Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-01-24
ASHTABULA, OHIO, SATURDAY, JANUARY a 1874

before this restricted to one scholar
life long, bien entendu!" he added
diverting his soup spoon from it
legitimate use to kiss it with four
ish.
"Why don't you try her with tn
proposal, Deblay? She seems t,
smile more on YOU" said, with
just perceptible sneer, a man next t,
the first speaker.
ooh, mon Dieu!" cried Deblay
"she smiles, yes; but 4 smile a
bright and cold as sunshine on al
iceberg. Al, it is a bad counse
you make your friends, Mr.. Web
stere!'
''That's because he likes to SCI
'em in the same fix himself, eh
Webster" slyly said the young mar
who had spoken about '1ittle' ami
mails"
The remark evidently contained
a meaning unwelcome to Mr.. Web
ster His black eyebrows came clio.
ser together, and his heavy mustsche
gave an impatient jerk, as he said.
hastily, "Much obliged, Pm sure,
but Pm not over anxious for smiles
from nobody knows who
eGentlenen, gentlemen, | call
you to order" said man farther
down, who had pushed aside his
sOup-plate, and was busy mixing a
dish of salad ''Of the dead aud
the absent-you know the old
proverb."
Just then the door opened, and a
woman entered. Town my curiosi-
ty was reused, by the preceding con-
versation, and followed l her with
my eyes as she walked nearly the
length of the long table to the va
cant seat, but owing to the light. |
could distinguish hardly anything
more than her movements, and the
outlines of her figure were unusual
ly graceful. As she reached nv
side rose and drew back, her chair.
for which little attention she thank
ed me with that same cold smile
as could now perceiYe-of which
the young Frenchmen had spoken.
and the smile seemed to me less fan
ciful than at first.
tits my theory that frst-rate en-
gineer must have something of the ar
tist in him. Now, L may say, with
out undue vanity, that was a first
rate engineer, and | suppose it was
this artistic something which was
so strongly impressed by the sort of
harmony in the voice, gesture, and
whole presence of the. woman be-
side me. My curiosity had changed
at once into interest:I cast about in
my mind how to make her more
aware of my existence than she had
as yet the air of being. sz
"Ihere does not appear to be any |
master of the ceremonies here" / !
began, so we must Introduce our
elves,-since we are to be neigh |
bOrs. Permit me to present nv |
self as George Denvers, as engineer
and very mnch at your service pro-
fessionally or otherwise" l blunder-
ed on, not very well knowing what
was saying, for she had turned her
eyes full on me, and they made me
lose my head little. 'And you?"
"Miss Knowles, a drawing-teach-
sr," she answered, not exactly short
y, but briefly. But 1 would not
take the hint. l wanted to make
her look at me again. l took up the
glass of water before me.
''This is rather a cold element for
pledge offering, Miss Knowles" l
'aid, "but at leat it is a pure one.
we drink to neighborhood
md friendship"
had succeeded. She did look at
ne again, her eyes resting on nv
ace with an indiscrimina1 express
ion.
"You are a bold man, Mr.. Den
-er," she said finally, "to offer that
'ledge to an utter stranger. Why,
might be-anything! a thief or a
for what you know?"
"Oh pray allow me more skill in
said I, thinking all
he while how oddly her words
himed in with those of Webster a
minute ago.
'You believe in physiognomy? So
o l." she said quickly; then, as if
epenting of even that slight impul-
lveness, she resumed in the old I
one, "Still, suppose after all l !
7ere to turn out desperate charac- !
would you do then?" '
81 should say, with one of our
Jew York Judges, that there must :
ave been alternating circumstan- '
s." l replied laughing.
She smiled and reached out her
and to her glass: Very well, to
eigbborhood and friendship then,
nee you chose, you must run the |
SIX.
This little dialogue had been car 7
ried on thus far under cover of a /
ither noisy discussion opposite; but
ere some one spoke to Miss a
movies, and Twas obliged to con.
mt myself with observing her. l Il
id not find it a tiresome occupa-
on. She was very handsome wo- I
an,-for, though unmarried and ev- r
Iently young, no one would have t
fought of calling Miss Knowles a Y
there was much more than
eauty in her face; there was mean t
g in every ine-a meaning which n
that hers had been no or
mary or easy life. But, though a \
It face, it was not hard one, and a
tracted in spite of itself. \
"Allss Knowles, Think it is un- II
nd!' said the person who had in f,
us, one of the prettiest
tile schoolgirls l ever saw, leaning a
'rward from our side of the table. s,
Hou haven't spoken a word to me r,
1t. l. do believe you've forgotten Il
at were engaged" |
"By jOVe! Miss Knowles is to be
envied" 1t was Webster who n
i'd, and the marked way in which h
said it made the speech rude "
le. Deblay perhaps thought so, for a