Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1867-10-10
JUST a FLLRTATIoN.
BY s. ANNIE FROST.

"JUsT q Irritation; nothing more SO
rious, 1 assure you. He amuses me
l seem to amuse him-there lies ths
whole affair in a nutshell"
"Just a Irritation"
The first speaker had uttered thass
words in a gay, careless tone, with 6
laugh that displayed the curves Of
pretty mouth, two rows Of pearly
teeth, and the daintiest of dimples on
a round chin and in rosy cheeks. She
was standing before a mirror twisting
flowers into her hair. Very win
some, graceful and beautiful she look
ed in her airy evening dress, with the
myrtle twisted in her glossy curls.
But as the echo Of her words fell
upon her ear, the smile faded from
her face, and she turned to her com
panion with a look of surprise that
was almost terror. The measured,
stern tone suited we'll the grave, sad
face of the elderly lady who had spo-
ken to them.
"Just firtation," she echoed, ris-
ing as she spoke. "rake heed, Flea
nor Browning; firts have been mur-
dered before now. James Hill is not
man to flirt with. He is too noble,
too good and true to be tie plaything
of coquette. l shall tell him how
you regard his attentions" And be-
fore Elanor could reply, Mrs. Wilk-
ins had left the room.
II wonder who made her my Judge
and adviser2" said the young girl, pet
ishly. "She takes strange liberties
for an acquaintance. Being James
Hills Aunt does not make her my
dictatress. | wonder if she will tell
him what I said? l don't care;" and
she tossed her head defantly. "Only
eight o'clockl 1 won't 60 in to hop
yet. wonder if she will tell him
she thought again. "Pshaw, why
should | carer"
And yet she did care. She sat
down by the window and looked out
upon wide stretch of beach, and be-
yond that the tossing, cleaning
waves of the broad Atlantic glittered
in the soft moonlight. Here and
there were groups Of strollers, who
had come out from the heated ball
room into the cool sea air. Gay
laughter foated up to the window, low
murmurs Of distant voices crept there
too, and Eleanor wondered if some of
them bore the burden of the same
dream she had led James Hill into!
Sitting there, half amusing, half
mocking her own thoughts, she though
the summer over. She had come from
her New York home tired of gaiety,
and thinking she was weary of being
belle. Yet she had entered into all
the pleasures of the fashionable wa
tering place with the keenest zest.--
Feted and courted as the only child
and heiress of wealthy father; ad-
mired for her beauty and the spark
ling talents she evinced in music and
conversation, few had deemed it worth
while to seek for any inner treasursrs
of heart and soul. She had been the
spoiled child of fortune from her in
fancy, and perhaps the keen blade of
criticism had never cut one of her re-
marks till now.
"Flirts have been murderers before
now" she said in her heart, and forth
with rose the memory Of the list OF
cavaliers that had danced attendance
upon her for the last two years. There
was not one where her vanity could
fatter herself with execution to death.
They could all dirt, Aatter, pine, SEN
and recover; but--but-t
James Hill was of different metal
He was in earnest. A self-made man,
who had struggled up from ignorance
to eminence in his professionalism.
A man who had never been in the
round of society, who had nothing of
glitter and empty forms. A
man who had lived a deep, true life,
and who had come now for rest from
mental labors, and to attend the wish
es of his aunt, who was fast sinking
under a fatal disease.
1t was hard to say how such a man
had come into the train of Eleanor's
lovers, but there he was, and she sim
gled him out for special favor. Her
conscience was not easy as she sat in
5he moonlight recalling the Irritation.
She had let him see far into the recess
ses of her heart, half unconsciously
opening to his earnest sincere nature
Ill that was real and true in her own.
Long walks and long talks came tol
her memory, and she became restless
as she thought Of how she had opened
her souls chambers to the eye Of the
man who she felt in her inmost heart
loved her.
"Dreaming in the moonlight"
The voice reused her. "Aunt Ed
ith," she said, looking up, "did you
not tell me Mrs, Wilkins was an old