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    16& ELIZABETH VON RECKE.

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    ~*» ' Past I. There Are Some Individuals...

    noble family , and possessed of considerable fortune , but for whom Elizabeth herself felt less inclination than for any other of her suitors .

    Yet , ever soft and yielding , she conformed herself at once to what she knew to be the wish of her maternal friend , and the sweet

    romantic enjoyment of making a sacrifice for her sake , led her tq > how much it cost herand never to allow that repulsion to

    be suppress visible , which like an instinctive , warning filled her in most being every time she saw him who was chosen to be her husband . She

    felt how far off she "was from the man with whom they sought to make her one . He was a great landowner , and the government of

    his estate , carried on with a strictness bordering on severity , was the business of his lifeand of affairs of this kind Elizabeth was entirely

    ignorant . His leisure ;; hours were devoted to the chase , and he had not only not attained to that higher life which finds its chief

    enjoyment in the culture of the heart and understanding , but was an absolute to anything of the kind ; whereasit was the very

    deepest instinct enemy of her nature . A soldier too , from , early youth , he submitted with difficulty to the usages of society , while refinement

    was her very element ; so that in opinions , desires , and pursuits , they were directlopposed to each other . She understood nothing

    of the way of life y of the man , whose helpmate she was to be ; while he entirely misunderstood her delicate and spiritual nature ; yet ,

    nevertheless , as soon as she had attained her sixteenth year , she became the wife of the Baron von der Eecke .

    trembling "When the ly pronounced day for this inausp the fatal icious li Yes marri ; ' then age had , as arrive soon d as , Elizabeth the

    ceremony was concluded , ran to her mother ' s picture , and kneeling before it , vowed that whatever trials might await her , her own life

    should be pure and spotless , so that the eyes of her guardian spirit in heaven milit behold her untroubled and bless her on her course .

    g Then with the whole power of her will , she put a strong control on herself that she miht hide from her step-motlier the agony it cost

    her to leave the happy g home of her youth , and to meet a new destiny , while dark presentiments lay heavy on her heart . Her

    husband could not but see how she grieved to quit her home , and still clung to her parents- and friends , and this he marked with

    dissatisfaction , watching her tender farewells with lowering brow . A few days after their solemn entrance into the baron ' s gloomy

    feudal castle , the young bride ventured to beg a boon of her lord , no less than ermission to see a lady friend who had promised to

    pay her an earl p y visit . The request was refused with a roughness which told only too significantly that he was determined to destroy

    all those home ties to -which his wife ' s heart still clung . Surrounded by slaves , he was accustomed to have his every look and gesture

    obeyed ; and when he found that he could not thus by the mere indication of his will crush out his wife ' s early affections and

    inclinations , he assumed a morose demeanor towards her , which in spite

    of her silent submission and obedience * often became absolute op-

    16& Elizabeth Von Recke.

    16 & ELIZABETH VON RECKE .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1860, page 166, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051860/page/22/