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    22 CONSTANCY MISPI/AOED.

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    . . Wildl It Were Was Y Past Along A ; G...

    which one dish followed another . Certainly they were never disturbed on account of washing * or house-cleaning days ; everything

    was orderly stiff , and without bustle . The meal was eaten in silencethen the pastor and vicar took a silent walk togetherand

    on their , return each again took refuge in his smoking den , unless , Some business connected with their calling required the presence

    of one or other , or perhaps they sought , by a walk to the somewhat distant townto vary a little the dreary monotony of their

    life . , Only one object of the sitting-room was a source of pleasure to

    the vicar , or to any one who was obliged to enter it—a fresh green oasis in the midst of a sandy desert , upon which the eye gladly

    rested . It was the picture of a young , tall , blooming , beautiful girl in the fancy dress with which at the beginning of this century

    skilful artists knew how to evade the hideous fashion of the day . A white flowing garment enveloped the slender figure , the fair

    hair was adorned with cornflowers , and the outstretched hand held a laurel wreath , as if ready to crown a victor . The young vicar

    had been from the first so oppressed with the icy atmosphere of the housethat he had never ventured to inquire the meaning

    of the picture , . The pastor , however , confided to him that it was the portrait of his wife in her youththat it had been condemned

    long ago to an upper chamber , but , that he had insisted that it . should remain where it was . Since then it became a regular

    vstudy for the vicar , and in a small measure varied the monotony of the day , to seek in the stony features of the too early aged

    matron the traces of the beautiful young girl ? and to try to imagine by what means the youthful Victory had been

    transformed into the grey stony figure which here darkened house and heart .

    This evening an extraordinary event interrupted the usual stillness . The messenger who brought letters and papers from the

    town was generally in the habit of going straight to the pastor ' s -study ; his wife furnished no papers and received no letters ; not that

    she did not read , she passed even for a learned lady , she read _< _^ neither 3 tudy freek of and interest the Latin Classics , nor and sympath , had but her for y regular . the It events was evening therefore of the hours , present quite devoted an she to event had the

    hurried when the down pastor to , shortl his wife y after and the she messenger herself , looked had left the somewhat house , , up

    startled from her work . " A letter from Julie , " said the pastor , his voice trembling with

    deep emotion . " From Julie ! " said the lady , letting her work fall , and stretching out her hand for the letter : "it is only eight days

    since she wrote . " Julie was her only child ; she had resided a long time with her

    moth grandmother er to writ , and e regular had received ly every a fortni permission ght , and she command was as regularl from her y

    22 Constancy Mispi/Aoed.

    22 _CONSTANCY MISPI / AOED .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 2, 1863, page 22, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_02031863/page/22/