The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1876-09-21
A BIT OF LACE.

!. | dare say, Flor"
aBut / want you to look at it,
; 81 shouldn't know any more about it
HI did, s4g 0f
Well, then, I want you to buy it. :"
aBuy it. What for?''
"Wsy, for me-"
/" Paw five hundred dollars for a hand
terchief for you?"
aYes, indeed. Why, papa, l should
think il was something atrocious.
All the other girls have them,
Although certainly, this is little,
the least little, nicer than theirs.
don't know why Lucy should have a
handsomer handkerchief than |, just
hacause she's married. Any body else
would saw it was enough to be married,
snd q let me have the handkerchief.
Married women have every thing
ma laee and diamonds. Now, papa,
lust take out your pocket-book." 1t
was coaxing voice.
"Do you suppose | carry five-hun-
dred-doflar bills in my pocket-book? ?"
Il q Il makes no odds. Your check-book,
then. I've set my heart on it, it's such
4 beauty. Ifyou only look at it-look
Il that wreath of flowers, all so delicate
" shaded; here the close work in the
ipht, you see, there the open work in
t6eshade, SO perfect you can quite fam
a. the colurs; and all done in this one
thread. See, papa, there's a dew-drop,
$ that round hole in the mesh.
.sNonsense, Flor; can't see any
thing Of the kind there.n
what's because your eye isn't edu-
Gated, sir. Mine is; for I have studied
other peoples laces till I could almost
work them. That's a good man! I
knew yon would. You always do. One,
two, three!', And then there was a
shower Of kisses and tinkling laugh
Ter. And that was the conversation of
! millionaire and his daughter that
Lucien Ma}vin heard over the open
trsnsom to the nextlroom to his in the
hotel where he stayed over night a year
or two ago, seeing neither people nor
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
oil, heart and soul-a conversation
that now REQUIRED to him in moment
Of real agony, as the house-maid stood
before him holding little limp rag in
4oh her hand that she had just snatched
d oat aof ithe wash-tub, and that last
night was q bit of dainty lace that Miss
Rosa Mercier had called her handker-
Chief, and had given him to hold dur
L Ing the galop. Good heavens, how
Vas be ever going to restore it!
N He was q young lawyer, just enter
iag upon,What in time would be fine
practice, but which was now rather
empirical. He had started in the race
for wealth and honor with good legal
abfity, good name, and good morals,
md with no other impedimenta than a
little pAtrimony in the shape of mod.
eat dwelling inithe suburbs, which he
Id beep obliged to mortgage for the
means to get a part of his education
and his profession, which mortgage he
vas striving to pay of, that he might
begin the future clear of the world.
He vas handsome fellow, this Lucian
Nalyin, an ambitious one, too, in some
degfee, and very nearly as proud as
Lucifef. He used to feel many pang
= tho association of those so much
Nsalbhier than. himself to which certain
aeircumstances had subjected him. He
30 had an important case accidentally
ihroNn into, his hands, and had acquit-
ed himself so well that the. wealthy
Giant took him up and would not lei
nm down; and when Lucian remon.
sRsted that it was out of his power te
sssep sp such association, and was NOR.
uying to his pride besides, the client
nad assured him it was not pride, but
vanity That was mortified, and that the
Wy 70 Ysbe los wealthy as those ht
IaMet wassito keep their company
M get n their ceases; and ht
nad thought, on the whole, tha
Perhape his friend was right, and if b,
eegan 70 yield with an ignoble motive
20 hsseTtheless become very fond o
a.ewsys'of people to whom wealth hat
Neu ssery opportunity of culture ant
aeA md who knew how to treat lif,
ake . Mokk fart. Moreover, it wa
aos little that he was petted by variou
= \, @esa good people. Certain motherl,
no,es made him. at home with them
ssc won Ms confidence and his affec
een, notably Mrs. Barnetta. Parent
NJ good rent-rolls Of their own, a
- hasnetta used to tell him, were no
- nslstent In, the matter Of rent-roll
elI Iyir4lsa and talent in their daugh
~ hands; and he was invited her
qEltedi there, and given to under
ad grest deal more than he choos
undefstana: Proud as Lucifer, as
=. previously stated, he was going t
no hetrg Of them all and be th
80. ~. 81 q 1er money; he would no
Z rfch woman, he could no
$. ys peer one. When he married
XM4 s0u{h1 !.