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Article ELIBANK; OR, THE NOBLE BASKET-MAKER. ← Page 5 of 8 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Elibank; Or, The Noble Basket-Maker.
" I am unable , from indisposition , to do myself the honour of receiving your lordship ' s visit , as I had wished and intended , this evening ; but to-morrow I may be more composed—do not fail to ccme . 1 have that to communicate which deeply concerns my own happiness , at least . — " M ARY . "
This billet was as much unexpected and unlocked for as its contents were unintelligible ; the true purport of which the whole night , and part of tbe following day , he racked his brain to discover , but to no purpose . Time , however , developed what he was unable to conjecture with any degree of certainty for himself . For , on his next interview with the object of his affections , he was atonished ami pleased to find that she was not only in excellent health and spirits , but to his eye apher
peared more interesting and beautiful than lie had ever before seen . " Tell me , my lovely Mary , " said he , taking her gently hy the hand , " tell me what or who has conspired to disturb or to distress you ? " " My father , " was her firm and prompt reply . " My father disapproves our union , and be will not be gainsaid . " " What ! " exclaimed Elibank , in astonishment , " what have I done to render me unworthy in the eyes of your father , to receive the hand
and be the lover and protector of his daughter ?" " Alas ! my lord , you have indeed done nothing to render you obnoxious in his eyes ; but there is something which you have not done , and which , I am afraid , you cannot now do , to remove the obstacle which lies between us . " " Name it , my dearest Mary ; only name it , and if in the power of man to accomplish , I will not—I cannot fail . " " It is , my lord , no less a degradation than a humiliating sacrifice to which , even for my sake , you never can nor will submit . " " Name it , and leave the result to me , " ivas the only but emphatic
answer to her mysterious allusions . - " You must , my lord , become a mechanic . " "A mechanic ! what means my Mary ? " and a cold shudder ran through his frame , as he wistfully gazed upon her , doubting in his own mind tbe solidity and stability of her reason . " Nay , my lord , these are the only terms on which , for the future , we can hold converse one with another . " And after recapitulating all that had passed between her father and herself on the subjectthey
rea-, soned together for awhile on the practicability of being able to satisfy the old man ' s scruples , and thereby come to the immediate consummation of their own wishes . Scheme after scheme , and plan after plan , was alternately suggested and speedily abandoned , when all of a sudden Elibank starting to his feet exclaimed , " 1 have hit it ! " and promising to communicate the earliest information , without further ceremony instantly took his departure . The thought struck him that , in the days
of his boyhood , he was extremely fond of basket-making , and having then practised the art to a considerable extent for his own amusement , he might now turn it to account as the only p rice at which he could obtain the hand of his betrothed . His first effort , therefore ( in which he soon succcedctl ) , was to find out the residence of a basket-maker , to whom he made proposals of such an advantageous kind , that obi Willowand was rig ht fain to learn him all the secrets of his art and calling , in the mysteries of which he , in a time most incredibly short , became so proficient , that even the basket-maker himself was astonished and delighted with the progress made by his noble apprentice : who having
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Elibank; Or, The Noble Basket-Maker.
" I am unable , from indisposition , to do myself the honour of receiving your lordship ' s visit , as I had wished and intended , this evening ; but to-morrow I may be more composed—do not fail to ccme . 1 have that to communicate which deeply concerns my own happiness , at least . — " M ARY . "
This billet was as much unexpected and unlocked for as its contents were unintelligible ; the true purport of which the whole night , and part of tbe following day , he racked his brain to discover , but to no purpose . Time , however , developed what he was unable to conjecture with any degree of certainty for himself . For , on his next interview with the object of his affections , he was atonished ami pleased to find that she was not only in excellent health and spirits , but to his eye apher
peared more interesting and beautiful than lie had ever before seen . " Tell me , my lovely Mary , " said he , taking her gently hy the hand , " tell me what or who has conspired to disturb or to distress you ? " " My father , " was her firm and prompt reply . " My father disapproves our union , and be will not be gainsaid . " " What ! " exclaimed Elibank , in astonishment , " what have I done to render me unworthy in the eyes of your father , to receive the hand
and be the lover and protector of his daughter ?" " Alas ! my lord , you have indeed done nothing to render you obnoxious in his eyes ; but there is something which you have not done , and which , I am afraid , you cannot now do , to remove the obstacle which lies between us . " " Name it , my dearest Mary ; only name it , and if in the power of man to accomplish , I will not—I cannot fail . " " It is , my lord , no less a degradation than a humiliating sacrifice to which , even for my sake , you never can nor will submit . " " Name it , and leave the result to me , " ivas the only but emphatic
answer to her mysterious allusions . - " You must , my lord , become a mechanic . " "A mechanic ! what means my Mary ? " and a cold shudder ran through his frame , as he wistfully gazed upon her , doubting in his own mind tbe solidity and stability of her reason . " Nay , my lord , these are the only terms on which , for the future , we can hold converse one with another . " And after recapitulating all that had passed between her father and herself on the subjectthey
rea-, soned together for awhile on the practicability of being able to satisfy the old man ' s scruples , and thereby come to the immediate consummation of their own wishes . Scheme after scheme , and plan after plan , was alternately suggested and speedily abandoned , when all of a sudden Elibank starting to his feet exclaimed , " 1 have hit it ! " and promising to communicate the earliest information , without further ceremony instantly took his departure . The thought struck him that , in the days
of his boyhood , he was extremely fond of basket-making , and having then practised the art to a considerable extent for his own amusement , he might now turn it to account as the only p rice at which he could obtain the hand of his betrothed . His first effort , therefore ( in which he soon succcedctl ) , was to find out the residence of a basket-maker , to whom he made proposals of such an advantageous kind , that obi Willowand was rig ht fain to learn him all the secrets of his art and calling , in the mysteries of which he , in a time most incredibly short , became so proficient , that even the basket-maker himself was astonished and delighted with the progress made by his noble apprentice : who having