The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1871-03-23
Selett stor,,.
MY FRIEND THE CAPTAIN.

Kitty, let me look at that ring, and
in the name of all that is nonscnsical
what is it doing on your finger? You
have known Mcdonald just one week
and are wearing his ring already. Ii
does seem to me that you have reached
an age now when little more discretion
might be looked for"
Eighteen last month, Tom" was
my sisters saucy rejoinder; itoo old
to play with dolls, you see, and no,
quite old enough to take to parrots and
heavy teas. SO what can do brt firt!
Indeed, how any one can help flirting in
such an atmosphere at this" continued
Kitty, stepping out upon the fower-deck
ed, balcony sis a marvel aud mystery tc
me. Why, the very flowers are coquet.
ting with the sun, and opening their
bright eyes in answer TO his burning
glance, only to close them again as soon
as his rays are Withdrawn. One ought
to be a biyalye or fossil to suit your
ideas, Tom"
We were waiting for breakfast, my
sister and |, in the saloon of our charm
ing apartment on the Kisselel. .Strasse
Homburg, at the season when that fair
est and wickedest of watering places
puts GU her most becoming attire, and
displays such varying charms, and
throws out such tolls and nets to entrap
unguarded youth, as must inevitably
make one in love with wickedness for
evermore.
We had been wintcring in Rome, and
had journeyed slowly northwards, after
the much oyerrated festivities of Easter
week were fairly at an end, until We
reached Dresden, where | had rather
shabbily turned my back upon the fam.
lily circle, aud started on a pedestian
tour through the so,called Saxon Swift.
zerland and up to Rhineland, with the
understanding that | was to resume my
complicated role Of protector, courier,
and dueuna at Hombarg, when my six
weeks "Ieave" should have expired.
| needed the change aud relaxation
badly; for, truth to say, my family
cares, consisting as they did Of maiden
aunt, q younger brother, and very
troublesome, pretty, and coquettish sis
ter, had weighed heavily upon my nerves
and spirits during the Roman campaign
just ended.
She was the pride Of my life and the
darling of my heart, this little orphan
sister, and had been voted unanimously
the sprightliest, wickedest, most capti-
yating girl who had graced the Papal
Court that winter, and yet never knew
one hours peace Of mind when | had
her under my care,
Bright, witty, thoroughly well bread
and selfpossessed, and with capability
for taking care Of herself, and rigidly
enforcing the law of $50 far shalt thou
go, and no farther" which is the saving
clause of an American girls creed at
the present day, Kitty was yet possessed
with demon Of firtation, which not
all the saints in Christendom could
exercise.
] knew that under all her froth aud
folly she kept hidden away, quite out of
anybody's sight, the warmest, truest
little heart that ever beat; and still she
would outrange decorum and trampIe on
conventionalities 10 way that sent
English spring chickens shuddering to
the maternal wing, and our own poor
Aunt Mary and myself to the verge of
madness.
With a figure so mignonne that it
would have been Insignificant bat for
its perfect symmetry aud grace, a foot
that the "heathen Chinecv would fall
down aud worship, and head SO dain-
tily set upon her shoulders that every
turn Of it was study, Kitty went sing
ing and dancing over thorough places Of
existence, very much after the fashion
of the mountain brook, which makes all
the noise it pleases. and lures every
passcrby to listed to its voice in spite
Of the grim preeipices aud oyerhanging
crags which have been frowning sternly
upon II since the beginning OF the
world.
Her lovers we're as the sand Of the
scashore for multitude, aud it made
little differeuce to Kitty whether they
claimed nationality with England,
France, Spain, or Italy. She would
chatter to each in his own language, and
smile, coquet, and bedevil them until
they were her abject slaves.
just now, she was deep ia au affair"
with an intimate friend Of my own, a
young Scotchman, whom ! had on met my
bachelor excursion, and had presented
to Kitty, with . malicious and, as it
turned out, most mistaken confidence
that he would be proof against all her
arts.
We had met in rickeiy sseinspan-