Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-11-19
MY LILY OF THE VALLEY.
From Appleton's journal.

v
loved by me; and yet 1 started il
half alright, so deep was my reverie
Reveries, in the majority OF eases
probably, have love for their inspir
ing god; but this was an exceptiona
one, else 1 would surely have beer
prepared for any such surprise as this
from the very priestess herself o
love.
Not that she acknowledged it, or
either, for that matter. But we were
both finite, and love is infinite.
"You little pussn' l exclaimed
show you frightened me!'
'Do | look so like a fright, then, il
my masquerading?"
"Of course not. You are alway'
charming. But your voice."
"Was harsh and"
"How dextrously you do fish fol
compliments this afternoon. You
know your voice is soft and musical
for l have told you so several times
and"
lila, ha, ha! 10 on"
at was that very sweetness and
softness that started me, being so an
tipodal to my thoughts just then"
''There. a sudden seriousness set
Ting over her manner. "That con
vinces me that you are not obeyine
your doctor You must have beer
thinking of those dreadful columns
Of figures, and puts and calls and
Shorts and such ridiculous nonsense
Don't you remember you told me
you shouldn't think of any calls,
but calling the cows, nor any shorts
but those they have for their supper
to make them give you an extra quan
tity Of milk for your breakfast, so You
can go back to the city in the fall
vigorous for business, and fresh TO.
the smiles of your sweetheart"
"Quite long speech, upon my
word! And it is not a month yet
since l supposed you never indulged
in anything beyond monosyllables
and scattered ones at that"
"Thank you for nothing. But how
do you like my costume?"
"Charming. Who assisted you?'
81 made the things, Cousin Mag
gle helped arrange them, and Mr.
Fred Marston acted as critic, to see
whether | was presentable."
"And pronounced you ar ,tait:"
"Yes, if looks would do so. But
he was SO busy sketching that he
would hardly say word"
'Puss," l said, after q moments
deliberation, and wondering whether
| really had the courage, "do you
really remember all l told you, in my
gossiping way, the day after Fred
and l arrived, about the doctors in
structions-how | was never to think
Of business or cares Of any kind, bu,
only amusement and any nonsense
that came uppermost?"
"Yes-pertectly."
"Who'd have thought 1 would &c
so contrary thereto?-first. to come
up to this quiet place, where both
amusement and nonsense would seem
to be sacrilegious; and"
Secondly" looking as prim and
dignified as SO light and sweet a body
could.
eyes, secondly, by falling IN love
with you"
l spoke deliberately and with an
effort; and the last word had not died
from my lips before I knew that my
premonitions of dangerous ground
were not uninspired. A pink glow
suffiused her face for an instant, and
then faded into whiteness that was
not so deathly as it was transparent
1t added to my pain as well as to a
vague delight l felt in the picture
that she made in her masqueradine
dress.
To speak of this mimic masquer
ade and the picture it formed, it will
be necessary to go back few days
on which occasion | sat in the little
pinched up parlor Of the old-tashion
ed farmhouse that formed my retreat
from the city's hum and business fol
few weeks in the summer. On the
wall opposite where l sat hung an
old family portrait, SO old, indeed
that the daughter of my hostess was
not exactly certain as to who she was
or OF what generation she had form
part of the life. The student OF
fashions caprices could probably
have ascertained by research; but il
made no great difference. The sal
lent p 1T Of the portrait was large
Elizabethan ruff, not so stiff and un
gainly as are generally represented in
portraits, but seeming quite graceful
and pretty, and indeed, as though
forming a part Of the personality OF
the parsonage, who was young, less
than twenty apparently, skin white
and delicate, almost entirely devoid
of color, eyes dolce for miemte feeling
and lips whose just percptible poul
was in fine keeping with the round
CHEEKY face.
"Miss Perry I said, 'the portrai,
yonder is enough like you to pass fol
your own, if you should only tell
people you were masquerading.-
How like a lily Of the valley it looks
with the round, delicate face, and
the delicately penciled ruff"
0What an idaaf'' said Miss Perry
the daughter OF my hostess. "And
yet, since you suggest it, | can trace
quite resemblance. 1 remember
hearing papa say once that she was
quite belle in her day, and there
was something Of romance con
nected with her."
1t was IN dress precisely like this
in all its details in which Miss Perry
was arrayed when she peered over
the rosebush OH the afternoon in
which my story opens, aud greet1
me with her innocent "Peep!"
"So," she family articulated "youl
amusement and nonsense for this
sum- -er are falling in love with al
unsophisticated country girl. Quite
delightful"
"Miss Perryr' | exclaimed in
blank amazement, "you wrong me
by your misapplied irony. My words
are not trifling ones, as you seem to
think. was too rough and precipl
tate. | am but tyro in wOoing."