The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-07-20
A BIT OFzLACE.

but Want You TO look at II. y
g shouldn't know any more about it
if did"
"Well, then, I want YOU to buy it. y
buy it! What for?"
"Why, for me-"
"Pay five hundred dollars for hand
kerchief for you?''
g Yes, indeed. Why, papa, l should
think it was something atrocious.
All the other girls have them,
although certainly, this is a little,
the least little, nicer than theirs.
! don't know why Lucy should have a
handsomer handkerchief than l, just
because she's married. Any body else
would say it was enough TO be married,
and so let me have the handkerchief
Married women have every thing-love
and lace and diamonds. Now, papa,
just take out your pocket-book." 1t
was a coaxing voice.
do you suppose l carry ive-hun-
dred-dollar bills in my poeket-book?''
"It makes no odds. Your check-book,
then. I've set my heart on it, it's such
a beauty. If you only look at it-look
at that wreath of flowers, all SO delicate
ly shaded; here the close work in the
light, you see, there the open work in
the shade, SO perfect you can quite fan
cy the colors; and all done in this one
thread. See, papa, there's a dew-drop,
that round hole in the mesh"
''Nonsense, Flor; | can't see any
thing of the kind there"
THAT'S because yOBr eye isn't edu-
Gated, sir. Mine is; for / have studied
other peoples laces till | could almost
work them. That's a good mani |
knew you would. You always do. One,
two, threeIn And then there was a
shower of kisses and tinkling laugh
ter. And that was the conversation of
a millionaire and his daughter that
Lucien Malvin heard over the open
transom to the next room to his in the /
hotel where he stayed over night year
or two ago, seeing neither people nor 4.
handkerchief, and aghast at the thought |
of handkerchief costing tho awful /
price of five hundred dollars, which /.
was one-third of the mortgage on his |
little place that he was trying to pay
off, heart and soul--a conversation 1
that now required TO him in moment /
of real agony, as the house-maid stood 1
before him holding little limp rag in .
her hand that she had Just snatched I.
out of the wash-tub, and that last /
night was a bit Of dainty lace that Miss
Rosa Mercier had called her handker- |
chief, and had given him to hold dur |
ing the galop. Good heavens, how /
was he ever going to restore ii! /
He was Young lawyer, just enter /
ing upon what in time would be fine 1
practice, but which was now rather
empirical. He had started in the race 1
for wealth and honor with good legal |
ability, good name, and good morals, |
and with no other impedimenta than a
little patrimony in the shape of a mod !
est dwelling in the suburbs, which ne |
had been obliged to mortgage for the !
means to get part of his education |
and his profession, which mortgage he |
was striving to pay off, that he might
begin the future clear of the world. !
He was handsome fellow, this Lucian !
Malvin, an ambitious one, too, in some
degree, and very nearly as proud rs
Lucifer. He used to feel many paBg
in the association of those so much
wealthier than himself to which certain
circumstances had subjected him. He
had had an important case accidentally
thrown into his hands, and had acquit-
ted himself so well that the wealthy
client took him up and would not let
him down; and when Lucian remOn-
strated that it was out of his power to
keep up such association, and was NOR
tifying to bis pride besides, the client
had assured him it was not pride, but
vanity, that was mortified, and that the
way to be as wealthy as those he
met was to keep their company
and get their cases; and he
had thought, on the whole, that
perhaps bis friend was right, and if he
began to yield with an ignoble motive,
had nevertheless become very fond of
the ways of people to whom wealth had
given every opportunity of culture and
grace, and who knew how to treat life
like work of art. Moreover, it was
not a little that he was petted by various
of these good people. Certain mOtherly
ladies made him at home with them,
and won his confidence and his atfec-
ton, notably Mrs. Barnetta. Parents
with good rent-rolls of their own, as
Mrs. Barnetta used TO tell him, were not
so insistent in the matter of rent-rolls
as of virtue and talent in their daugh-
ters' husbands; and he was invited here
and invited there, and given to under
stand a great deal more than he choose
to understand. Proud rs Lucifer, as it
was previously stated, he was going to
marry no heireSs of them all and be the
thrall Of her money; he would not
marry a rich woman, he could not
marry poor one. When he married, !
he was going to give, not take, and at
present he had nothing TO give. Per-
haps he would have been a nobler per-
son if he had not been quite so stren-
uOus in this matter of obligation but
then, as Mrs. Barnetta said, he would
not have been Lucian Malvin, and Lu-
clan Malyin was a very good fellow, 4
after all, and there are few of us but
have our faults.
1t was among these people that he I
happened to meet Rosa Mereier. She
had come from distant place, and was
visiting his pleaSanteSt acquaintance:
and certainly the house was pleasanter 4
still after her sunshiny little pres
ence dawned on it. 1t seemed as if. for /.
instance, there never had been anv
flowers in the house before, although it |
had always been overflowing; it SEEM |
ed rs If there had been no music there. /
no light, or color, or cheer; and now
the place was too dangerouslydelightful |
for 3 young man who did not want to
marry to frequent. She was such
lovely little thing; not exactly beauti-
full, that is, she would not have been
beautiful in picture, but in flesh and
blood, and in Lucian Malvin's eyes, she
was exceedingly beautiful, with her
soft color, her clear dark gaze, and her
bright hair that broke into cloud
of sunny rings about her sweet face, such
a gentle gayety went with her where
ever She did, such a tender grace of
manner, too, in the intervals Of her