CHAPTER III. CUPID'S CONQUEST.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 133, 19 December 1885, Page 4

CHAPTER 111. CUPID'S CONQUEST.

In order to make our story complete, we must turn our glance backward and scan the history of a few years previous to its opening. Audrey Waldemar was the youngest of five children. Four noble boys had been given to the Hon. Dudley Waldemar, but one after another had drooped and died in early life, thus blighting the hopes of the fond parents, and steeping their hearts in such sorrow as only those can know who have watched in like manner the light fade out of the faces of idolised little ones, and then laid the loved form.3 away from their sight for ever. Their home had been desolate indeed until there had come to them a fair, blue-eyed little daughter. She came to them like a sweet spirit from the gates of Paradise, which inclosed their other treasures, and with her advent there had revived something of hope and interest in the livesof those who had believed nothing remained for them but a season of weary waiting until they could lay down their grief-burdened hearte ia the grave and repin their loved ones in heaven. Audrey waa an exquisite little piece of humanity from her earliest infancy. She was like a flower in beauty and in fragrance too— the fragrance of a sweet and lovely spirit— while in intelligence and precocious wisdom she was a marvel. Every luxury and advantage which a full pirse and a lavish hand could supply was showered upon her from the beginning, and her life was like a beautiful poem from her cradle until the opening years of her womanhood. , , . , At seventeen, having completed a thorough course of study, and her health suffering somewhat in consequence of persistent application, Mr Waldemar's family physician prescribed change of scene and a year of travel. To the fond parents, everything was of minor importance compared t j (he welfare of their beloved child, for their hearts were trembling with fear lest she, too, after all these years of watchful love, should dm from their grasp and vanish from their flight. , i

Her life, hud why, if heir young* heaWTha'd gone out to him, should it not be Arthur Halstead? , In atnanly fashion the young lover made known the object of^ the interview, and craved permission to win the 1 maiden whom he loved. , "My daughter is very young to enter into an engagement," Mr Walderaar replied, debating within himself the wisdom of allowing the lovers to assume any bonds jußt at present. ■ , " I kno* it, air," returned Arthur Halstead. " I will not ask for that just ,yet ; ouly grant me your permission to win her, love if I cttn. I— l am sanguine. enough to beliere. that she does not regard me unfavourably." Mr Waldemar smiled, for ifc needed no expert to tell that Audrey's heart had al ready been won ; and feeling that he could offer no reasonable objection to the lover s plea, ho gave his hearty consent, and sent him rejoicing, yet trembling, to put his fate to the test. Pair Audrey Waldemar was too pure and true to practise coqußtry ; and when Arthur Halstead told her with passionate earnestness how he loved her, and begged I her to give her&elf to him to brighten and beautify his life, she simply. and trustfully laid her two small hands in his, though her golden lashes dropped until they swept her blushing cheeks, and Bhe trembled with the great joy that had-just come to her* «« We will brighten and beautify each other's live," she murmured, softly ; "and you know that I love you, Arthur." It was almost as if she had said, with Browning : " Behold mo ! lam worthy Of thy loving, for I lovo thee." And they both believed they held " the chief of all love's joys, in knowing that they loved each other. Mr Waldemar smiled indulgently when informed of the result of this interview, although the tears would start unbidden at the thought that his sweet daughter could never be wholly his any more, for sho had passed the point " whore the brook and the river moot, and henceforth he must be content to hold the second place in her affections. He would not consent to a formal engagement just yet. "Wait," he said, "until Audrey is eighteen and you have sttained your majority ; which, you tell me, will be in bix months ; then, if you are both of the same mind, I will put no obstacle in your way." If they were of the same mind ! The bliesful lovers exchanged glances of devotion at that, as if to say that six months, six years, or six hundred years even, were all the same to them— there was nothing in the universe that could conspire to change their mind. But they submitted to the probationary decree with a very good grace, happy in the present, hopeful for the future. They were not to meet under six months, but were to be allowed to write as often as they chose, and when the stated time had passed Arthur was to join the family, wherever they might be, and their engagement could then be formally announced. "Six months will seem like an age if 1 am to be separated from you all that time, ' the youncf lover sighed, on the evening before the Waldemars were to depart. "It will soon pass," Audrey said, cheerfully, " only, I suppose, we must not mope over it, but improve the time as best we can ; so let us bo patient, for I know that papa thinks he is acting for the beat in insiatiog upon this delay.' So the young man was obliged to acquiesce, though his fond, impatient heart rebelled at this last decree of separation, Yet his admiration increased tenfold for the beautiful girl, who so honoured her parents' wishes and submitted so sweetly to their will, even when he knew' that the separation would be painful and irksome to her as to him. So they parted, fondly, trustfully, hopefully.