Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-09-06

terrible, but l haveu,fl" -
IshoOk my headinturn. 40
'sThat is, impossible, Fanny. H6Ne 1
no eyes? l have been at Buluth long
enough to see that Mr.. Tom Middleton
and my favOrite Harry Warren. are crazy
about you."zs - -
At the name of Harry Warren Fanny
blushed little, but Immediately replied
With slaugh, s.
"How absurd for meto think of Har-
ry ,as-in that way! Why, he's my
Heb !, no relation to you.;Or very dis
"welI near or. far, relation Or not,
Harry cares nothing for me, and Iscare
nothing for him. Inever lay eyes on him
he's down at that horrid old sawmill all
day long-and so let us talk about some
thing else, cousin" D -
Willingly but we are not to have
the opportunity. Here comes MIR. Mid
dleton.'
L did not take notice whether Fanny
was pleased or otherwise with the inter-
ruption; was absorbed in contemplation
of the approaching visitor. Mr.. Tom
Middleton was handsome young gentle
man, though. bis face pight have been
considered little .efea1inate. This fact,
however, did not assort i'll with the rest
tof his appearance. He was most. Gle
CANT youth. His handsw white and
soft, his feet were small and cased i'm the
tightest and most delicate French boots !;
he held a kid glove in one hand, and
dangled light whalebone cane in the
other; his necktie was wonder, his hair
was .curled-he was an ,AdOnis; half
natural, half'fashioned by the best city
tailor.
The young gentleman's eOuntenance
was fllumined by gentle smile as he ap-
preached. He fixed his eyes with modest
ardorupon Fanny; and with polite bow,
inquired in reference to my health this
morning.
looked at Fanny. She was blushing a
little, as when uttered the name.of Har-
ry Warren. Which was it?
| II.
| do not know which it is. When / ask
Fanny1he simply responds that am the
most ridiculous and absurd of all the old
cousins that ever existed, and that it is
neither.
This, lam convinced, is fib (; and, with
all her fine and excellent traits, Miss Fanny
is not above this reprehensible and immOr-
al method of defending kerself. Indeed,
| begin to think my little pet is develop
ing an immense genius for flirting. She
has way of looking over her shoulder
while she is singing at the piano, and di-
recting the most languishing glances at
tender portions of the song toward her
admirer, Mr.. Middleton, as ne leans in a
graceful attitude upon the instrument be-
side her and. last night, saw the young
witch standing on the portico in the moon
light, gazing down, pulling rose apart
leaf BY leaf, and listening with an air OF
modest confusion to Mr.. Tom Middleton.
When the maiden was about to dart of
to bed, L stopped her for moment in the
passage, and drew her aside.
"Did he-prOpOse?" l whispered.
Fanny placed her lips closet to my ear
pursed up her mouth-whispered, NO
o-o!' and bursting into ringing laugh,
ran off to bed. | initiated her, except
that did not run, and shaking my head,
found myself muttering,
"Woman. woman !-and girls especial
ly-who can understand you? Not J"
Ibegin to fancy that have the clue tc
Fanny's views and intentions" think
she has made up her mind to become
Mrs.-Tom Middleton.
Before narrating the events of this even
ing, however-which events have brought
me to the conclusion in question: viii
first say that Fanny has, in the mos
shameless manner, acknowledged that sht
told me fib in reference to the scene up
on the meonlit portico. She made
her confession in the most penitent way,
declared that she was ashamed of herself
but she had forgotten, she said, that
was her dear, ridiculous old cousin wht
asked the question she never had con
cealed anything from me-and-yes-Mr
Middleton had been good enough to ex
press his sentiments-and-sheb believes
he had asked her-if she would not
There, the young lady began to blush
then she burst out laughing, and Leaning
her head upon my shoulder, looked'up a
/, me with her roguish, wicked eyes, AM
said in whisper,
81 said-'Non"
,, "It was not mo- that you said," l re
q piled. 81 observed the young gentlema
: when he came in he was sad, but no
hopeless; and this morning at breakfas
: he ate, as usual, the whole wing Of
bird!"
!, "I do declare you are too bad /" " wa
Miss Fanny's vivacious rejoinder yo
are always laughing at Mr.. Middleton
and making fun of him--and do beliey
4 yes 1 do-that you are trying to max
= me prefer-somebody else!"
"Harry? Well, sheuld."
"And do not"
"You do not like his big hands, pc
haps: and he has no cane or kid gloves.
!, absurd. But Mr.. Middleton is Il
Il most agreeable-you know he is"
% "And therefore you said No! 1t WI
e not that abrupt monosyllable that yo
# uttered, my dear-was it now?"
= "Well-that is" said Miss Fam
II obviously. "Well-I did not mean tn
Ir / used the exact uord. Perhaps"
o L began to laugh in so satirical wt
Q that Fanny boxed me, then kissed me
/. make amends, and then asked me II
would not like to accompany her and eV
b. rybody to the saw-mill-" the dana w
s nearly washed away, and they were wor
70 ing very hard to save it."
/ at once put on nay hat. Harry
II knew would be foremost among t
workmen; there was positive danger
xvoll knew. and "a the youth was a gre