Ballou's Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXVII, No. 1 — page 68: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

~o) (a a fact, after all, that nothing but age and ex- perience can confer wisdom. Seventeen hun- dred times since have I thought of the snare that this old Delilah wove for me, and as many times have I anathematized the blind- ness which sent me headlong into it. Well, well, we can only be young once, so we can only be silly once. Don’t interrupt me, Ned; what I say is the sorrowful truth. I was on hand at the appointed place, promptly at fifteen minutes before ten. Never suspecting any trick, it did not occur to me to look for eavesdroppers; but, as I afterward discovered, Sykes and Simpkins were lying perdu on the other side the wall, and drank in every word that was uttered. Presently a female figure came up with a nimble step, and drawing the shawl down from her head, disclosed the familiar features of Aunt Deborah. “O Lieutenant Martin—is it you?” she began, with two or three abortive attempts at asob. “Such a time as I have had to get away without being seen! And if they should miss me, I don’t know what I would do. O dear, how my heart does beat! O dear, dear —I am so faint! O my—O!”’ She snatched my hand and placed it where her heart was supposed to be, when I imme- diately perceived that there was no percepti- ble palpitation at all. I attempted to disen- gage myself; but she was now leaning her whole weight on my shoulder; and I was actually compelled to put my arm round her to hold her away from me. “My dear Miss Maxwell,” I said, “don’t, I beg of you, be so agitated; there is surely nothing to excite any alarm. You embarrass me seriously, and I hardly know how to begin what I had to say. You know, I1 suppose, why I solicited an interview ?” “O Mr. Martin, don’t—don’t, I beg of you! Whoever would have thought such a thing of you ?” “Be calm, Miss Maxwell; pray be calm. I assure you, I had no reason to suppose that this would take you by surprise. You have een acquainted with me about three years—” A convulsive “yes,” interrupted me, and the woman laid her aged head and false curls on my shoulder. “And I had no reason to think that you cherished any other sentiments toward me tian those of the kindest regard.” “JT love to hear you say that,” she murmured. “And I now assure you, that however my actions may have appeared to show to the Why the Major never married. contrary, I have ever regarded you as one of the best of my friends—” “The friendship of you men is so danger- ous,” she parenthesized. , “A lady who has stood very high in my regard, and toward whom I hope my relations will not long hence assume a nearer aspect.” “O Mr. Martin, don’t, I beg of you!” “Why not, Miss Maxwell? Indeed, you must hearme. You cannot be a stranger to the sentiments of affection which I entertain for your niece—” “ What ?—for who 2?” she screamed, starting with well-simulated surprise, and immediately grabbing me by both arms. “Why, for Mag, of course. Didn’t she tell you that we were engaged, and—” | The woman seemed suddenly transformed into a tigress. She threw her long, bony arms about me, pinning my own to my sides so that I was comparatively powerless, and sent forth upon the still night air a succession of such piercing shrieks and screams as well- nigh deafened me. “QO, you horrid man! O, O, O! that I should ever live to be deceived in this way! Omy poorheart! Help! Murder! Thieves! O you wretch! Help! Colonel! Adjutant?! Lieutenant Simpkins! Save me! O,0O!” She kept up her infernal noise, holding on to me all the while, at the same time that I was too astonished to break away, until half the garrison had rushed to the spot, including officers, soldiers, and several of the ladies. As soon as the colonel saw the cause of the alarm, he ordered the men back to their quarters. By this time the woman had re- leased me, and thrown herself down at my feet, where she made a miserable pretence of sobbing and crying. “Mr. Martin, what does all this mean, sir?” asked the colonel, with his very sternest manner. “T’ve nothing to say here, sir,” I replied. “T’ve no explanation to give, before this crowd of people.” Here several audible com- ‘ments, such as “ Brute,” “Scoundrel,” “ Mon- ster,” and the like, from the ladies present, reached me. “I believe I can explain it to your comprehension, if not to your satisfac- tion, at a private interview; and, in the meantime, I declare that I have done nothing contrary to my obligations as an officer and a gentleman.” The colonel was both oe and puzzled, and he looked from Deborah to me, and back to her, in evident perplexity ~ichooks com