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    MY GEE AT AUNT POLLY' S ELOPEMENT. Ill

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Babl Dear Y Be Reader Declared .—The By ...

    miglit easily be mistaken for a belle , Mr . Paul Lefevre shone conspicuous . Then , "when he began to fear that his purchases would

    render him liable to a suspicion of being about to set up in trade himself , he found out that his sister's wardrobe was in a state of disgraceful shabbiness , and began to consult Mrs . Dever on "what

    sort of taffetas -would harmonise with the former lady ' s complexion , and whether a pink or a green feather "would be most striking in her new hat . To all "which Mrs . Dever listened with a certain grim

    politeness , as if she quite understood his drift , and -was determined not to give Clorinda ' s daughter any assistance towards an

    establishment for life at the Priory . From the shop and the . back parlour Mr . Lefevre sometimes made his "way into the garden ,

    where Polly , an active young person , "was " hanging out the clothes" like the maid in the ballad ; for Mrs . Dever encouraged no genteel scruples in any young women with whom she had to do .

    Sometimes also the gentleman -would go a fishing -with Samuel , Jonasand Darias , or would linger about the yard , pretending to

    , help them carve their boats and fashion their bats . — " But , " quoth Samuel to Darias , holding him by the little scarlet coat "which that

    young gentleman sported ( with smallclothes ) on Sundays , u it ' s my opinion that Mr . Paul would willingly see us all set sail for

    Jericho , so that our cousin Polly remained behind , and would listen to his sighs and tears . " The latter half of this sentence was quoted by Samuel from the ' Mysterious Lover , ' a novel "which at that

    time had outrivalled even the popularity of ' Oroonooko , or the Royal Slave . ' We will now take the liberty of looking into the Ladies' Chamber

    at the Priory , where sit Paul Lefevre and his sister , in the soft light of a summer ' s eve . The Priory was encircled by thick woods ,

    conspicuous for many a mile , over which peered the high round towers of Burchester Castle , and the tall square one of the noble

    church of St . Helen . In the far-famed chapel which abutted against one side of this church lay the Lefevres of many generations , knights and dames of the middle ages ; many tributary streams of

    noble blood had flowed into this family current ; not one burgher taint was there . In 1517 Adeline Lefevre , sought in marriage by the mayor of Bourchestere , at a time when , subsequent to the wars

    of the Roses , the fortunes of the noble race ran low , had committed suicide ( said the legend ) , rather than wed with one of low

    degree . True it had been hushed up , and Adeline slept in sculptured alabaster among her sires ; but the townsfolk had always

    religiously believed the tale , and it was handed down from generation to generation , as an instance of the hereditary pride of the Lefevres .

    The life of Charles Lefevre , Paul ' s father , had been horribly embittered by the obstinate refusal of his parents to hear of his

    marriage with a beautiful girl whose family had but lately acquired

    property in the country , paid for by the _x _oroceeds of extensive

    My Gee At Aunt Polly' S Elopement. Ill

    MY GEE AT AUNT POLLY ' S ELOPEMENT . Ill

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1858, page 111, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041858/page/39/