Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-08-30
"Ihaven't any love affairs, cousin. IT.
terrible, but haven'trn -t-At
/ shook my head in turn.

terrible, but haveu'ti" -.-i-it
shook my head in turn.
THAT Is impossible, Fanny. Have
no eyes? l have been at Duluth long
enough to see that Mr.. Tom Middleton
and my favorite Harry Warren are crazy
about you."1 '7egr ''|i-7l'
At the name of Harry Warren Fanny
blushed little, but Immediately replied
with laugh, - Ll'0G f~
"How absurd for me to think of Har-
ry as-in that way! Why. he's my
brother" % t9ib 'slr'..ft 80
"He is no relation to you-or very dis
tant." - ~.
"wen, near or far, relation or not,
Harry cares nothing for me, and l care
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 J" ...
"Willingly; but we are not to have
the opportunity. Here comes Mr.. Mid
dleton.''
/ did not take notice whether Fanny
was pleased or otherwise with the inter-
ruption; was absorbed in contemplation
of the approaching visitor. Mr.. Tom
man, though his face might have been
considered little efeminate. This fact,
however, did not assort i'll with the rest
of his appearance. He was q most eie-
giant youth. His hands were white and
soft, his feet were small and cased in the
tightest and most delicate French boots !;
he held 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. ,aa- ~. tsr, s--.F ,
The young gentleman's countenance
was illumined by gentle smile as he ap-
preached. He fixed his eyes with modest
ardor upon Fanny; and with polite bow,
inquired in reference to my health this
morning.
Hooked at Fanny. She was blushing q
little, as when uttered the name of Har-
ry Warren. Which was itf z - ga hassf
a II.
do not know which it is. When ask
Fanny she simply responds that am the
most ridiculous and absurd Of all the old
cousins that ever existed, and that it is
neither.
This, 1 am 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
has way of looking over her shoulder
while she is singing at the piano, and di-
recting the most ianguishing 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, l saw the young
witch standing on the portico in the moon
light, gazing down, pulling a rose apart
leaf by leaf, and listening with an air of
modest confusion to Mr.. Tom Middleton.
When the maiden was about to dart off
to bed, stopped her for moment in the
passage, and drew her aside.
"Did he-propose? whispered.
Fanny placed her lips close to my ear
pursed up her mouth-whispered, NO
o-o!' and bursting into ringing laugh,
ran off to bed. i initiated her, except
that / did not run, and shaking my head,
found myself muttering, ..--..
Woman, woman land girls especial
ly-who can understand your Not !'' :
Ibegin to fancy that have the clue to
Fanny's 90 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: will
first say that Fanny has, in the most
shameless manner, acknowledged that she
told me fib In reference to the scene up
on the moonlit portico. She made
her confession in the most penitent way ;
declared that she was ashamed Of herself
but she had forgotten, she said, that II
was her dear, ridiculous old cousin who
asked the question; she never had con-
cealed ANYTHING from me-and-yes-Mr.
Middleton had been good enough to ex.
press his entiments-and-she believed
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 al
me with her roguish, wicked eyes, and
said in whisper, sr $50
I" / said-'Noo" isd csA i,
cit was not no. that you said," l re:
piled. 81 observed the young gentleman
when he came in; he was sad, but no
hopeless and this morning at breakfas
he ate, as usual, the whole wing of |
birdl aa
"I do declare you are too bad!" wa,
Miss Fanny's vivacious rejoinder yol
are always laughing at Mr.. Middleton
and making fun of him-and | do believ'
yes! dO-that you are trying to max
me prefer-somebody else!"
"Harry? Well, shsuld."
"And do not" ..s. 49,.
"You do not like his big hands. per
haps; and he has no cane or kid gloves.
absurd! But Mr.. Middleton IS tn
most agreeable-you know he is"
"And therefore you said No! 1t wa
not that abrupt monosyllable that yo'
uttered, my dear-was it now?"
"Well-that is" said Miss Fam
obviously. "Well-I did not mean tha
! used the exact wor1. Perhaps"
! began to laugh in 30 satirical q wa
that Fanny boxed me, then kissed me
!. make amends, and then asked me II
would not like to accompany her and ev'
: rybody to the saw-mill-"tne dam wa
nearly washed away, and they were worl
) ing very hard to save it." rt.
at once put on nay hat. Harry
, knew would be foremost among tn
workmen; there was positive danger,
well knew; and as the youth was gres