The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1876-03-03

unconscious. She reyeled in the
thought that she had seen again and
again-and with an expression in his
eyes of so much kindness 10 herself
the hero's brave face.
After supper he left hers while, but
returned 10 beg a brief promenade up
on the balcony, which had been deco
rated 10 become one Of the attractions
of the night. Madame liicard gave con
sent. And il was there, under the green
archway Of palms aud hot.housc plants
that improyised "A tropical vista, that
Colonel Darrell said to the young girl
who seemed 10 him the personification
of guileless sweetness and digniiied
beauty, ''Will you give me one of these
little blue rosettes as a keepsake of the
night?n
Il would-indeed, would" said FL
della, with charming hesitation ''bu,-
but they are not mine 10 give
a strange expression darted across
the hero's face; and then, with Blended
head, he gave one glance into Fidelia's
eyes that made her cheeks, from her
very heart, blush.
"These are yours TO give" he said,
touching gently the bright brown curls
that the evening wind had blown across
his arm. .'May Ip"he asked and being
unforbidden, and while they still moved
onward in the current of the crowded
promenade, he succeeded in possessing
himself of a lock of the beautiful hair.
Such keepsakes, since rendered value
less by the coiffure's uncertainty Of
identity, were a fashion of the day. And
some n may say, ..Perhaps the col
onel, being a brilliant and assiduously
courted man, had already, like an In
dian warrior who r%ejoices in scalp-locks
a. signs of prowess, become the owner
of a belt fringed with the smooth locks
of yanquished girls"
But no. This was his first gallantry
of the kind, and he took the little keep
sake with him when he went to Europe
upon his appointed embassy.
And Fdelia-had she any keepsake
of him? None, excepting the associa-
ton of his grandeur with the fascina-
tion Of her - first ball, " and "A recollec-
ton that she never took without drop
ing her eyelids, and blushing cheek and
heart recollection of one glance.
Two years abroad. but all this time
Madame Ricard correspondent with her
friend Colonel Darrell; and she sent
him, every three months, quite unknown
to Fidelia, "A photograph of her lovely
p%rotegee, whom she managed To have
frequently with her in cities where her
passion for travel allowed her To linger
a fortnight or u month.
The people of the town in which the
kingslands lived were much excited by
al event that occurred during the first
year OF Colonel barrels absence in
Europe. The event was the rebuilding
of the Darrell homestead in a style Of
mingled comfort and magniicencc I'M
paralleled in the region round. When
the edifice was complete, the grounds
were deliberately embeliished, and the
interior was furnished in captivating
taste.
Still greater was the excitement when.
two years after the night of the ball
/ given in his honor, Colonel Darrell re-
turned to his native town; and having
settled himself in his superb mansion,
made Fidelia Kingsland his wife. II
was rumorcd that there had been a cor
re%spondence between the now welded
lovers for half n year or more before
the Colonel's return.
In the meantime the bright little
dame, Madame Ricard, had vanished
from the earth. But Fidelia never for
got her benellctress. Particularly she
remembered the words said to her by
her strange visitor on the night of her
unhappiness, "7here is nothing so con-
S0Ling IS a fricnd.n
When she became established in her
own house, she would not allow herself
to sink into the absorbing happiness Of
love. She was good and atlectionate to
all, even to her step-sisters, who forgot
now in her prosperity that in adverse
hours they had treated her with con-
tempt. The towns-people called her,
accordingly as the adjectives struck
their approaching sense. aifable, Kind,
charitable, courteous, friendly.
Friendly was the true word.
"For friendship was my %fortune,n
said Fidelia. "1.et me never be a miser
of the inestimable prize"