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MR. FRANKLAND'S MARRIAGE. 401
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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Transcript
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
I^» I——I Have Passed My Life As A Dressm...
very _payable an intrigue . He was so nervously eager to disprove lier wordsthat his anxiety fluttered him out of the power of using "
, any of : his long words and somewhat quaintly ceremonious phrases . He stammered out that Miss Woodville was utterly wrong in the
in construction her company she were had , put were upon — What his words they , were because , he never the evenings said _^ but sp oh ent ,
the unfinished sentences are the prettiest tell-tales ! Not to make my story too minute , Mr . Frankland only left the
room to seek a favorite book to read to us . As soon as he was gone , Miss "Woodvillelooking terribly conscious , but very happy , said ,
, with a silly little cough , though trying to speak with great indifference :
" You know , Jane , we could not be so rude as to say we did not wish for his company , and you seem to enjoy his reading so much .
"• Oh yes , very much , indeed , " demurely replied I . Mr . Frankland returned with Thomson ' s . " Seasons . " How very
odd , it was exactly the poetry one of . his audience loved the best ! He read his favorite passages , and then Susan remembered one very
dear to her , so , at his request , the book passed from his hand to hers , and she read the lines with a voice that trembled a little , but was
not a whit less sweet for that , nor less set of ? by the timid blush _, which painted her . cheek when busy instinct told her ( _desjate her
down-cast eyes ) that a tender gaze was reading the page of her open , artless brow . Then he resumed the book . Did she remember the
close of " Spring ? " Did she ? She could not be certain , she had not read "Spring" very lately . AhSusan Woodville , shrewdly
, do I suspect that every word of a description so ineffably lovely , so enchanting to woman ' s yearningtimid heart , was engraven on thy
, memory ! Should he read it to her ? Oh yes , certainly . He read with , that grave sweetness which imparted so peculiar a charm to his
otherwise ordinary person , and as he read , that pretty blush stole . back , and , no longer flitting away , took up its station steadily on
Susan ' s cheek . The next day , Miss Woodville told me that Mr . Frankland , having
discovered through the children that she wrote poetry , had persuaded her to let him see some of her productions . It would be an
unspeakable advantage to her , she thought , because he was so clever , and had promised to criticise every line with great severity . She
had not thought , it right to refuse his offer . Ho was coming to return her her poems , and tell her all the faults in them , " So expect
to see me savagely mangled , Ja , ne ! " added she , with a smile . Well , Mr . Frankland was true to his appointment , and they sat
down to their task , he armed with all critical gravity , she ready to ciefend and explain . To do them justice , some faults were pointed
out , and some very gentle excuses given ; but I listened vainly for the " savage mangling . " The tone of criticism , rapidly relaxed ,
_Jifc they e all began other to tjiings read , together became , a to delicious admire meeting together -p , lace and for the thoug poetry ht , ,
for fancy , for opinion .
Mr. Frankland's Marriage. 401
MR . _FRANKLAND ' S _MARRIAGE . 401
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1860, page 401, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081860/page/41/
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