, in such unmitigated happiness, that even Eveline, in beholding their felicity, grew happier herself. Oh ! there is nothing like a first and unclouded love. In that delicious dream every thing lends its aid to increase our joy. The flowers seem more beautiful than before ; the brook sings on its way with a gladness which makes our very heart leap; the birds have a carol sweeter than the music of Eden; and winds and woods and skies, the leaflet and the verdant grass, hill-top, and valley, all rejoice with us.
But every dream has its waking, and Alice and her lover were to be separated. The baronet's attention had at last been called to the intimacy existing between the lovers, though he was still ignorant that their vows had been exchanged. Dreading, however, such a result for he had other views for Alice-he determined to banish Roland from the castle, and accordingly procured him a commission in the Guards, of a character so honorable that the young man would not hesitate to accept it. His scheme succeeded, and Roland left the castle, full of gratitude toward his patron, and burning with enthusiastic hopes of winning wealth and fame to lay at the feet of the Lady Alice.
The evening before his departure was spent with Alice, and many were the vows exchanged between the lovers. A favorite pet, a snow-white dove, which hitherto had been the inhabitant of his room, was commended to the care of his mistress, and then, imprinting a last kiss on her lips, he tore himself from her. The next morning at daybreak he departed, but not before Alice had caught a last look at him, as she watched from behind the curtain of her chamber window. Thenceforth the pet dove, that last gift of Roland, was to become her almost constant companion.
A few months after the departure of her lover, Sir James announced the expected arrival of Lord Balmerine, a young nobleman who had lately come into possession of a handsome estate, but of whom more than one unpleasant rumor touching his character had already got afloat. Sir James, however, alluded to these in order to deny them, when he announced the intended visit.
"He will perhaps spend a month with us, perhaps longer," he concluded , glancing at Alice, "he is certainly a most agreeable as well as worthy man." Her guardian spoke this in a meaning tone which required no interpretation, and the heart of Alice sunk as she listened.
"What shall we do, Eveline ?" she said, when alone with her cousin, " the meaning of Sir James is evident. You know he is my guardian, and I believe controls the disposition of my estates unless I marry to please him. And this dreadful Lord Balmerine, who is so cruel, and the prey of the worst vices."
"Heigho!" said the gayer Eveline, " we shall have quite a pretty romance of our own yet. But I see you are too serious to laugh. Well , then, if we can do no better we can give up our estates sooner than marry this wicked lord. I suspect that, after all, he cares more for your rich manors than for yourself."
When the expected suitor arrived his appearance and
