The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1856-01-23

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asked, assumed an expression utterly con-
i demnatory Of dancing, indicating that if they
i had thousand offers Of partners. that they
would not SO eondescend, in short when al
I quiet non-daneing people were ruthlessly rout-
ed out oftheira corners in order to make room
for the performers, and the German cotilon
! reigned triumphant, then it was that Croton
/ Poole awoke from his lethargy, and became
the life and soul Of the reyel
/ He instantly enlhroned himself upon a die
tatorial eminenee and ruled everything. He
made people sit closer, whether they would OF
no, in order to form the circle. He ordered
tie musicians what TO play, and even bearded
4 the immortal kammerer himself. Then seiz-
i ing the fairy-lik Constance he whirled her
i for a,feWiturns around.the room, and proceed
ed to lead the first figure Of sithe. German
! What mazes he threaded, what ntrcacies
! he invented that evening! People, without
knowing how, or why, OF wherefore, found
i themselves suddenly forming wreaths of flow
] ers and arebesque patterns upon the floor from
/ which some simple evolution was to evolve
them. Then there were figures III which pret7
1 ty, bright colored flags floated about tie room,
4 in the course of being distributed tothe various
dancers. Thelady held one set, the gentle-
man the other, and each set corresponded in
patterns and numbers to the other. The lady
gave her flags to the gentlemen, and the gen
tleman gave bis flags to the ladies. and then
each gentleman rushed about eagerly to find
/ the lady who held the flag corresponding to
| his, and having found her, they both whirled
of in a wild waltz, or determined polka
| Throughout this wonderful performance, of
which he was the director-in chief, Croton
Poole maintained splendid self-possession.
Nothing seemed to disturb the equanimity of
his temper. There was dogged Englishman
who did not understand the dance, and who,
true to his national prejudces, would hold on
when he was told to let go, and let go when he
was told to hold on, and eventually involved
himself in such maze Of difficulties, that the
only way he had left to get out Of them was to
stand perfectly still, in the centre Of the room,
and collect his scattered senses: even over
him Croton Poole seemed to possess some
magical influence, for Isaw him absolutely as
sist in the 'basket figure without blunder
before | went away .ss@slzt ssszzsrs szs ID
Of course twas easy for any one to see that
Croton Poole and Constance Brewer would
precipitate themselves into what the world calls
an engagement" Croton was rich, dashing
and good looking; Constance would in all pro-
bability get a large fortune from her father,
and all the world knows these are all the items
which modern society deems necessary to the
constitution of a happy marriage. Constance,
however, loved master aCroton.A He had a
certain sort of affectionfor her, / thought, but
his calmness was SO sublime, his self-possesson
| n, l. fo
anything even approaching to passion.
1t is not, however, with Constance Brewers
golden moments that have to deal. The ter
rible lesson that read in her life is only to be
found in those darksome days that followed SO
quickly upon the sunshine Of her youth
Mr.. Brewer failed, and compromised with
his creditors, and for a brief time seemed to
| rise beyond his difficulties. 1t was deceit
ful calm. New York was paralysed one morn
| ing wien it learned that Brewer had issued
/ a million Of false stock in the Crambambula
| railroad of which he was the director, and had
fled the country. Hcartless to the last, he
left his daughter tpennylcss and alone. The
splendid palace and its gorgeous furniture were
sold, and Constance had to descend from
life of eastern luxury to the equiyocal comforts
of second class boarding house. 4 +~ .
Though public execration fairly engulfed
the name of Brewer and hundred thousand
tongues consigned it each day to perdition,
the world seemed to have discrimination enough
not to visit the sins of the father upon The
child Constance was still asked out, and
taken on summertlips by her old Acquaintance
ces,; and Was still the belle of the ballroom.
AS to Croton Poole that acute young gentle
man and excellent dancer shcered off the instant
Brewers first failure was made public. A
pretty little. quarrel between him and Con-
stance one evening at theopera, was easily
managed and proved an excellent excuse and
the pair parted forever. ......- .....-..:..:. .r
There wasg.a great change, however, in
Miss Brewers position, even though she still
reigned supreme as sos.the beauty" She went
everywhere, and everywhere host of young
men dangled in her train, But their .devoirs
and her dresses had undergone the same
transition. They danced with her and flirted
with her, and drove her out sleghing, and
took her TO the theatres; but then, when they
had sufficiently amused themselves, they went
off and married some one else Her toilet was
changed also. Tie rich dresses of Honiton
lace had quietly glided into simple tarletane;
you saw that the white gloves, whoever t'well
Dreaded were not fresh, and you recognized
the old blue Grape skirt under its various dis
guises of different trimmings. Still, Constance
seemed merry enough, for she was yet young,
and doubtless had wild, vague hopes of con
querng some millionaire by the mere force Of
her charms. /, however, watched her sadly, \
with sad presentment of her melancholy i
fate, She had very little to live on; a mere /
pittance which she inherited from her mother; /
and but for the presents kind people made her,
and the many visits she made in the summer
and sometimes in the winter, she would not j
have been able to- sustain herself decently
Her father she neyer heard Of He was either
lead, or was leading life of selfish enjoy
nent on his i'll gotten gains in some obscure
corner of the world. I'll lz=-- 1zE 3Es!f /.
Years rolled on, and bore with them the f
lower Of .the sbeauty's" checks. She was
till elegant looking, but the lips began to be
and rarely opened but to emit
ome bitter sneer. Constance saw with terror
hat her life was about to be a failure; that
When her appearance had vanished, her friends
would fly too and leave before her that long,