Rhode Island American, Statesman And Providence Gazette

MY LANDLADY AND HER LODGERS

[We send the Following pathetic and beautifully told tale, by Mr. Galt, in Blackwood's Magazine for October.]

After a short pause, Mrs. Winsom resumed her narrative, saying.

" But ye're no to think a lodging-house is free from calamities, or I can assure you, that soon after the jocose days I had with the Lustrons, I met with a worse trial. It came of the misfortune of a sweet young miss, who was beguiled from her parents by a dragoon officer-one of your prodigals that defy the Ten Commandments and the laws of man, with mustachios on their upper lips--no that he was to be objected to on account of his visage, no- my, or in truth he was an Absalom of beauty, and had a tongue to wile the bird from the tree. Indeed, after I saw him, I almost thought the poor maiden was but lightly to blame; and I never could satisfy myself how so brave a gallant-so free-hearted and fair spoken,-could be a perjured wretch- but, for all my womanly indulgence, he was so, and I was condemned to acknowledge it by my conscience, as I crooned in the watches of the night; Men are deceivers ever."

" Miss Fatima Camomile was one of the seven daughters of the Reverend Dr. Camomile, by his third wife, "who, according to the most authentic accounts, had fewer children than either of the two who were her ancestors in his bosom.

"The Doctor kept a school for select young gentlemen, ordained in a classical way of life;--and out of it came to pass, that when Captain Rampant was a little laddie, he was sent by his parents to learn Greek and Latin with the worthy Doctor, who surely was a most superior man.

" Miss Fatima and the Captain, when they were playing bairns-he a birkie laddie, and she a bonny lassie-fell into love, according to the fashion of teens and nonage, and betrothed vows of everlasting affection if they proved false to one another. But it came to pass, as in course of nature it was to be looked for, that his friends took him from the Doctor's school, and placed him in the army, where, as might have been expected, he grew, being a handsome young man, and a great ne'er-do-weel. After some five or six years, his regimentals were quartered in a town contiguous to the village where Miss Fatima lived with her father and the multitude of her sisters in the enjoyment of every comfort, and the pleasant innocence of a classical academy.

"Out of this accident, the Captain-or, as I should call him, the Cornet, for he was as yet not farther promoted-repaired his old acquaintance with the Doctor, and renewed his familiarity with Miss Fatima, until of they came in a chaise-and-pair, making an elopement into my first floor, as if they had been a real man and wife, according to the Gospels of the Bishops of London, or the Archbishop of Canterbury.

" Well, you see, being in my house, I began to have my doubts o' the sincerity of their marriage I couldna tell how such doubts arose-that was impossible; but I thought they were overly fond to be by themselves-nobody came nigh them-and one Sabbath night I said to myself, is't no wonderful that never a young lady comes to speir for Mrs. Rampant, if it were only to get insight into the nature of matrimony? In short, before Monday morning I was worked into a persuasion that Mrs. Rampant was not a creditable lodger. Young, lovely, and lamenting-or she was often in tears -I discerned there was a doubt; and what would have become o' me and my valuable property in this house, had I no made a testification'?

" Let no man, or woman either, say that I was moved thereunto by an epistolary curiosity. No! I had dread upon me; I thought my house might inherit a blemish from that thoughtless and friendless pair, and therefore I was stirred, by an obligation of duty, to look into the young lady's affair. What a discovery was mine. The salt tears ran into my eyes when I think of her story. Oh, the natural perfidiousness of man!

"She told me with what innocence, like two babes in the wood when he was at her father's school they had loved one another. -How often, while yet neither knew the meaning of the words, he promised to marry her, and how fondly she had reckoned on being Mrs. Rampant. It was very pathetic. Often when he was gone,' said the poor young lady I have walked into the field, having no companion but the holy moon; and those witnessing stars which had their light purified by the simplicity of our fondness, calling upon them to bear testimony to the truth of my love. There was a spell upon my heart which assured me he would come back, and that our happiness would yet be fulfilled. I never thought of any other love; when the lily bloomed I worshipped the sign, because I knew my weak heart taught me to believe so, that when he saw the blossom, he would dearly think of me, we had so often in our young years admired its fragrance and its spotlessness together.

" He came at last-and, though no longer the merry madcap boy, who had been both in gladness and in sadness the companion of my sweetest hours he was the same being, but with a richer stock of manhood and cheerful bearing. Still he was so much the same. I could not love him less than I had ever done. Alas! I soon began to feel I loved him more. Nor did his passion seem diminished: and I was pleased it should be so, for who could think there was any guile in Harry Rampant ?

" He had been, it is true, five years in the world. and I had been always at home; nor could I imagine what five years transmutation in barracks, and the license of young soldiership, could effect on the heart of man. He seemed to me all I desired ; where was truth, if he was not true? In that soft, that fearful, and confiding time, in which I felt myself to be more in fault than he was. I could not doubt the faithfulness of his honor.

" I thought," said Mrs. Winsom, resuming her natural tone, "when I learnt this, that it would be a hard thing to hurry the young man before the session after such a disclosure; and I reasoned with Miss Fatima, or I would no longer adorn her with the title of Mrs. Rampant, telling her that she had been an overly fond cutty and was much to blame.

"But notwithstanding, though my words were surgical knives, removing proud flesh. I yet told her for a comfort, that I would speak to Captain Rampant, and with God's help would end her misery. Poor thing! she was by this time most disconsolate to behold! Her fair eyes were waxing dim-the gracious beauty of her cheeks was become pale--her mouth had lost the smile of dimples that made it gayer than smiles, and she rose from her chair with a heaviness as if there was about her a burden or a shame.

[ To be continued.]