Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-25
as amottoes," containing Enclosures

~ RL1LII -
She had that fine contempt for the Illusion
of fancy which belongs to the perfectl
healthy young animal.
sNot,' continued Mr.. McClosky. rubbin,
his head relectively, anot ez I'd advise We
jimmy, to say aDythingto himabout poetry
1t amt twenty minutes ago ez 1 did. L Sc
the whisky afore him in the parIor. /.
wound up the music-box and set 1t goin'
Then I SEE to him, sociable-like andfr
| Jest consider yourself in your own housI
and repeat what you allow to beyour fines
production and he ragged. That man
jimmy, just ragged. Thar's no end of tn,
names he called me. You see, jimmy" con
tinued Mr.. McClosky, apologetically, ehe'
known me a long time"
But his daughter had already dismissed
the question with her usual directness
"Tn be down in a few moments, father
she said, after a pause, shut don't say any.
thing to him about it-don't say / wa
abed.n
Mr.. McClosky's face beamed. .You
was alters a good girl, jimmy" he said,
dropping on n knee the better to imprint
a respectful kiss on her forehead. But
Jimmy caught him by the wrists and for a
moment held him captive. "Father,'
said she, trying to fix bis shy eyes with
the clear, steady glance of her own, call
the girls that were there tonight had some
one with them. Name Robinson had her
aunt, Lucy Rance had her mother, Kate
Pierson had her sister-all except me had
some other woman. Father, dear,n her
lip trembled just a little, 81 wish mother
hadn't died when / was so small. | wish
there was some other woman in the family
besides me-. l amt lonely with you, father
dear; but if there were only some one, you
know, when the time comes for John and
me-"
Her voice here suddenly gave ont, but no
her brave eyes, that were still fixed EARN
estiy upon his face. Mr.. McClosky, appa-
rently tracing out apattern on the bed-quilt,
essayed words of comfort:
"There amt one of them gals ez you've
named, jimmy, ez could do what you've done
with a whole Noah's ark of relations at ther
backs! Thar amt n ez wouldn't sacrifice
her nearest relation TO make the strike that
you hey. Ez to mothers, may be, my dear,
you're dom better without one" He rose
suddenly, and walked toward the door.
When be reched it he turned, and, in his
old deprecating manner, said: aDon't be-
long, jimmy" smiled, and vanished from the
head downward, his canyas slippers assert
ing themselves resolutely to the last.
When Mr.. McClosky reached his parlor
again his troublesome guest was not there,
The decanter stood on the table untOuch-
ed, three or four books lay upon the floor,
a number of Photographic views of the
Sierras were scattered over the sofa; two
sofa pillows, a newspaper, and a Mexican
hlanEaf Law ON fho aarrnof % 20 fIo loea -.
cupant of the had tried to read in a
recumbent position. A French window,
opening upon a veranda, which never be-
fore in the history of the house had been
unfastened, now betrayed by its waving
lace curtain the way that the fugitive had
escaped. Mr.. McClosky heayed a sigh of
despair; he looked at the gorgeous carpet
purchased in Sacramento at a fabulous
price, at the crimson satin and rosewood
furniture unparalleled in the history of
Tuolumne, at the massively framed pic
lures on the walls, and looked beyond it,
through the open window, to the reckless
man who, fleeing these sybaritic allure
ments, was smoking a cigar upon the
moonlight road. This room, which had so
often awed the youth Of Tuolumne into
flial respect, was evidently a failure. 1t
remained to be seen if the Rose herself
had lost her fragrance. 81 reckon Jimmy
will fetch him yet" said Mr.. McClosky,
with parental faith.
He stepped from the window upon the
veranda. But he had scarcely done this be-
fore his figure was detected by the stranger,
who at once crossed the road. When with
in a few feet of McClosky he stopped.
"YOu persistent old plantigrade," he said,
in a low voice, audible only to the person
addressed, and a face full of affected anxi-
ETY., "why don't you 60 to bed? Didn't /
tell you to go and leave me here alone? In
the name of all that's idiotic and imbecile,
why do you continue to shuttle about here?
Or are you trying TO drive me crazy with
your presence, as you have with that
wretched music-box that I've Just dropped
under yonder tree? It's an hour and a half
yet before the stage passes; do you think,
do you imagine for a single moment, that /
can tolerate you until then-eh? Why
don't you speak? Are you asleep? You
don't mean TO say that you have the audac-
ity TO add so~mnambulism to your other
weaknesses; you're not low enough to re-
peat yourself under any such weak pretext
as that-eh?n
a at of nervous coughing ended this ex-
traordinary exordium, and half sitting, half
leaning against the veranda, Mr.. McClOsky's
guest turned his face and part of a slight
figure toward his host. The lower
portion OF this upturned face wore an habit
ual expression of fastidious discomfort,
with an occasional line of physical suffer
ing. But the brow above was frank and
critical, and a pair of dark mirthful eyes
sat in playful judgment over the super
sensitive mouth and its suggestion.
81 allowed 10 90 to bed, Ridgeway,n said
Mr.. McClosky, meekly, sbut my girl jim
ny's jist got back from a little tear up at
Robinson's, and amt inclined to turn in
yet. You know what girls is. So 1 thought
we three would jist have a social chat to-
gether 10 pass away the time"
"1ou mendacious old hypocrite, she got
back an hour ago." said Ridgeway, '+as that
sayage-loOking escort of hers, who has been
haunting the house ever since, can testify.
My beliefs, that, like an enterprising idiot,
as you are, you've dragged that girl out of
her bed that we might mutually bore each
Mr.. McClosky was too much stunned by
this evidence Of Ridgeway's apparently SUI
perhuman penetration to reply. After en-
his hosts confusion for a moment
with his eyes, Ridgeway's mouth asked
"And who is this girl, anyway"
aNancy's."
"Your wife's?"
"Yes. But look var, Ridgeway," said
McClosky, laying one hand imploringly on
sleeve, mot a word about her
to jimmy. She thinks her mothers dead
died in Missouri. En-"
Ridgeway nearly rolled from the veranda
an excess of rage. "Good God. Do
you mean to say that you have been con
from her a fact that any day, any
moment, may come TO her ears9 That
been letting her grow up in igno-
rance of something that by this time she
have outgrown andforgotten? That
you have been, like a besotted old ass, all
these years slowly forging a ~thunderbolt
that any ONT may crush her with? That"
but here Ridgeway's cough took posses
sion of his voice, and even put a moisture
into his dark eyes, as he looked at McClos-
ky's aimless hand feebly employed upon
his beard.
"But," said McClosky, 'look how she's
done. She's held her head as high as any of
'em. She's to be married in a month to the
richest man in the county, and" he added,
cunningly, "Jack Ashe amt the kind o.
man to sit by and hear anything said of his
wife or her relations, you bet. But hush
her foot on the stairs. She's cum