Elsies Womanhood | Page 2

it has come upon me so suddenly."
"What?" asked both ladies in a breath; "don't keep us in suspense."
"It has been going on for years--on his part--I can see it now--but, blind
fool that I was, I never suspected it till to-day, when it came upon me
like a thunderbolt."
"What? who?"
"Travilla; after years of patient waiting he has won her at last--our
darling--and--and I've given her to him."
Both ladies stood dumb with astonishment, while young Horace, who

had come running up in time to catch the last words, cried out with
vehemence, "Papa! what! give our Elsie away? how could you? how
can we ever do without her? But she shan't go, for she belongs to me
too, and I'll never give consent!"
Mr. Dinsmore and the ladies smiled faintly.
"They seemed to think mine quite sufficient, Horace," replied his father,
"and I'm afraid will hardly consider it necessary to ask yours."
"But, papa, we can't spare her--you know we can't--and why should you
go and give her away to Mr. Travilla or anybody?"
"My son, had I refused, it would have caused her great unhappiness."
"Then she ought to be ashamed to go and love Mr. Travilla better than
you and all of us."
"I was never more astonished in my life!" cried Adelaide.
"Nor I," said Rose. "And he's a great deal too old for her."
"That is an objection," replied her husband, "but if not insuperable to
her, need not be to us."
"Think of your intimate friend addressing you as father!" laughed
Adelaide; "it's really too ridiculous."
"That need not be--is not an inevitable consequence of the match,"
smiled Mr. Dinsmore, softly caressing the little one clinging about his
neck.
Still conversing on the same subject, the minds of all being full of it to
the exclusion of every other, they moved on as if by common consent
towards the house.
"Do you think it can be possible that she is really and truly in love with
him?" queried Rose; "a man so much older than herself, and so intimate
in the family since her early childhood."

"Judge for yourself, my dear," said Mr. Dinsmore, as a turn in the path
brought them within a few yards of the lovers, who were moving
slowly in their direction so that the two parties must meet in another
moment.
One glance at the beaming faces, the rich color coming and going in
Elsie's cheek, the soft, glad light in her sweet brown eyes, was a
sufficient reply to Rose's question. She looked at her husband with a
satisfied smile, which he returned.
But little Horace, leaving his father's side, rushed up to Elsie, and
catching her hand in his, cried, "I'll never give my consent! and you
belong to me. Mr. Travilla, you can't have her."
To the child's surprise Elsie only blushed and smiled, while Mr.
Travilla, without the slightest appearance of alarm or vexation, said,
"Ah, my dear boy, you may just as well; for she is willing to be mine
and your papa has given her to me."
But the others had come up, and inquiring looks, smiles and kindly
greetings were exchanged.
"Mr. Travilla," said Rose, half playfully but with a tear trembling in her
eye, "you have stolen a march upon us, and I can hardly forgive you
just yet."
"I regret that exceedingly, my dear madam," he answered, with a smile
that belied his words. "But Miss Adelaide, you will still stand my
friend?"
"I don't know," she answered demurely; "there's only one serious
objection in my mind (if Elsie is satisfied); that I don't quite fancy
having a nephew some years older than myself."
"Ah! well, I shall be quite willing to be considered a brother-in-law."
"Company to dinner!" shouted Horace. "I see a carriage; don't you,
papa?"

"It is your Uncle Edward's," said Mr. Travilla.
"Yes," said Adelaide, "Lora and her tribe are in it, no doubt; and
probably Mrs. Bowles too (Carrie Howard you know, Elsie). They have
been late in calling."
"Some good reason for it, and they are none the less welcome,"
remarked Rose, quickening her pace.
The one party reached the house just as the other two had fairly
alighted, and a scene of joyous greeting ensued.
"You dear child! how good of you to come back to us again, and single
too," exclaimed Mrs. Bowles, clasping Elsie in a warm embrace; "I'd
almost given it up, and expected by every mail to hear you had become
Lady or Countess this, or Duchess that."
Elsie smiled and blushed, and meeting the eye of her betrothed fixed
for an instant upon her with an expression of unutterable content,
thankfulness, love and pride, smiled and blushed again.
Carrie caught the look and its effect upon her friend,