Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-01-21
A DOUBLE LIFE.

4 human creature who mistrusted ml
/ Lady Annie2
/ The reply is very simple. WheI
/ PousOnby was dressing her lady's hair
when she was diligently employed
upon that haIf-hour's soft, silky brush
| ing to which ladies who can afford t
keep maids are so partial upon these
occasions, the maid saw my lady took
illy at herself, and she mistrusted her.
The Lady Annie was one of the mOsi
charming young ladies of what was
emphaticaIly called her season. The
peculiarity about the first London sea
son of Lady Anniess was this, that ii
occurred at an age more advanced than
that at which young ladies in society
usually appear for the first time in the
world of fashion.
y. Lady Annie Beaeham was twenty
I'VE when she made her first appear
anee In a London drawing room. In
society they talk of her year much as
in other places they talk of so-and- so IS
year IN relation to the Derby.
- She did not appear until May, when
the London season is more than hall
finished, and at once she took her po-
sitIon as the de6utdlste of the year
Authorities had to give the preferences
TO Mss Smvtba. who came from the
fortune-she being charming blonde
possessed of soft, peachy skin, and that
peculiar silky, straight hair which
grows low and fine upon the temples
and forehead, and gives such soft,
exquisite look to the face-Or to the
Honorable Miss d'Acier, who knew
that rich dark blue, especially satin, if
only they would but bring in satin
again, suited her purple black hair to
a nicely.
AS the young honorable and Miss
SmYthe were equally rich, and helped
to show one another of by the utterly
varying style of their beauty, they
were great friends, were necessarily
seen together, and always were next
stalls to each other at a fancy fair; not
far away from each other at a fete,
while, with reference to balls, they al
ways had consultations, so that they
should dress in such style as not to
'sk1I, - according to fashionable par
lance, one another, but to enhance the
effect of both toilets.
They were often seen together in the
same carriage in the park, quite as of
ten riding side by side in the saddle,
their horses being chosen for mutual
effect quite as carefully as their dress
es, while they both nodded to the same
people, talked the same scandal, and
canVassed the merits of the same men
in the matrimonial market.
For, of course, the season is really
the wedding market overt of the up
per classes. Puritanical people may
be shocked at the idea of mothers and
fathers doing their best for their
daughters but, after all is said and
done, they would not be doing their
duty if they avoided achieving the best
for the daughters they possess and who
depend wholly upon marriage for the
happiness, or absence of happiness of
their lives.
But when the Lady Annie Beacham
the poor Hon. Miss d'Acier
and Miss Smythe had again to agree
upon new points. These were, that
Lady Annie was an odiOus person, and
that she was not beautiful. These
points being quite settled, and the con-
VictiOn arrived at, that the Lady Annie
had "taken," it was at once agreed that
Lady Annie must be courted and made
a third in the successes of the season.
So the blonde and the brunette, who
had so far carried the season before
them, went with offers of combination
and conciliation over to the excessive
ly triumphant enemy, for a ball room is
very much like diplomacy, and some
times it is far more brilliantly logical.
This triumph on Lady Annie's part,
this defeat on the side of the two sue
cesses of the season, and the determin-
alton of the latter to strike their co1ors
and to retain position by cOalescing
with the successful enemy, was the
work of about three hours on the first
in May, generally the Tuesday.
of a London season, and which is re-
served as rule by the very highest
leaders of society. People who can get
invitations for the first Tuesday in
May to the balls given in fashionable
London may consider themselves safe
to be received anywhere at any Court
in Europe.
To return. Miss d'Acier and Miss
Smythe made Overtures to the Lady
Annie.
She routed them in a moment.
my dear children" she said, she
being six years their elder, "what nom
sense you talk Lam no more in the
fashion here in London than / am a
Mandarin. I am tWenty-four years
old; / refused to come out when I was
and believe this is my.
first ball since have been a woman
40, Lady Annie, . cried Miss d'Acier,
''you are surely permitting yourself to
satirize US. All the people here were
quite admiring your last delc temps
with Lord Splaighton.''
mo doubt for we always dance we'll
with our dancing masters. Lord
Splaighton was good enough to teach
me the two-four valse." +"
Indeed! When ?'' asked Mrs.
Smythe.
tell why learnt, for 1 had
never cared about dancing. But it so
happened. Is it not warm ?''
''Yes, Lady Annie," replied Miss
d'Acier. ''See, here is man passing
with ice. Will you take some 2"
''No, thank you. very rarely take
ice. It is so stupidity dangerous.
Indeed What do you prefer when
dancing p
'tNothing. I never require anything
when by chance I leave home"
How strange!" replied Miss Smythe.
''But you will never be able to get
the remainder of the season
and not take refreshments at any of
the houses. You would quite offend
the various people"
81 am so sorry for the various peo-
pie, /" replied Lady Annie, in perfect
ly clear voice.
s'I hope, Lady Annie, that we shah
see quite great deal of you during the
remainder of the season. VIII you be
so very good as to take stall with US
at the Holland House Fancy Fair? If
you do, it will be so very capital, and
think we shall cut everybody COM
pletely out ~
ME. 81 will not at all interfere with
your arrangements. / dislike fancy
fairs, I dislike balls, even dislike the
opera. Then I go; but cannot endure
the company or the houses. I am not
at all a woman of fashion,"
''But, Lady Annie, you have taken
your position at once as leader of the
season." i.i.H-
Have /? Well, you know my peo-
pie for long, long time have been
born to that kind of thing, and we can
bear it admirably. Iassure you have
not the least liking for fashionable life,
Here comes Captain Tudors. have to
dance with him. If there is one thing
more stupid than another thing in ali
Mayfair, I think it is a Captain in the
Guards. The only true polish about
him is that Of his boots I"
The arrival of Captain Tudors, who
certainly was not unconscious of a con-
viction that he was shining light in
the world, put an end to the CONVERSE
tiOn, as far as Lady Annie was con-
cerned.
''She is perfectly uncomfortable, said
Miss d'Aeier to Miss Smythe.
f.Into3erable, . was the reply. Shut
what does it all mean? Why does she
come into soclety2 However, she must
be borne with, / suppose 2"
Unquestionably, replied Miss
d'Acier. ''She belongs to one of the
- a