Eveline Mandeville

Eveline Mandeville

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Title: Eveline Mandeville The Horse Thief Rival
Author: Alvin Addison

Release Date: September 8, 2005 [eBook #16676]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
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MANDEVILLE***
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EVELINE MANDEVILLE.
Or, The Horse Thief Rival
by
ALVIN ADDISON
Author of "The Rival Hunters."
Cincinnati: Published by U. P. James, 167 Walnut Street.
1837
CHAPTER I.
"Why do you persist in refusing to receive the addresses of Willard
Duffel, when you know my preference for him?"
"Because I do not like him."
"'Do not like him,' forsooth! And pray, are you going to reject the best
offer in the county because of a simple whim? the mere fancy of a
vain-headed, foolish and inexperienced girl? I did not before suppose
that a daughter of mine would manifest such a want of common sense."
"Whether my opinions of men are made up of that rare article so
inappropriately called 'common sense' or not, is a question I shall not
attempt to decide; it is sufficient for me to know that I have my 'likes
and my dislikes,' as well as other folks, and that it is my right to have
them."
"Oh, yes! you have rights, but a parent has not, I suppose!"

"You know very well, father, that I do not deserve an insinuation of
that kind from you: I have always regarded your wishes, when
expressed, save in this one instance, and I have too much at stake, in so
serious a matter, to lightly throw aside my own opinions."
"Yes, yes, you have been the most obliging of daughters, to hear your
own story; but no sooner does a point of any moment come up, upon
which we happen to disagree, than my wishes are as nothing--a mere
school-girl whim is set up in opposition to them, and that, too, without
even a shadow of reason! A very dutiful child, truly."
"Father, how can you talk so? You surely are but trying me; for you
know I do not merit the rebuke conveyed by your words and manner."
"Why not?"
"Why do I?"
"Because you are willfully disobedient."
"No, not willfully but sorrowfully disobedient to your wishes. Glad,
indeed, would I be if I could comply with them, but I cannot. Nor
should you expect me to, until you show some good grounds why you
entertain them."
"Have I not already done so repeatedly? Have I not told you that
Duffel's prospects are fairer than those of any other young man of your
acquaintance? Is he not wealthy? Has he not one of the best farms in
the country? What more do you want?"
"A man of principle, not of property."
"And is not Duffel a man of principle? Is he not strictly honorable in all
his dealings?"
"He may or may not be honest in his dealings; I do not allude to
business, but moral principle, and in this I think he is decidedly
wanting."

"Why do you think so?"
"His actions and manners impress me with such a belief; I feel it more
than see it, yet I am as fully satisfied on that point as if he had told me
in so many words that he had no regard for the restraints of morality
and religion, save such as a decent respect for the customs and opinion
of society enjoins."
"Mere fancy again! I'd like to know if you expect to live in any of the
air-castles you are building?"
"I think there is not quite as much probability of my inhabiting one of
them as there is of Duffel's incarceration in the penitentiary."
"What do you mean, girl?"
"To be plain, I do not believe Duffel's wealth was honestly obtained, or
is honestly held. You have heard of the Secret Gang of Horse Thieves, I
suppose. Well, I overheard this immaculate Duffel of yours, without
any intention on my part, conversing with a 'hale fellow well met,'--no
other than the stranger you yourself suspected of being a villain--and
from the tenor of their remarks, they belong to some clique of rascals. I
could not gather a very distinct idea as to what the organization was
formed to accomplish, for I could