The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1870-08-11
A FAMOUS FLIRT.
BY ANNIE THOMAS.

But tho first loves impassioned blindness
Has passed away in colder light,
/ still have thought of you with kindness.
] And shall do till our last goodnight.
! THOMAS PEACOCK.
She was so very, very, very, pretty. 1t is
hard, now that the glamour is passed away,
to raphsodize she deserves to be raphso-
! died about. But in those young days when
! 1 knew her first. she was worthy of any
amount of impassioned poetical fervor that
could be brought to bear upon her.
! My sister, a widow, the relict of a respecta-
! bic baronet, was the patroness Of little living
! tt&: was vacant down in certain sterile SPOT
| IN East Angler. And as !, Lady Valiant 5
/ only brother, had recently gone into orders
, | occurred TO her ladyship as fit and proper
! person to nominate to the vacant charge of the
/ p;lish of IIolton
1t was little living, from the remunerative
! point OF view. But it was rather Il large par
! lsh, when the area of its acres was taken into
consideration. Holton proper consisted of a
| struggling street containing many respectable
! houses-in which dwelt respectively the law
! yer, the doctor, the banker and the chief wine
merchant in the place-and Of few scattered
! manor ana farm houses, tenanted, according
to their degree, by small squires and big
| farmers.
My sister, Lady Valiant occupied nice
comfortable, square, white-faced mansion on
the hillside southward from Holton; and her
nearest neighbor was Miss Herriot owner of
aud dwel!cr in terriot Court an orphan. a
| beauty, and a belle esprit SO much | gath
! cred during the two or three days that | spent
| IN learning the capabilities. the advantages
and disadvantages of Holton
Miss HerriOt was. so to say hurled at nv
mead from the moment of my first setting foot
IN the parish. She was specially asked to
dinner by Lady Valiant and | was specially
directed by Lady Valiant to take her in to
that meal. When l, in obedience to my sis
tsr's orders advanced to take the fair and hon
o1ed guest was staggered by seeing young
pretty debonair-looking girl who received nv
low salaam with Il mock obcisance and NV
pretty speech with a solemnity that left me
mentally high and dry, as far "a she was con-
cerncd, for at least half an hour.
While that half hour was passing over our
heads | was occupied III discovering what
manner of woman she was Miss SIerriot, of
ilerriot Court, had good points about her-so
much was ascertainable at glance. But the
rare beauty of the girl didn't dawn upon a
man at once-it stole upon and bedeviled him
gradually.
cant say with precision what her height
was. Miss Herriot was of a charming stat
ur"-tall enough TO avoid hni"c o"uoh eto,..
short enough to avoid being called tall. The
the color of these things were it is hard to say
They were the color of roses and heaven to me
thcn-ot the brightest, reidest roses and the
brightest, buest heaven.
And what wistful. tremu.ous, ductile
mouth she had! 1t trembled with such prct-
ty Quiver when she mentioned her Christian
name to me casually, ''Melanie Herriot''
| think it quaint?-her mother had been a
French woman, born and bred and nurtured.
All! that she had been the same. instead of
having had to breast all these insuar preju-
udicesl
"All what insular prejudices?" l didn't
in the least know who she charged with
what
"These!" she replied, sketchily; ''these
people about here who dislike me, you know =
"Dislike you-is it possible?" | looked
all my unbeief of such hideous possibility
into the azure eyes that were beaming upon
same said, with laugh
Yes very possible; quite an established
fact you will find when you know of Holton
and the neighborhood | wonder, indeed that
Lady Valiant Suffered You to run the gauntlet
of my influence; for, do you know, Mr. Armit-
age. that | am considered very dangerous and
detrimental, and-and--all sorts of things?n
She was so lovely as she spoke--so lovely.
with her great, beseeching azure eyes, and
. HtT lUHbttni Sullu ; mouth anu neF f1Cn rose
ate complexion. That dinner was a phase Of
fairy land to me. Even now, looking back
! upon it, see the table cleaning with glitter
of silver and glass upon it that is supernatural,
since no other dinner table ever CLEANED SO
before, since. my eyes.
! Ii was phase of fairy-land. And yet all
the pleasures of elfClom must be small COM
pared with the magnitude of my bliss when she
turned to me just befoIe my sister sgnaled to
hon +.,,, oh Nd Il.
AS am one of your parishioners. may l
ask you to come and see me? l can't call on
/ you, you know, because my doing so would
scandalze Holton too terribly; but i may ask
you to my house You know where it is don t
youP
My sister pointed out Herriot Court to me
to-day from the heights above Baltringham--''
And didn't you think it queer o.d place J
! You can't tell me now, because Lady Valiant
| is in hurry to be off; but you shall tell me by
and by With that she went of, leaving me
in a hopeless state of incipient love and we'll
developed stupefaction.
Ry-and-by | sought her side again as she
bl' / me do half an hour before; but her mood
waa; changed.
".Couutry dinner, parties are the best Sc
dative,s in the world she said TO me as
seated myself near her. Il am going TO ask
your sist er to be good enough TO let me order
my carrla re.
,"AlreadyP'
! She laugh ed. "What despairing tone!
/ Are you AFRAID my departure will break uE
Z the party? 1t won't, assure you'
/ Il want TO te Il you what thought of Her
! riot Court, as YOU desired me to d. Just nos =
! "Ah, so | did, Come tomorrow and tell
me; come in the niorning, will you, Mr. Arm
ita-e?" Then, as | bowed assent. she held
out her hand suddenly, and said good night
with ill-concealed We ariness.
.'Melanie Herriot lives herself very great
airs, don't you think!'' one lady said &c my
sister. directly after the fair young guest haJ
passed out of the roorn.
No / don think she does. considering all
things" Lady Valiant said -ood-naturedly
why don't you, As a friend, tell her that
raallr nnrht r,a+ SAM, ,-aS he