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Show THE MAN WITH A BLACK BEARD. <br><br> By Mary Kyle Dallas. <br><br> We were all assembled in the little school room, girls on one side, boys on the other, and Miss Linda in the middle, beside a mahogany desk, piled with spelling-books, and graced with a polished ruler, which never, within the memory of the oldest scholar, had been used for any more unpleasant purpose than to rule copies with, for Miss Linda's sway was a gentle one, as any one who looked at her fair face might well have imagined. Even our habit of calling her Miss Linda was proof of this, any other teacher would have been addressed by her surname, but we never even thought of ours as Miss Harrington. To this day I cannot guess her age, she was certainly young, but her features had a certain peculiarity of their own, which made it impossible to say how young she was. In her mirthful moments she looked like a merry child, in her sadder ones she was quite a women; but in any mood she was as beautiful as perfect features, ivory skin, a wealth of golden hair, and great, long fringed black eyes could make her. She was in her merry mood this morning, and there were dimples in her rosy cheeks, and those black eyes out-rivaled the brightest diamonds that ever glistened amid the tresses of a princess. The stupid scholar of the school (there is always a stupid scholar in the school, and he is inevitably a boy) was stumbling through his spelling lessons and falling ??? over ??? surmountable world "physician." He had spelt it "fizzishion," "fusition," and was at present mute with despair, and, oblivious to the promptings of a sympathizing little girl behind the teacher's chair, was preparing to cover his eyes with his coat-sleeve and bemoan himself, when the whole school was startled by the sudden flinging open of the door, and the entrance of little Lilly Darwin, the smallest of the small children under Miss Linda's care, in a state of violent agitation. <br><br> "Oh, the man, the man!" sobbed Lilly. The great tall man with the black beard! He's frightened me out of my senses." <br><br> "What man, Lilly?" said Miss Linda, compassionately. "How did he frighten you, my dear?" <br><br> "He came close behind me and said, ‘Never, never!'" answered the child, "and he put his hands to his forehead, and then went away out of sight down by the river. OH, I'm so frightened, so frightened, Miss Linda, you can't think." <br><br> "It was only some poor crazy man, my dear," said Miss Linda. "You are safe now, at all events; wipe away your tears and tell me all about it." <br><br> "I was coming along the green lane towards school, Miss Linda, hurrying very fast for fear I would be late, when I met our new minister, who stopped and shook hands with me, and asked how you were, and said he would look in at the school and hear us sing this afternoon; and while I was answering him this tall man with the black beard passed us twice, and then stopped beside the water. And when the minister turned away he looked after him, and then walked very quickly towards school, and then back again, and then clasped his hands and said ‘Never, never, never!' out loud, and frightened me so that I cried, and ran here as fast as I could." <br><br> This horrible narration affected all the smaller children as a ghost story would have done; and Miss Linda after looking around at these frightened faces, laughed merrily, and, expressing her decided conviction that the gentleman with the black beard had escaped the lunatic asylum, called the school to order, and proceeded in the usual routine of duties, as though nothing particular had occurred. <br><br> Early in the afternoon "our minister' did call. He had a habit of visiting the school, and it appeared to me that the teacher was much more interesting than her scholars. At all events, it was certain that he looked at her much oftener than he did at us, and was very particular about shaking hands when he took his leave. He was a young and very handsome man, and rumor said that he was exceedingly in love with our Miss Linda. He lingered in the little school house a long while on that bright summer afternoon, but he went at last, and then the children were dismissed, and the little building closed for the night. My way was the same as Miss Linda's, and I trotted along beside her, holding tightly to her simple muslin dress, and chatting all the way. We came before long to the pretty cottage where our school mistress boarded. The women of the house - a talkative New Englander - sat with her knitting upon the porch. She greeted Miss Linda with a smile, and began to empty her budget of small talk and news forthwith. <br><br> "Did your ears burn to-day?" she said. "They ought to, for you've been talked about enough. There was a stranger here - a foreign-looking man with a long black beard; and he asked me about the place and the people in it and appeared to be much interested about the school, and asked the name of the teacher and what sort of a person she was. I told him as near as I could; and says I, I shouldn't wonder if she left off being school-mistress and went to live at the parsonage before long, for our minister is paying very particular attention to her, says I, and I shouldn't wonder if she liked him, too. She's good enough for a minister's lady, anyhow, says I." <br><br> "Oh, Mrs. Jones, how could you say such things to a stranger, or to anyone?" exclaimed Miss Linda, looking really distressed. "What must the gentleman have thought?" <br><br> "Oh! You know I must talk when I once get started," said Mrs. Jones, "and I don't suppose he thought anything about it. He started pretty soon after that, and I thought he was going to visit the school, for he went straight towards it." <br><br> The remembrances of the man who had frightened little Lilly rushed across my mind, and I turned my steps homeward, after bidding good-bye to Miss Linda, who kissed me with a very, very grave face. "Who could that man with the black beard be?" I thought as I tripped along. "Why did he frighten Lilly and why did he ask questions about our school and Miss Linda?" The old fairy-tales I had conned upon winter evenings arose before my mind, and I thought of the ogres and giants who all had black beards and a propensity to devour little girls and carry young ladies away by their long tresses. "What hair Miss Linda had for that purpose! How a giant would rejoice in those great golden waves!" I thought, and just then raising my eyes they encountered, to my horror, the very person of whom I had been dreaming - the tall man with the long black beard, himself. I uttered a scream of terror, and the tall man put his hand on my shoulder. <br><br> "Don't be frightened little one," he said. "I'm very fond of little girls." <br><br> "Does he mean he likes to eat them?" I thought; and I looked up into his face, expecting to meet a sardonic ogre grin, but instead I encountered such a sweet smile, that I gained confidence in a moment, and stood quietly beside him. <br><br> "Sit down here," said the stranger, "I want to talk to you. Look, here is something nice," and he drew a handful of confectionery from his pocket. [Unreadable] <br><br> I held out my little pinafore to receive the gift and sat down, and the man with the black beard sat down beside me. <br><br> "How old are you?" he said. <br><br> "Just six years," I answered. <br><br> "And where do you go to school?" he asked. <br><br> "On the hill, at Miss Linda's," I answered. "Have you a nice teacher? Do you love her?" inquired the stranger. <br><br> "Very much," I answered; "very much, indeed." <br><br> And, to my great amazement the gentleman with the dark beard covered his face with his hands, and ejaculated <br><br> "God bless her! Who could help it. Do you think she is happy?" he went on. Does she smile and laugh, or does she ever feel sad? -- tell me, little one?" <br><br> "I think Miss Linda is very happy," I answered. "I never saw her cry." <br><br> The tall gentleman arose and paced to and fro, and I heard him mutter: <br><br> "Happy! Is she happy? My selfishness shall never break in upon her quiet; I will never arouse the sleeping past to grieve the happy present." <br><br> The heart under my little pinafore beat wildly with alarm, and my confectionery was forgotten. In a few moments he turned towards me. <br><br> "Good-bye little one!" he said. "Run home, now, and never tell your teacher that I have been talking about her; and you would never do that, I know." <br><br> I gave a ready promise and ran joyfully away; and as the weeks passed by, and I saw no more of the gentleman with the black beard, I soon almost forgot that such a being existed. And still "our minister' visited the school, and looked at the teacher, and still the gossiping tongues of the village foretold that Miss Linda would be the minister's lady yet. <br><br> One day - a bright, cool, autumn afternoon, it was - Miss Linda and I were alone in the school-house. I was practicing the scales on the piano in the inner room - for it was the day on which I always took my music lesson - and Miss Linda was writing at her desk in the outer room. There was no sound save the monotonous "One, two, three," which I uttered, until a quick step fell upon the grass without, and raising my eyes, I saw the minister pass the window and enter the school-room. He had scarcely done so, when another shadow fell upon my music book, and I saw the tall gentleman with a black beard glide after him and stand motionless in the shadow of the school-house porch. I played on still, but very softly, and my eyes were turned toward the other room. The young minister and Miss Linda stood in the center of the apartment, and he was speaking passionately, but softly. The he strove to clasp her hand in his, but she drew it away and stood further from him, nearer to the door-way. Then I heard his voice - husky, it was, and tremulous. <br><br> "Linda, dear Linda!" he said, ‘you can never tall how much I love you. You do wrong to doubt me. My existence is worthless without your affection. Do not deny me all hope; let me think, at least, that in time my deep love may win your own; that, when you see how constant and devoted my heart is to you, you will think well of me for that constancy at least. Many a better and greater may woo you, Linda, but none can love more truly." <br><br> I could see great tears in her eyes as she answered him. <br><br> "Do not misunderstand me, Mr. Alwin. I do think well of you. As a sister. I may even say that I love you; but other love than that of a sister Linda Harrington can never give to a living man. I-I loved once, and he to whom I was betrothed sleeps beneath the waves, or is a wanderer upon the face of the earth. Living or dead, he is lost to me forever; but a woman gives her love but once, and mine is his still, Mr. Alwyn. Leave me, I beseech you! Time can never change my feelings, and I am glad it cannot." <br><br> He took her hand and pressed it to his lips, and in another moment he was gone. Miss Linda sunk upon the the seat from which she had risen, the tears were trickling down her cheeks, and her bosom rose and fell convulsively. Over her dress, over the floor, fell a shadow, creeping slowly along up the white-washed walls of the school-house and while I watched it the tall man with black beard stood on the threshold - stood there, with both arms stretched towards he, until she turned, and looking on him, cried, "William! Oh, my William!" and fell upon his bosom. <br><br> At first I had imagined that the black-bearded gentleman was about to devour Miss Lind, or carry her away to his enchanted castle; but when she called him William, the truth dawned upon my mind, and I listened quietly, when, some moments afterwards he knelt beside her and spoke thus: <br><br> "I have been near you many weeks, darling - I have watched you to and from the school; and, though I never dreamed you could still love me, I have loved you every moment since we parted. When I left you I hoped to return to you soon, happy and prosperous, but baffled and disappointed, I could not bear to bring my poverty and grief for you to share, and I battled with the world, weary, and broken-hearted, until I began to doubt all truth and goodness, and believed that no woman could welcome back a toil-worn, beggared man, as she would one who was glad and prosperous. <br><br> I saw her arm steal bout his neck and her lip touch his cheek, and he went on again. "Better days dawned upon me, and I came back again, loving you still, to woo and win you, if you could forgive my long and shameful silence. The first news I heard, darling, was that you were betrothed to another, and though it almost broke my heart, I vowed that if this were true, I would not mar your new-found happiness by bringing back ????? of the past. Had you loved ?????????? never should have known that Will Brace dwelt among living men, although he would have prayed for your happiness while he had a heart to pray with, and blessed you until his lips were dumb forever." <br><br> There was another pause, and I could hear her sob. <br><br> "To-day, Linda, I followed my rival, as I thought him, to this door; I heard the words he spoke, and I also heard your answer. I learned, my angel, that you had forgiven me, that you were true to the wanderer whose only merit was that he loved you fondly, and no words can tell you the ecstasy of that moment, the balm that knowledge poured upon my wounded heart. Will you be my wife still, Linda? Will you share the little that I have of wealth, and let me have a right to the great treasure of your woman's heart?" <br><br> She did not speak, but her head sunk lower still, and her white arms twined themselves tenderly about the bronzed neck of the man with the black beard. <br><br> A week later the village paper reported the marriage of Miss Linda Harrington and Mr. William Brace, and our school was without a mistress. - N.Y. [New York] Sunday Times. |