Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-06-12

| OsIAA oty Odt IL elo LAob
so common then as it is now, and Il bold
when it forms a fair and silken fringe
over a soft young forehead and dark
penciled eyebrows. AS for the Eyes, it
They were everything by tums and
beautiful-melting, burning, laughing,
loving, scorning. They were large, they
were brown, with very large dlating
irides, and they were guarded by aaouble
file of lashes, long, soft and almost
black.
As | write these words in praise of
those wonderful eyes, helping my mem
ory by a glance at a vignette. by.Notham
that. does them but scant Justice, f any,
the recollection of them even nov will
stir the blood in my veins, and cause my
heart to beat almost as tumultuously as
! if | were once more gazing into their
unfathomable depths in the,conseTatory,
or. to use Maggies own words, the
Flirtorium, at Villa Duval.
1t must not be supposed that was
allowed undisputed possession Of the
first place in Miss Marguerite Duval's
affections. Had that been the case,
ask myself, looking back as | 10 now
over an intervening lapse of time, how
long should | have valued such solitary
! possession ? And / answer after reflec-
tion,. and always taking the lapse of
| time into consideration, not an hour
should have certainly sent in my resig-
nation, which she on her side would
have accepted as gracefully as she did
every thing, from boquets to bracelets,
with a faint sigh over the fickleness of
mankind generally and soldierkird indi-
vidually. But Miss Duyal was never
doomed to receive modification at my
hands; she had swarms of admirers,
some of whom were declared lovers, and
| being, as | have before stated very
! young and very foolish and not little
vain, actually allowed myself to be agra
waited into love with her; really cannot
describe the. process in any other way,
and the amount of excitement | went
through in keeping my place among my
| rivals and my anxiety always to be first
by her side almost cured me of ing early
| failing.
When the Rifle Brigade, or to use the
Agnesyille abbreviation, ''the Brigade, y
had been quartered there two months, it
was agitated amongst us that ball to
our hospitable entertainers would not
only be right and proper, but polite; in
fact, the only thing wanting to restore
completely and Immediately that loyal
state of feeling that once existed in
| AgnesviIle. We. at once called meet
ing to discuss and settle this important
matter without more delay, as we were
in fear of being recalled to headquarters
I Immediately, now that the Fenian panic
4 A ga a
ton of funds had been discussed and we
had all declared our readiness to place
our enormous fortunes al the disposal OF
the mess committee, the next question
was mooted as to when and ''where?'
'When? Next week, +" was the agswer
from one of the younger aslg&. ffiuTe en-
! thusiastic of the Prince C6nsort's Own.
''Where? In Ayimer's Hall, TO he sure,
not in this wretched rat's-hele they eall
baffat,k
THE first part of this suggestion was
/ megatived as impossible by the steadier
members of our council; the second was
taken into consideration and ultimately
carried witt, out dissentieBt voice. The
ball was finally fixed for that day fort
night at Aylmer's Hall, a tolerably good
set of pnblic reception rooms in the
heart of the little town, which were used
for state affairs and small entertain
ments, and called Aylmer's Hall, after 8
former Canadian governor of that nape
who had passed through the town dur
ing its erection.
l. 1t was the day before that fixed for
our ball, and when.my. arduous duties
were over, drove out to Villa Duval to
pay my respects to la belle. Marguerite.
1t was lovely weather in early spring,
and the delicate tender green of grass
and foliage was an inexpressible relief
after the endless wearying miles of snow
we had been gazing on and walking
over for months. The sun had already
attained considerable heat, and when
reached my destination i found the
ialousies closed, the awnings spread Ovel
the balconies, and some Of the inhabi-
+ants of the villa assembled under the
'aviug colonade, while the more ven
shel., ~~afe returning to croquet with
tursome ), st long interval devoted
all the zest tn 'ab0ggip was likely tc
to sleighng and
inspire them with. ~slGeTabie en-,
I was received with co. 1rease Oh
thnsiasm and a, flattering in, left
color on Maggie's fair cheeks as she
her game and came forward, mallet Ia
hand, to greet me- | was not little
anroved, however, when i discovered IN
Young man who was her partner at
croquet one of my brother officers as L
had hoped | should reign supreme on
this occasion, and did not fancy the
espionage now, and the chaff afterward,
that would most assuredly be my lot.
| therefore. rather surlily refused Mar
guerites request that would join their
party on the lawn, and throwing my
self lazily on rug that was spread under
the colonade, devoted myself to a
Younger sister of. my enchantress, who,
| for her age, scarcely sixteen, had very
/ fair idea of flirting. Miss Eunice was
kept as rule in the background, and
how heartily she enjoyed on this occa-
sion being first instead of second, / could
| see by the dimples round her mouth and
| the qulyef of the dark eyelashes, in spite
| of her efforts to look demhre. My back
| was turned on the croquet party, but l
| could see the whole scene reflected pane
rama-like in the plate-glass of the win
/ dow in front of me, and III spite OF my
| excess of temper | was not a little
amused at the evident 'piQue which Mag
| kgie endeavored to hide by apparent alb
sorption in her game, and | was as usual
irresistibly facinated by her grace, and
the perfect foot she displayed in the
rapid movements entailed by the vagaries
| of croquet.
Meanwhile Eunice did la belle ingeaeatt
to perfection, and while her little white
| fingers moved rapidly through her tat.
| ting, or some such pretentious work she
was engaged in, her eyes and tongue
were not slOtlfIfl
| s.And you will, you promise me, won't
l-you, Mr. Manners?" she said. ending
| with these works torrent of yivac1ous
nonsense about her first ball and hel
fears that I should be too grand to dance
f"with such a stupid little thing as me
you know" :,
eyes, you poor little Cinderella, vii
do anything in the. world you ike C
please you" replied returning her sof
glances with interest and in absurdiJ
tender tones; for / could see in my I'M
promptu looking-glass that Maggie wa
approaching and was probably within
earshot. -
/ L zol q 1Ittl