Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine 1861-04: Vol 62 Iss 4

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GODEY’S Ladys Pooh and Tagusine PHILADELPHIA, APRIL, 1861, ROMANCE AT CENTRE HARBOR. BY MARY W. JANVRIN, AUTHOR OF “‘ THE FOREIGN CoUNT,”’ “‘ AUNT SABRINA’S DREAM,"’ “ TATTLERS OF TATTLETOWN,” “ PEACE,” CHAPTER I. **T petreve I will walk up to the hotel, Anna.”’ And the gentleman tossed a brace of valises and a shawl upon the three great travelling- trunks the driver had strapped behind the yel- low stage-coach, and addressed the little deli- cate lady he had assisted to the inside. ‘* No, Charles, I want you to get in and ar- range my cushions.’’ The voice was very thin and querulons, and the pretty face of the speaker wore a listless, languid air; for Mrs. Charles Lushington was, or fancied herself, an invalid. Moreover, Mrs. Charles Lushington was troubled with ‘her spine’’ and ‘‘her nerves ;’”’ and her physician had advised the healthy, inland retreat of Cen- tre Harbor—cool, bracing, mountain air, agree- able company, and moderate exercise. ‘‘ Don’t take your servant along with you. Learn to depend upon yourself!’ he had advised (for Dr. Plaintalk was an old and privileged prac- titioner) ; and so the little invalid lady had set about learning that hardest task, self-reliance, and actually meant to lace her own gaiters, pick up her own handkerchiefs, and braid her own abundant hair. But then, Doctor Plaintalk hadn’t forbidden her taking along her cushions with her; and, if the Abigail was left behind, the downy silk pillows that had accompanied her last year to Nahant were not, and hence the querulous request, ‘‘ Charles, I want you to get in and arrange my cushions !”’ ‘* But Bella or Mollie here, they will do that,”’ good-naturedly ventured Charles Lushington ; but there was a little knotting of the invalid’s brows—‘‘ Oh, ho! husband can do better than VOL. Lx11.—26 ETC. ETC. anybody, can he? Well,.then, look out for your crinoline, girls!’’ and he sprang into the coach beside his wife, while the two “ girls’’ on the opposite seat, Bella Lushington and Mary Risley, united their efforts with his for the comfortable adjustment of pillows and travelling shawls about the little lady. Finally, after a satisfactory arrangement of everything, the steps were put up, the door swung to, the driver mounted to his box, and the wheels of the stage-coach revolved rapidly through the soft, turfy soil, a luxury to the riders fresh from the rattling pavements of the dusty city. The little groups of people who had come down to the landing to witness the arrivals by the steamer Dover began to disperse ; passen- gers and their baggage were transferred to the coaches in waiting, which now wound away, filled with ladies and children generally, while the gentlemen preferred to walk up the turf- bordered, pleasant road leading up to the Sen- ter House, nestled down amid its cool greenery ; and again the steamer, which had rounded up to the wharf-landing with short, hurried breathings of her engines, swung about, and with monitory shrieks of her whistle, and great gusts of smoke from her black pipes, stood backward over the noble lake, whose waters laughed and glittered brightly in the July sun, a dimpled mirror set in its heavy frame of ever- greens and purple mountain shadows—‘‘ The Smile of the Great Spirit,’?’ Winnipiseogee. **T hope this air from the hills won’t prove too bracing ?”? and Mrs. Charles Lushington shivered slightly and drew farther into her corner of the carriage. 301