The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1864-1911, 1867-11-06
MY STRATEGIC coURTsHIP.

"A beauty! an heiress! an eccentric guar.
dian, whose invitation includes any friend
you like to take with you for a few days
shooting. Why, my dear Fred, you have
bound me to you forever by the selection
Of myself | feel quite new man already;
for | must confess that when you came il
just now, was suffering from an unusually
desperate fit Of the blues.
Consequent, in remote degree, on last
nights supper" suggested Fred Clayton,
land good deal, also, on the way in which
you keep cooped up in these dismal quar-
ters.
Fred glanced contemptuously round my
dingy Temple chambers as he spoke-a sur
vey scarcely necessary, considering their in
innate resemblance to his own adjoining
rOcms However, | forbore any remark
indeed the delightful prospect just present.
ed to me absorbed all my attention, and
grasped my friends hand in a fever of graf
itude.
"Tell me all about it is said, "and how
you came to think of me. -
There's nothing to tell" replied Fred
srating himself on the corner OF the table
and swinging his legs backwards and for,
wards lazily. This morning | got letter
from an old fellow in the country, remind
ing meas II | could remember it-that he
and my father had been friends thirty years
ago, and asking me down to his place for 6
few days shooting, with permission to bring
a friend if liked.
And his niece that you told me of-the
heiress?' said |.
"Oh, of course he did not mention her, u
said Fred land merely tell YOU because il
you choose to put yourself under my guild
ance, l may be the means of hel ping you tC
a good thing. You know" he added more
deliberately, chow disinterested my assis
tance can be after the little condolences We
exchanged last night.
True" said |, charmed with the recol
lection, your pretty cousin the secret en-
gagement-"
Yes, interrupted Fred; "you know al
about it; and we know more about each
other than most fellows; so it was natural
should think of you as a companion for my
holiday, and IN right glad your re inclined
for the trip
So saying, and slencing my renewed pro
teStators of pleasure, Fred left me, ap.
| pointing rendezvous at the first train
! leaving for our destination, some two Oh
three hours later.
Fred Clayton and I had heed school>fel,
lows in our early days, and many of his va,
cations were spent in my fathers house. -
Oi late years. however, he had lived ex.
clusively in London; like me, a young as
pirant to the uncertain honors of the bar,
but unlike me, possessing large circle OF
friends and acquaintances, and never with
out a superabundance of invitations to
| dinners, balls and concerts, for Fred was
said to be very popular, especially in ladies'
| society.
Except in the mere fact we were both
| younger sons without any expectations,
there was but little resemblance between
Fred Clayton and Jack Harris. My resi-
dence in London only dated back a few
months, and already the great city possess
ed no charm for ne; | pined tor the coun
try, for freedom, and for the active life OF
home. [ might, indeed, with the assistance
Of Clayton, or through letters Of INTRODUCES
ton from members of my own family, have
procured fashionable invitations, and re-
celved partial liberation in society; but the
prospect OF crush, heated rooms and
strange faces. was thought of terror to
my timid nature, especially with the un>
derlylrg chance OF presentation to young
lady, and the unhappy knowledge that my
| deficiencies in the art Of small talk would
make such chance a prospective maj tyr
dom. No; confess in my own heart that
society was not my forte: other talents
certainly had-dteper, more intrinsic merit,
than those that passed for genuine in a bal
room-but they were merits to develop ii
an atmosphere Of peacetulness and repose;
| qualities to pXDand in the uIipt of a domeS.