Carroll Free Press

"Rejected lovers," enumerates some striking as well as startling love adventures which have occurred among the society of the English in India. We give below the most remarkable anecdote which is told in the circles of Madras.

"An affection had sprung up between two young persons acquainted with each other from childhood, which received the approbation of their mutual friends: the youth of the parties, however, the lady being only fifteen, and the gentleman three years her senior,—rendered it advisable that the marriage should not take place until both had reached a more mature age.

The failure of some expectations obliged the lover to accept a cadership, and, with the full consent of his relations, he went out to India under an engagement to send for his betrothed as soon as circumstances would admit of his taking upon him the expense of maintaining a wife. The youth continued true to his first attachment during a considerable period, and the receipt of the lady's portrait, which was forwarded to him just as she had attained the full bloom of womanhood, shewed that the promise she had given of beauty had been more than fulfilled. At length, feeling himself to be in a condition to support increased establishment; he wrote to the lady; requesting her to come out to him, and she; never having thought of any one else, obeyed the mandate as soon as it was possible for her to embark upon her voyage. Some delay had taken place in consequence of the death of her father, and the gentleman at first grew impatient, then angry; and finally meeting with somebody who struck his fancy; transferred his affections to a new object.—While in the height and frenzy of this passion, news reached him that his first love was upon her way to India; and he was obliged to make arrangements for her reception at the house of a female acquaintance, and to proceed himself to Madras to give her the meeting. She arrived, delighting all who beheld her with the beauty of her person, the elegance of her manners, and the accomplishments of her mind. Captain S. was considered to have gained a prize, and she, in the fond expectation of the warmest welcome which love could give, awaited an interview which was to lead to an union of the most indissoluble nature: The gentleman made his appearance, but the coldness and constraint of his manner shewed that all was not right: He either averted his eyes, or raised them in displeasure at an object formed to attract and captivate, and refusing an invitation to dinner upon the plea of an engagement, quitted the house, leaving the fair stranger in dismay at conduct so cruel and so unaccountable. Adding insult to injury, the inconstant took every opportunity which offered to utter slight and disparaging remarks to one who had anticipated the most affectionate treatment. At length, the change in his sentiments was so glaringly displayed; that she felt obliged to inquire the cause and to come to a final explanation: He then acquainted her with the truth, taking no pains to spare her feelings in the recital, and offering some provision if she chose to remain in India. Indignant at a conclusion so different from that which she had a right to expect, and disgusted by the conduct of the man who had induced her to quit kind friends and a home for a long and dangerous voyage, in the full confidence that she was seeking the arms of a protector, she declared her intention of returning to England, nor could she be dissuaded from a measure resolved upon in the bitterness of a wounded spirit, though several families of the highest distinction entreated her to make their houses her home! and though the gentleman of the presidency shewed an earnest desire to induce her to give herself away in marriage. Too deeply distressed in mind to think of the latter alternative, she sought her native shore; where but for some unfortunate circumstance, she might have found peace. Her mother had died during her absence, and imagining that she was provided for, left her so small a portion of her own very limited property, as to oblige her to be in a great degree dependent upon her aunt. The treatment which she experienced under the roof of this relative surprised and alarmed her; upon some pretext or other, she was sent away whenever any visitors came to the house, and at length, when a party were to assemble, was told that she must not make her appearance, as her returning unmarried from India had given the world reason to suppose that her own misconduct had caused the non-fulfilment of her engagement, and the apparent disinclination of other gentlemen to form an alliance with her. She had never contemplated such a view of the case, and conscious of innocence, immediately made up her mind to go back to Madras, and oblige her faithless lover to vindicate the fame which he had so deeply injured. The spirit which had prompted her to leave the country which had been the scene of disappointment and insult, supported her through her new determination. she proceeded without delay to London, where she found the captain who had taken her out, and brought her home again, upon the eve of sailing, He instantly offered her a free passage, and other friends coming forward to assist her with pecuniary means. she embarked for the second time, and pursued her voyage. Her beauty remained unimpaired by the trials she had encountered, and her manners and disposition having lost nothing of their attraction, she won the heart of a fellow passenger, a colonel in the army, who was repairing on military duty to Ceylon. She would not, however, consent to enter into an engagement with him until she should have procured a written testimonial from the pen of her first lover that she had given him no cause for the imputation which had been cast upon her, either through his own report of the affair at home, or the uncharitable supposition of the world. No argument could induce her to forego this resolution; and, notwithstanding the colonel's unwillingness to submit to what he considered unnecessary delay; she went to Madras. Captain S. was up the country at the time, but letters were immediately despatched to him, demanding the contradiction of the scandal; meanwhile; the resident at Madras came forward in the handsomest manner with assurances of respect and regard, and in due course of post the document arrived, which she had travelled so far to obtain. She had now to all appearance surmounted the evils of her destiny; the purity of her fame was established, and an impassioned lover waited to receive her hand. The colonel had commissioned the captain of the ship to make several expensive purchases for his bride at Madras: these had all been embarked for Ceylon, but the lady for whom they were intended did not live to accompany them. The excitement, which had so wonderfully enabled her to brave every difficulty, having ceased, she sunk rapidly, and had scarcely received the congratulations of her friends upon the triumph of her innocence, before the pulsations of a too deeply agitated heart stopped, and life ebbed away.

This melancholy event occasioned the deepest regret to all the society of the presidency, and it is still remembered by many with almost undiminished sorrow."