The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-03-02
THE NICK OF TIME.

THE NICK OF TIME.
OF all arrant tiirts, Alice Truesdell
bore the palm; and Of all desperate lovers,
Dr. Fowler OF course there were other
lovers at the young lady's command, or
she could nothave hirtcd but all her tlirta-
tion seemed to be directed solely to the
end of vexing this single lover, whose
grave, quiet, repressed demeanor never
let her exactly know whether he were a
lover or not, and drove her first to some
action that almost betrayed her own feel
ings, and then to one that should give the
lie to that betrayal, and set everything at
loose ends again.
You could hardly say why Miss Trues-
dell had SO many suitorS. She was not so
very good-that is, she was as good as
most people, but not a jot better; she was
not prctty-at least not till she laughed
and showed her white teeth, and dimple
deep as love ever nestled in, or till she
lifted her great gray eyes and let you see
how lustrous they were under that trick of
dropping lids. No, it could not have
been her beauty that was the charm it
wssvoicc, smile, face, figure, all together;
her personality, gay spirits, teasing
moods, sweet ways; her infinite variety,
that attracted everybody coming within
its sphere. She sang little, she danced
a little; whatever she did she did well
and so, of course, she tlirted to perfection,
and played off one lover against another
as prettily, the lockers on might think, as
a jugglcr tossed his golden balls. But
what did the lovers think of it:
One Of them thought very poorly of it,
and was determined to bring Miss Alice
to close quarters in small time, not in the
least aware that all the others had made
exactly the same determination, and had
and to do was another Man might pro-
pose, but Miss Alice must dispose; and
Miss Alice as, indeed, they each and all
fondly hoped-was match for any of
them. If she danced with Gregory, just
as Gregory felt encouraged and began to
whisper the burning words, she dropped
her fan with a glance at Mallory, who
darted to restore it, and was detained
with thanks and gay words and replies
just long enough to make it impossible
for Gregory to take up the thread where
she had broken it. If she walked with
Dr. Fowler, it was only after she had al
lowed Mr. Bowles to know that she
would be slrolling in that direction, where
she was always SO pleased to meet him
when he came up brcathlessly, and found
the doctor muttcring anathcmas between
his teelh--invocations to -Esculapius she
called them.
But DR.. Fowler was not man you
could put off forever when he once made
up his mind I, a thing, and so Miss Alice
began to learn. And when, one night, as
he babe her good-by, Mallory and the rest
being there, he told her, in grave but
authoritative under-tone, quite unlike that
of the usual lover, that he wished 10 see
her next morning at eleven O'Clock, if she
had wanted to deny him, she could not.
But, to tell the truth, she did not exactly
want to. The young men had seemed so
inconsequcnt and SO stupid that even
ing; Nctty Armitage had seemed so friv-
olous; they had, each in turn, come in
and interrupted the doctor when he was
telling her such iairylike tales of recent
discoveries in science; she had shrugged
her shoulders at them till the situation
struck her ridiculously, and then she had
laughed with the merNest of them, and
pouted at the doctor. But now, as he was
going. she slipped her hand in his arm
and sauntered down tho lawn with him.
The night was night in June, when, if
ever, nights are perfect; the air was laden
with the breath of honeysuckle and mock
orange; the winds that Curlcd round them
seemed to come from distant lands of
everlasting bloom, so sweet they were;
and the stars hung their lamps through
the clear dark close above the thick tree
tops. She fancied, that night, that life
was too delicious thing to be indulged
in freely, and she murmured something
Of the fancy with halt laugh. There
are times when we all feel that life is
more than we Deserve" he answered.
"To- -morrow-it may be. Shall l
feel the same myself, tomorrow, or will
fate"
She laughed uneasily. "You mustn't
ask me riddles" she cried.
"At eleven, tomorrow, then," he said,
lifting his hat
"At eleven, to morrow" And she went
back to the house, wishing it were eleven,
tomorrow, now; ard then, in gay freak,
as she heard the hall clock strike, she ran
down the hall and set the hands forward
an hour. "Bring him the quicker" she
whispered" bring him the quicker"
and went back to the others.
They were talking of the flags and bull
rushcs that grew by Lenders lake, sheet
of water in the neighboring woods; and
she was eager to hear the details OF the
direction there, for she shared the popular
frenzy raging just then for bulrushes, and
thought, OF all things, she should like
some great punches of the soft, brown,
velvety things in the vases tomorrow.
Il believe if 1 rose early" she said, 81
could be there andback before eleven"
"Why eleveng" said Mallory, lazily.
"Oh, I have an engagement at that
hour" she replied, bending her head
little, that he might not see the color
creeping up.
~ am at your service" he said.
"Will you come along Netty?" she
asked.
"At five o'clock in the morning, and
on foot? Not q step. That hour in the
afternoon, behind a pair of bays, would
suit me very we'll"
Young Vary thought it wound suit him,
too.
every we'll, Mr.. Mallory. If you will
come at eight, tomorrow, ! shall have
nv bulrushes and be back in good sea
SON.
"We'll not FAIL" said Mallory. And
to that end, ! assure this company that u