The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1865-05-25
As it was T felt nc


warrant for my arrest on that ground a
any moment
: A whole knot of crinoline then sur.
: rounded me, on the upper deck of the
boat, to the utter exclusion and conse
quent disgust of Mr.. Bimby and all the
other gentlemen. kept very quiet, on.
ly speaking in monosyllables, in falset.
, to voice but the others-la! bless you
how they gabbled Under strict prom
ise of secresy, the little boarding school
maiden who had kissed me so affection
ately, revealed all her love affairs, and al
so became very unpleasantly confidential
about other matters-innocent enough in
themselves; but not customarily talked
of between ladies and gentlemen.
Twas terribly embarrassed, but it would
not do to give up then. As soon as my
my trick should become known Bob Styles
would come out, and news of that kind
travels fast in the country, he and his Ia
dy-love would be telegraphed and follow
ed before they could reach Philadelphia,
where Styles lived and where the knot
was to be tied.
The river breeze was very fresh where
we sat and noticed that several of the
ladies were glancing uneasily at me. I
couldn't divine the reason, until, Jennie,
my little friend from boarding school, laid
her face dangerously close to mine, and
whispered
"My dear Maggie, your dress is blow
ing up terribly high--your ankles will be
town talk with the gentlemen p
Now | was conscious of having very
small foot for man, and had donned
pair of open worked stockings which came
up nearly to my waist, with pair of gai-
ters borrowed from servant girl, in all
OF which toggery my running gear"
looked quite feminine and respectable !;
but the idea of the gentlemen talking "a
bout my ankles, and OF being addressed
thus by young lady, who would have
been frightened to death if l had told
her the same thing yesterday, was too
much for me. | burst into sort of
strangulated laugh, which l could only
check by swallowing half of my filagree
lace edged handkerchief The young Ia
dies all looked at me in apparent astonish-
ment at such voice and / wanted to
laugh all the more. Fortunately Mr..
Bimby came to my rescue at the moment
and edged himself in among the crinoline.
"May I sit here ?" he asked, pointing
to low stool near me.
"Certainly," l simpered in my high
falsetto.
All, thank you," said Bimby-with a
lackadasical air which nauseated me, as
coming from one man to another-"you
are as kind as you are fascinating p
"Y ou fatter me p
"I? No, indeed, praise of you cannot
be Aattery, Miss Lee"
"Oh, sir, really you are very naugh-
ty man." said in the most feminine tone
| could command.
He cast languishing glance at me
through the black lace veil, and l fairly
began to fear for his feelings
We soon arrived at the grove, and
found our band-engaged beforehand
awaiting US. Of course dancing was the
first amusement, and lawyer Bimby led
me out for a schottische. 1t was hard at
first for me to take lady's part in the
dance, but | soon got accustomed to it.
A waltz was proposed and I resolved to
have little amusement at the expense of
the unfortunate Mr.. Bimby.
I had first made him purposely jealous
by dancing with two other young fellows,
one of whom / knew in my own charac-
ter, but who never suspected me as Mag
gic Lee. The young man was great
woman killer-a sort of easy devil-may-
care rascal, who made the ladie es run af-
ter him, by his alternate warmth Of ac-
tion aud GOODNESS of protestation. se-
lected him to "play off, against my legal
admirer. / allowed him to hold on to
me very closely, and occasionally looked
at him with a halffascinating expression.
When we stopped he led me to my seat,
keeping his arm about my waist, and 1
permitted it.
Having thus stirred BImby up to wrath
ful feats of valor, asked one of the gen.
tlemen to direct the musicians to play a
waltz. Bimby came Immediately.
"Ahem! Miss Lee, shall have the
honor of-of-trying waltz with you 2"
l smiled gracious acquaintance and
we commenced.
Now [ am an old stager at waltzing. /
can keep up longer than any non-profes-
sional dancer, male or female, whom ev-
er met. AS long as the Cachuca or
Schounebrunnen rings in my ears, | can
90 on. if it ia year.
Not so with Bimby. He plead want
of practice and said that he soon got
dizzy.
"Ah-a, old boy" thought I, "I'll give
you turn then p
But l only smiled, and said that [
should probably get tired first.
"Oh, yes p' he exclaimed. "Of course
can waltz as long as any one lady, but
not much more"
For the first three minutes my cavalier
did we'll He went smoothly and evenly,
but at the expiration of that time began
to grow warm. Five minutes elapsed,
and Bimby's breath came harder and har-