Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-07-24

Denvers, and of course we were grea
friends.
One day we had sailing party-thC
Denvers, the Maynards and myself. We
Miss Maynard and myself were sit
ting apart by ourselves, silently watching
the boats motion over the swells. Sud
denly she said:
"YOu must please send me no more
flowers"
Ihad been sending them for the last
week. Oh those boquets | grieved tC
think of them. There was but one flor.
ist in the place and he lived as far off as
possible, in order to charge extra for the
distance. Moreover, the fellow had
such eXecrable taste that I had to ride
over every day myself so as To have them
look decently.
"Why not ?" l inquired in some sur
prise.
"Why not is it a jest or is it possible
that you do not know? But you must
and it is neither kind nor courteous il
you to ask"
leaned over and let my hand touch
hers. Lulu, i got this out with con-
siderable difficulty 81 implOre you tC
tell me awhat is the mystery of youI
life. You shudder to hear your own
name. You live in a continual state of
restlessness, as though you feared some
evil was about to fall and crush you.
| Surely / have a right to ask this, and il
you have any regard for me, / beseech
you tell me what it is that so haunts
you ?"
"Sir, her face flushed but her voice
was steady-''this is the extremity of
rudeness. | had thought that at least
| you re-re-re-spected me. Oh oh oh -
and to my horror she put her little head
/ down and began to cry bitterly.
Lulu. Lulu" l cried. / was utter
| ly unconscious then OF what l was do
ing. Now, by Jove, l recollect every
| little circumstance. You must not
weep, dearest.
| Leave me, sir, instantly" She stood
up and looked me full in the face. In
| stantly! she repeated.
| remember now that | did not notice
/ any of that Tedness Of the eyes which
/ is the usual result Of weeping. 1t es-
| capped my observation at the time. For, -
l answered, until | know what l have
/ done to deserve your unkindness.
/ Now ! thought, or rather | think now,
/ that this remark, accompanied of course
/ by an earnest look in the eyes and a ten
der and slightly tremulous tone in the
voice. was rathar effective. tut it
failed In fact it failed ont and out.
For she quietly rose and replied,
'Thcn | shall be forced to 60 to my
aunt :" and before | could utter a word
she was gone.
The whole thing was a horrid failure
| had held all the cards and played
them like juvenile plowboy in hay
loft. ! had a chcckmate in certain
view. and single false move had lostit.
But what could this something" be?
/ Was she engaged Impossible. Be
sides. that ould have made no differ
ence. Perhaps she was awfully in debt :.
Perhaps it was some family trouble
crazy mother or disreputable father
But what did care for that, / would
marry her whole family, even if they
were professional politicians. Yes,
was that far gone. l had got to the
stage of thinking about going home at
night to a cosy little dinner in tiny lit
tie house, and having a soft little hand
slide into mine, and one fair arm slipped
round my neck, and rosy lips kissing
me, and beautiful head resting on my
breast; and when a man gets into that
train of thought, with reference to a
particular woman, It's a bad lookout for
his club-contounded bad.
AS | sat there thinking over these
things and wondering what it could be
that troubled her so, ] suddenly thought
| understood it. l had been very polite
during the previous winter to a certain
young lady, and felt sure that Miss
Denvers had said that | was engaged to
her.
went over to where she was and
asked her to come forward with me.
Then. when we got to the bow of the
boat | said in tragedy tones:
Miss Denvers, is it possible. thing
that you told Miss Maynard | was en-
gagged to that stupid Miss So-and-So?"
.'Why, Mr. Smith, how can you talk
so! | dare say | did tell her so. | GER
tainly thought you were, and everybody
says so"
at is not so. l detest the woman.
She can't tell valse from a gallop; be-
sides, she's horribly"
erich" said Miss Denvers, quietly.
"And you think | care for her money.
That is quite enough, Miss Denyers, and
as YOU are lady / can't ask you to apol-
Oglze. But if you care to have my
poor regard, you will be good enough to
correct the false impressions you have
created among your acquaintances. "
Then | took her back.
When [ got back to my own quarters,
| thought it all over, and determined to
make the plunge the next night. Let
me tell you that this sort of thing, es-
pecially the first time, is hard work and
not to be laughed at.
| made an estimate and found that
should have to give up my horses, but /
resolved to do it: aud / felt like old
Cranmer with his red hot right hand, or
one of those famous gentlemen who
committed suicide by obstinacy. l
played billiards all the next morning,
and felt like asking every man l knew
whether he was aware of my inten-
tions. | dined alone, smoked alone
all the afternoon, and when night came
| went to the cottage.
She was very kind The old gentle
man had not returned, the old lady was
asleep, and Miss Denvers, who was a
trile frigid after the yesterdays affair,
begged me to excuse her, as she was
forced to pay a call upon a departing
friend | managed to survive the blow,
and in fact found it hard to prevent
myself from saying, ''God bless yOn ~
to the man who came to take her. Luck
was with me, felt, and yet for some
reason | did not feel able to take adyan-
tage of it and say what | wanted TO. /
leaned on the mantel and looked at her
until was ashamed of myself. Some
thing was the matter with my voice. 1t
was as husky as that of en old aSthmat-
ic raven. At last | proposed that we
should walk on the beach. She consent
ed, and we walked down towards the
lighthouse. It's quite astonishing, the
effect of the ocean and moonlight on
bronchial affections. My throat recoY-
cred at once and | talked as fiuentiy as
Ralph Waldo Emerson. What did we
talk about Books, men, poetry, mu-
sic-eyerything, in circle that was ey-
or narrowing down to ourselves. And /
tb;,L both were conscious of the ineyi-