The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-06-29
MYLILY.OF-THE-vALLEY.

'Peepw 1t was CHEEKY, almost
childish voice, we'll known and loved by
me; and yet I startled in half alright
$50 deep was my reverie. Reveries, IN
the majority of cases, probably, have
love for their inspiring gcd; but this was
an exceptional one, else l had surely
been prepared for any such surprise as
this, from the very priestess herself OF
love.
Not that she acknowledged it, or l
either, for that matter. But we were
both finite, and love is infinite.
'You little pussp exclaimed, "how
you frightened me
"Do + look so like a fright, then, in
my masquerading~
"Of course not. You are always
charming. But your voice"
"Was harsh and"
elbow dexterously you do fish for COM
pliments this afternoon! You know your
voice is soft and musical, for have told
you so several times; and"
"Ha, ha, ha! Go on"
cit was that very sweetness and soft
ness that startled me, being so antipodal
to my thoughts just then"
tsTherep' sudden seriousness settling
over her manner. 'That convinces me
that you are not obeying your doctor.
You must have been thinking of those
dreadful columns of figures, and of
puts and calls and Shorts and such
ridiculous nonsense. Don't you remem-
Der 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
quality of milk for your breakfast, so
you can 60 back to the city in the fall
vigorous for business, and fresh for the
smiles of your sweetheartW
"Quite q long speech, upon my word
And it is not a month yet since l sup
posed you never INDUCED in anything
beyond monosyllabies, and scattered ones
at that"
'Thank you for nothing. But how DO
you like my costume~ =,
"Charming. Who assisted you?"
tI made the things, Cousin Maggie
helped arrange them, and MIR. Fred
Marston acted as critic, to see whether L
was presentable."
"And pronounced you au taI 2"
eyes, if looks would do so. But he
was SO busy skctching thaS he would
hardly say word"
sPnss,i said, after a moments delib-
Grafton, and wondering whether I really
had the courage, "do you really remem-
ber all / told you, in my gossipping way,
the day after Fred and arrived, about
the doctors instructions-how / was
never to think of business or cares of any
kind, but only amusement, and any nom
sense that came uppermost%
'eYes, perfectly"
ssWho'd have thought I would 60 so
contrary thereto? First, to come up to
this quiet place, where both amusement
and nonsense would seem to be sacrile-
gious; and"
Secondly" looking as prim and dig
nifed as so slight and sweet body
could.
Eyes, secondly, by falling in love with
you"
sI spoke deliberately, and with an
effort; and the last word had not died
from my lips before / knew that my
premonitions of dangerous ground were
not uninspired.
A pink glow suHused her face for an
instant, and then faded into whiteness
that was not so deathly as it was trans
parent.
1t added to my pain as well as to a
vague delight I felt in the picture she
made in her masquerading dress.
To speak of this mimic masquerade,
and the picture it formed, it will be nee
essary to 60 back few days, on which
occasion I sat in the little pinched-up
parlor of the old-fashioned farm house
that formed my retreat from the city's
hum and business for 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
formed a part of the life. The student
of fashions caprices could probably have
ascertained by research; but it really
made no great difference. The salient
part of the portrait was large Eliza
bethan ruff, not SO stiff and ungainly as
are generally represented in portraits,
but seeming quite graceful and pretty,
and, indeed, as though forming part Of
the personality of the parsonage, who
was young, less than twenty, apparently,
skin white and delicate, almost entirely
devoid of color, eyes of dolce far nientc
feeling, and lips whose just perceptible
pout was in fine keeping with the round,
CHEEKY face.
aMiss Perry" I said, "the portrait
yonder is enough like you TO pass for
your own, if you should only tell people
you were masquerading. How like a
iily-of-the-Yalley it looks, with the round
delicate face, and the delicately- ly-penciled
ruffp
"What an ideaw said Miss Perry, the
daughter of my hostess. "And yet, since
YOU suggest it, can trace quite resem-
blance. I remember hearing papa say
once that she was quite a belle in her
day, and there was something of ro-
nance connected with her"
It was in dress precisely like this IN
all its details in which Miss Perry was
arrayed when she peered over the rose
bush on the afternoon in which my story
opens, and greeted me with her innocent
"Peepp
$50" she family articulated, "your
amusement and nonsense for this
summer are falling in love with an un-
sophisticated county-girl! Quite de-
lightful p :,
aMiss Perry" I exclaimed, in blank
amazement, "you wrong me by your mis-
applied irony. My words were not trif-
ling ones, as you seem to think. | was
too abrupt and precipitate. 1 am but
tryo in wooing."
I put my arm around her slender waist
as 1 spoke the last words, and she suf:
fered it to remain there an instant, and
then withdrew shrinkingly, giving me a
halfstartled, half-shy look as she glided
out of the room-a look that haunted me
for months afterward.