The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1876-02-18

ENNA A4N NJ ~ haN*&
time il was settled hat he was TO take
up his abode for life in the house Of the
old doctor, who, on the day he came,
was To give him Louise for his wife.
His wife, Louise sat with the letter
trembling in her hands in which he had
spoken Of that fact of the future. Ii did
not seem possible; she had nc low
ers; she thought herself unattractiye (;
she had no especial talent. Why had
she been chosen for such happiness?
and was il possible that Fate had not
been playing with her? She knew
nothing of the serenity of her fase, of
her womanly grace, of her gentle and
stately dignity, that seemed 10 rest
those that entered her presence. Yet
when Roger Harvey came the next
night, and she greeted him with, first a
movement of her outstretehed arms,
and then with downcast ewes and the
deep blush slowly mounting to her fore
head. she seemed TO him almost too
fair, too pure 4 being for his love To
approach. Perhaps DIR. Harvey re-
membered his companion in the rail-
way car, with her rich colors, her trem-
ulously musical voice, her f~ancies, her
theories, her regrets, her glances, and
the countless parcels of her shopping
exclusion to town-remembered, too,
the dislike and ~displeasure that had
troubled him as a grave, stalwart fell
low (no other than Gilbert Allen) had
stood ready TO assist the petty captivat-
or down at the end of the journey. Ger
tainly il would never have crossed his
mind that the Little Birthstone was too
seraphic a being for any ones love to
approach.
But il was a delightful evening that
he had with Louise the old doctor nod
ding by the low fire, the spring wealth
er being yet cool; flowers blooming on
their stems; lamps burning clearly the
atmosphere Of the room bright and
sweet and wholesome. They compared
their thoughts, their reading. their
recolleciions they had 20 much TO tell;
they spoke hesitatingly of their future;
and then as he babe her good-by in the
vestibule, and held her a moment
trembling in his arms, and felt her heart
beating like a birds, the love Of such a
woman seemed 10 set a seal of holiness
upon him. And Louise fell on her knees
AZ the little hall window. watching him
disappear in the starlight, and praying
Heaven TO shower blessings on his dear
head. All which did not hinder Young
DIR. Harvey on the morrow from turn
ing that head in church q see if his
companion Of the journey was there,
and when he found her. from giving her
sidelong Chances AZ first Of curious in
spection, NJ last Of open admiration.
But with her vail down, and her eyes on
her prayer-book, not one o those glances
did their object seem 10 see. She made
her responses and sang her chants with
a voice that DIR. Harvey could distin-
guish through the voices Of the choir,
so fine and rich it was. Louise Free
leigh, loving music as she did, could
not sing a note-.A fatal flaw in a wo-
man." said DIR. Harvey TO himself that
day, though it had never occurred to
him before. Yet when, afterward, he
sat with Louise in the cmbrasure of the
bay-window, and she read him the old
Bible stories in her dramatic fashion,
with the information and accent Of to-
day, so that Naaman and Gehazi seemed
TO draw the same human breath that he
himself did, then he forgot the pretty
4rLVt[ ~ tnAlNAf "a tDAu IkuA-t Lndl
she was an enchantress. Nevertheless,
walking out with her on the edge Of the
evening, there al 4 window were to be
seen the pensive outlines of a face lost
in thought, whose down-dropped lids
never lifted a. they passed-occupied,
just then. in doing the work of Little
Birthstone.
"Who is she?- he asked Louise.
isn't she beautiful" returned
louise.
Il don't know. Peculiar-pictur-
esque. With those colors and contrasts
so blended, she would be beautiful in a
painting"
at is Virginia Warren, a fascinating
little being. / think
"That sounds as if other women
didn't"
All the men admire herr
And their wives hate her."
"Oh, nobody would hate her. She
Is a chiid-not twenty vet, YOU know"
There must be character to q little
body who makes the men admire her
and the women hate her at twenty"
"There is. I've half the mind to tell
sou. Oiu siLS. SCARE, tnt p~OStinlsIt--
who knows all our secrets, and Mrs.
Carr, and the rest, call her the Little
Birthstone
"a knot Of scandal-mongers.r
"Oh no-good old souls, who think
if papa didn't make the world, he keeps
it going, and who pet me-"
81 take it back. Yet it's a pity the
busybodies have no other affairs TO be
interested in"
Virginia is a perpetual play to them,
the curtain always drawing up on
scene; she is their sensation novel-only
they would think it wrong TO read the
novel. But we are very good friends =
"Any body would be good friends