The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1876-07-21

womanlyP For moment, the pain her
words caused him deprived him OF
speech; then he said, slowly, with one
last, lingering look at the face that had
wrought i'm his heart such havoc
:, Forgive me, Miss Gilmore; am
deeply grieved % think l have offended
YOU"
Miss Gilmore never turned her head,
and silence reigned again. The soft
splash of the fountain and the confused
murmur of the voices from the ball
room were the only sounds heard. AT
last Rose became tired of the monot-
ony her conscience was getting too UNI
ruiy.
~ Take me back" she commanded
! imperiously, turning round.
To her unspeakable establishment,
Mr. Dalton was not there; he had dis
appeared, and Rose was left TO wend
\ her way back TO the ballroom rs best
she could. OF course, Miss Rose was
very angry at his desertion, and re-
solved never to speak TO him again;
which she did not have occasion 20 do,
for Mr.. Dalton had departed, bag and
baggage, that very night.
Many marveled at his sudden depart
ure; but Rose held her own counsel,
and, for the first time in her life, did
not tell her dearest intimate friend of
the new conquest she had made. Some
how, before those grave, unworldly
eyes, she had felt ashamed; and Miss
Rose gave up flirting for the rest of
that season-not because she had cared
any thing for Mr.. Dalton, for, to use
her own expression, "She never could
or would have liked red-haired man."
but because this last conquest had left
her more ashamed of herself than any
of her former flirtations.
She had set so Systematically TO work
to win him merely for the vanity's sake
she had allowed him to think that she
thought the world of him, and had dis
carded him in the end in such cold,
heartless manner-that now, when it
was too late, she regretted her foolish
ness. However, Miss Rose was no
more than human, and very human at
that and the following season found
her flirting as desperately a. ever. On
the whole, her refusal of Mr.. Dalton's
offer was the best thing that could have
happened to that young gentleman. IL
aroused all his pride, and he determin-
ed TO make something OF himself, that,
some time in the far-of future, he might
show this cruel, beautiful young woman
that he wss made Of better stuff than
she had ever imagined.
Seven years have elapsed, and again
we meet Miss Rose-this time at the
fashionable resort, the Thousand Isles
The maiden lady Of p has lost all the
bloom Of 20. Too late nights and ex-
ccssiye dissipation tell upon one in the
long run, and they had left Miss Rose
with haggard face, lined with prema-
ture age, and nervous manner, very
disagreeable. She, happily, was una
ware of the rayages relentless Time
had made upon her delicate beauty.
Her daily communions with her mirror
could not reveal the gradual changes
made upon her face and figure; and so
we find her, barring her age, the same
weak, silly, vain Rose as ever. As the
years had slipped by, each following
faster than the other, she had grown
alarmed. She, young, beautiful, and
wealthy, was fast drifting into the
channel Of Old-Maidism. She exerted
herself, therefore, TO fresh endeavors
but other girls, younger, more bloom
ing, aud less frivolous, had superseded !
her: and SO we find her at %, despite
her wealth, on the lookout for that
which she had once least cared for
a husband.
..Have you heard the news?- asked |
one Of group Of young ladies seated 1
on the porch of the Thousand-Island I
House, Of Rose, who has sedulously |
cultivated young society of late.
''No, what is it?r
"Why, the Hon. Mr.. Dalton is com
ing here. Quite young man, too, and
very agreeable"
Unmarried - asked one of the girls. /
ssOf course. 10 you think would /
mention a married man? | met him
last winter at Washington.
"Dalton-Dalton,M murmured Rose.
She had almost forgotten. edward /
Dalton, of Missouri, Ella?n
"The same replied Ella. "Tall I
and red-haired.
"Horridl" groaned the girls.
sob, no, assure you,n cried Ella. 4
''Quite the reverse Been left a for l
tune-over two Millions
Has he ?" calculated Rose. "Why, /
I used to know him. That is''-and /
she smiled complacently-" he fell in
love with me few years ago, and / re-
fused him. There, therel don't tell
any one, girls" and, with coquettish
nod, she left them and entered the
house. "Fell in love with herim ex-
claimed one Of the girls. "Imposs-
blel How could any one fall in love
with such wrinkled, powdered-up old
maid?" And Rose had once outriyaled
them all.