The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-06-26


% night must be going.'
This as poor Dickens says SOM
where was 'pilin' it up rayther tC
mOuntayniOus.' The idea Of Mon
fort, of all men on earth, doing
thing because other people did it wa
little tDD good; I'd as soon have b:
= lieyed in Tom Sayers joining th
: Peace Society. And my doubts wei
: not dispelled by a fragment of cor
: versatiOn which / overheard jus
3 then from two men who were stand
; ing on the veranda, little way of.
t "'Who was that fellow who wa
out here just now with Miss De COuI
| cy"
2 Don't know; but l fancy it's tn
? same man who takes those wonder
, ful walks-MOffat, or MOntfOrt, 0
: some such name
; "'Well, he seemed to be maxim,
the most of his time, anyhow AM
the two passed on.
! CAS- for me, l went home vsrl
much out of temper with myself.
had been wont to bTag that nobody
could throw dust in my eyes; and ye
this fellow MOntfOrt had done it a
, thoroughly as one man ever did K
another. TO judge by present ap
} pearances, his former show of asceti
cism must have been all humbug; an(
upon my word, | was rather sorry fol
} it. To me this man was a kind o
rare specimen-a COdeX Sinaiticus, s
new hieroglyphic; and I valued hin
as Professor rischendorf might value
the one, or Sir Henry RawlinsOn the
nf In iEt
ling with every conceivable invention
for making men indolent and luxu.
rious, it was something to find even
ono living creature who seemed to de-
fy without an effort every temptation
that can assail humanity; and now il
appeared all at once that he wasn't
the man / took him for. The only
thing to done was to find out at once
how the case really stood; so directly
after breakfast posted off to Mout
forts quarters, and found him sitting
near the window as fresh Us if ht
had been in bed all night writing 8
letter with his left hand.
"'Hallo said I, 'is your right arm
paralyzed with handing lemonade {:
"'NO; but it's as well to keep il
practice, in case | should hurt the 9TH
er hand. That's one thing my trav.
els have taught me-tO be as handy
with my left Is with my right
"'Why, do you mean to say that
you can throw, and carve, and write
and handle cue or a Simgle-stick as
well well with one hand as with the
other p
"'Pretty nearly, so far a. pve tried
! e a
| specimen
$50 he did-in a way 1 little
dreamed Of
"'Well, look here said l, coming
TO the point, aren't you pretty fell
| low to pretend never to love, and all
that sort of thing-and then to go
walking on 4 veranda at two in the
morning with the prettiest girl in
| town "
Gas | spoke, looked keenly in his
face for some sign of confusion. l
might as well haYe looked at the great
Sphinx.
"sAh, you think Pm i'll love with
Miss De COurcy,' said he, with quiet
laugh. We'll, you're not the only
one who does me the honor to hold
that opinion, but you rate my good
taste too high. The young lady is an
extremely interesting stuoly but as
for my admiring her, happily even
public opinion cannot turn that fiction
into u fact y
"'Do you mean to tell me, then,
cried !, that you cua't fall i'll love,
even if you tried -
"'I mean to tell you,' he answered,
drawing himself up, and looking real
ly grand for the moment, that L
should not count life worth having, if
| were overcome, even for one mo-
ment, by any influence that | could
not shake oil, which is what under
stand by love. The greatest pleasure
of life, take my word for it, is the free
use Of ones own WILL
az suppose, then, said /, half jOk-
ing, that if you did fail i'll love, and
she played fast and loose with you,
you'd Kill YOURSELF
"'Not myself, he answered, very
quietly and then he put away his
writing, and asked me To come out for
a stroll. And so the subject dropped.
But | now began to suspect mot for
the first time) that my friend Mont
sort wasn't quite right in the head ;
and when you hear the rest of the
story, think you'll agree with me.
"Well, for about a month after that
everything went on rs usual. The sea-
son was well in by this time, and /
had my hands full-balls, masquer-
AIDES, musical sOirees, private theatre
Gals, and what not. Once or twice l
! lighted upon MOntfOrt in the very
! thick of it but for the most part he
seemed rather TO fight shy OF going
about, in spite of his theory about do
| iny as the Romans did. However, he
occupied a good deal of Hly attention
| lust then for, to tell the truth, l was
rather riled at the way he had thrown
dust in my eyes and determined to
| find out, by hook or by crook, wheth-
er he were really spOOney Oh the De
! Courcy or not. But 1 might as well
have saved myself the trouble, for,
look as sharp as might, L was just As
wise at the end Of the month as at the
| beginning. One thing | found out,
! thOugh-that MontfOrt and LIE Vail
ant liked each other about rs well as a
badger and a terrier, and that the
least thing would kindle a row be-
tween them. LIE Valiant had man.
aged, by dint of his dueling renOwn,
to exact q kind of Difference from
every body he knew whereas Mont
! fort made no more of him than if he
| had been q crossing-sweeper, and, in
| deed, had rather shut him up once OIL
twice, when he began to brag little
too extensively. Now l needn't tell
you that you may do anything to g
Frenchman rather than make him
! look small before whole rOOmful Ol
people, especially when half of them
are ladies. Then, lie Naillant'S blus.
tering ways riled MontfOrt and So
bit by bit, they came to nate each
other like poison.
"Now L should tell you that while
all this was going on l had become
rather thick with Colonel De COurcy
Georgiana's father not that / haC
any idea of her, but at that time
was rather mad on sporting and the
old Colonel seemed to have hunted
and shot every beast that came out o.
the ark. So pretty nearly every othel
day used to stroll up there, and find
the old boy sitting in his garden ovel
a weed and mint julep, and would
have 4 long palaver about the bis
game, ana the best spots for finding
them. Well, one afternoon, about
five weeks after that ball / was speak.
ing of, turned up up in the Colonel:
garden, but didn't find him in hi:
usual place; and l was just thinking
of going up to the house to look fol
him when, all at once, Just on the
other side of the high shrubbery be.
hind which was standing, | hearC
voices and they were the voices o
Miss De COurcy and-Montfort
"Of course you'll say l was con.
founded suOb for listening and
don't deny it; but, at the same time
/ could no more help it than l coulC
help breathing. Through the leave.
I could see them standing on the side
walk and though they spoke low,
heard every word.
"'Mr. MOntfOrt,' says she, 4 hav,
3 great favor to ask OF you and al
though people call you ungallant,
can not believe that you will be so un
kind as to refuse me. Will YOU d,
what | ask ~
Talk of witchcraft, you shoul,
L