Vellenaux | Page 2

the exciting pleasures always to be met with in
such places, until he had become satiated and lost all taste for such
scenes. His kind heartedness and benevolence won for him the esteem
of the neighboring gentry.
On the morning in question the Baronet, who had but the evening

previous returned from London, entered his study, and seating himself
in an easy chair, drew towards him a small but elaborately carved
antique escritoire, and for several moments was deeply engaged in the
perusal of certain papers and memoranda; finally he drew from his
pocket a sealed packet which, having opened carefully, he read over;
then as if not quite satisfied with the contents, allowed the paper to slip
from his hand to the table before him and was soon lost in thought. An
English gentleman, unquestionably in the highest sense of the word,
was Sir Jasper Coleman; a true type of that class who, from the time of
the Norman conquest to the present day, whether beneath the Torrid or
Frigid Zone's; on the bloody battlefield, or launching their thunders on
the billows of the white-crested main, nobly upheld the honor of their
country's flag, whose heroic deeds and honorable names have been
handed down unsullied and untarnished for many generations. Since
leaving the service the worthy Baronet had taken no part in the political
events of the nation, but devoted himself entirely to the welfare of his
numerous tenantry, and those residing in the neighborhood of his large
estate, to whom assistance and advice was at all times needed, nor was
it ever withheld or given grudgingly when any case of real distress
came under his notice.
A fine subject fog poet's pen or artist's pencil was that aristocratic old
warrior, as he sat there gazing upon the rich woodlands warmed by the
glorious autumn sun, thinking over by-gone days--days when he had
loitered by some fair one's side in many a brilliant assembly, or when
his nerves were steady and his voice all powerful, leading the charge on
many a well-fought field. How long he might have remained
ruminating on things of the past it is impossible to say; the retrospect
might have continued much longer had not his attention been arrested
by a slight noise, when suddenly raising his head a smile of pleasure lit
up his finely cut features as the door opened and a lovely girl, just
merging into womanhood, stepped softly into the room. She was,
indeed, very beautiful; hair of the darkest shade of brown hung in long
and glossy curls from her perfectly shaped head, and rested on the
exquisite white neck and shoulders, the contrast of which showed to a
great degree the almost alabaster whiteness of her skin; grecian nose,
and eyes of the deepest blue, whose long lashes, when veiled, rested

lovingly on her damask cheek, and when raised, revealed a depth and
brilliancy which does not often fall to the lot of mortals; a mouth not
too small, whose beautifully shaped lips, when parted, disclosed to the
beholder teeth of ivory whiteness, small and most evenly set, dazzling
indeed was the effect of those pearly treasures; tall, slight, and
elegantly formed, with a bearing aristocratic and queenly in the extreme;
what wonder that she was the sunshine of old Sir Jasper's declining
days and his much and dearly loved niece.
Gliding up to her uncle she threw heir arms about his neck and
imprinted a kiss on his noble brow, then sinking on a stool at his feet
began to take him to task after the following fashion: "You truant, you
naughty uncle, to let me breakfast alone in my own room thinking you
hundreds of miles away, and not to let me know that you returned last
night; and Mrs. Fraudhurst is just as bad, and I will not forgive her or
you, unless you tell me where you have been and all you have seen and
done. Now, Sir Wanderer, commence and give an account of yourself;
you see I am prepared to listen," apparently waiting with much
attention for her uncle to enlighten her as to the why and wherefore he
had journeyed to London. It was evident that the Baronet had been in
the habit of making a confidant of his pretty niece, but on this occasion,
for one reason or another he had failed to do so; she had taken out of
one of her little embroidered pockets in her apron, some crochet work,
and applied herself diligently thereunto.
Edith was the orphan child of Sir Jasper's much loved and only sister,
who did not long survive the death of her husband, and on her decease
the Baronet had adopted the child, and as she grew up, her affectionate
disposition and natural simplicity wound themselves