A STORY OF THE PRESENT DAY. BY THE HON. ADELA SIDNFY. AUTHOR OF "HOME AND ITS INFLUENCE." IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET 1848. SADNESS AND GLADNESS. A TALE. CHAPTER I. Oh! there are looks and tones that dart, As if the very looks and eyes, Thus came thy ev'ry glance and tone When first on me they breathed and shone Yet welcome as if lov'd for years. MOORE. AND Mabel ? While her cousin had entered into the gayer scenes of life and found that bitterness is often concealed beneath the assumed smile, and misery walks abroad in costly trappings; that all which is fair and VOL. III. B (RECAP) V.3 879981 joyous-festive scenes and merry words-fail to please if the heart be not predisposed to joy; that one sad remembrance, one cause of regret changes every thing in our eyes; that contentment and affection, alone, produce happiness,happiness she could not possess, for she was loved by none; and contentment must have been a stranger to a breast smarting under the pangs of neglect and ridicule; while Flora had suffered thus, Mabel had felt deeper but less irritating grief. She was doomed to lose one she had loved from infancy; but her heart was fraught with sweet remembrances of affection which had watched over her infant years and advised her youth, towards whom she could reproach herself with not a single irritating speech, or a moment's anger. They had lived in the sweet confidence of mutual affection and trust, and now they parted. Susanne's last words, a prayer for the welfare of the child of her adoption, and Mabel with almost heart-broken assurances that, wherever her lot might be cast, she would remember all her beloved Susanne's instructions, and prove herself worthy of her! Mabel had but one now left to love, and she felt it more than ever her duty to dwell with him, to devote herself to his happiness; but, Mr. Gascoigne, vacillating and foolish, the slave of extravagance and the opinion of the world, had once been led by these faults from the broad path of truth and honour, when he permitted others to spread the report of Mabel's death ; and fear now bound him with an iron chain. He loved her, but with selfish love; much as he longed to have her society, to be happy with her, his love was not strong enough to induce him to confess that he had been in the wrong. He was fearful he might be accused of falsehood, which he knew he had sanctioned, and thus he suffered himself to be guided by Mr. Edwardes, and to allow him to dispose of his child. This old man made his will, bequeathing all he possessed to Mabel. He called her his adopted daughter; and, it was settled that the year Mabel's voice must have entire repose should be passed in her native land, for Mr. Gascoigne was anxious to revisit London. Mr. |