Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1876-03-16
The NICK OF TINE.

other lovers at the young lady's COM
mand, or she could not have fiirted;
but ali her Irritation seemed To be- iii
rected solely to the end of vexing this
single lover, whose grave, quiet. re-
pressed demeanOr never Let her exactly
know whether he were Il lover or not,
and drove her first to some action that
almost betrayed her own feelings. 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
Truesdell had so many suitors. She
Was not SO very good-that is, she was
as good as most people, but not Il jot
better; she WAS not pretty-at least not
till she laughed and showed her white
teeth, and a dimple deep as love ever
nestled in, or till she lifted her great
gray eyes and let you see how Iustrous
they we're under that trick of dropping
lids. No, it could not have been her
beauty that was the charm; il was
voice, m lie. face, figure, all together;
her personality, gay spirits, teasing
m Iods, sweet ways; her infinite variety
that attracted everybody coming with
In its sphere. She sang a little, she
danced little; whatever she did. she did
well, and SO, of course, she fiirted to
perfection, and played off one lover
against another as prettily, the lockers
on might think, as a juggler losses his
golden balls. Bat what did the lovers
think of it?
One of them thought very poorly of
1t, and was determined to bring Miss
Alice TO close quarters in small time.
not In the least aware that all the 9TH
ers had made exactly the same deter
mination, and had found that to deter
mine Was one thing and to- do was an
other. Man might propose, but Miss
Alice must dispose: and Miss Alice
as, indeed. they each and all fondly
hoped-was a match for any one of
them. If she danced with Gregory.
Just as Gregory felt encouraged and be-
gan to whisper the burning words, SHE.
dropped her fam with glance at Nal
lnry. who darted to restore it, and was
detained with thanks and gay words
and replies just long enough to make it
i'm. ossilie for Gregory TO take up the
t.nead where she had broken il. If she
walked with DR.. Fowle, it was only af-
ter she had allowed Mr.. BoI.es to know
thai she would be strolling in that di-
rectlon, where she WAS always so pleas
Ell TO meet him when he came ~ breath
lessly, and found the doctor muttering
anatl em;is between his teeth-invoca-
tons to Ksculapius, she called them.
But DIR. Fowle was not a man you
could put off forever when he once
made up his mind to a thing. and so
Miss Alice began to learn And when
one night. as he bate her 90 d-bye,
Mallory and the rest being there. he
told her, in grave but autlioritive un-
dertone. quite unlike that of the usual
lover. that he wished To see her next
morning at ii o'clock, if she had want
ed To deny him she could not. But. To
tell the truth, she did not exactly want
TO. The young men had seemed so i'll
consequent and stupid that evening;
Nettic Armitage had seemed so frivo-
lous; they had, each in turn, come IN
and interrupted the Doctor wien he
was telling her such fairy-like 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 merriest
OF tliem aid poutsd at the Doctor.
But now, as he was going. she slipped
her hand in his arm and s;,untered
down the lawn with him. The night
WAS a night in June. when, if ever,
nights are perfect; the air was laden
with the breath of honeysuckle and
mock-orange; the winds that ctrled
around them seemed to come from dis
tant lands of everlasting bloom. so
sweet were they; and the stars hung
their lamps through tIie clear dark, close
above the taick tree tops. She fancied
that night that life WAS too delicious i,
thing to be INDUCED in freely, ard she
murmurod something of the fancy with
half laugh. There are times when
We all feel that life is more than we de-
serve" he answered. Tomorrow
it may be-Shali feel the same to-mor-
row, or will fate"
She laughed uneasily. "Y0u mustn't
ask me riddles.- size cried
AT III tomorrow" he said, lifting
his hat.
AT IL Tomorrow" And she went
back to the house, wishing it were II
tomorrow now; and then, in "A gay
freak, as she heard the hail clock strike
she ran down the hall and set the hands
forward an hour. Bring him the
quicker" she wlispered-"bring him
the quicker" and went back To the 9TH
ers.
They were talking of the flags and
balrushes that grew by Lenders Lake,
"A 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 rose early" she said.
~ could be there and back before elev-
en-
''Why eleven?" said Mallory. lazily
's0h, have an engagement at that
hour" she replied. bending her head a
little. that he might not see the color
creeping up.
II am at your service, he said.
"Will you come along, Netty?" she
ssked.
AT O'Clock in the morning. and on
fpot? Not n step. That hour in the
afternoon, behind a pair of bays, would
suit me very we'll" Young Vary
thought it would suit him too.
Every well, Mr.. Mallory. If you
will come at ) Tomorrow, shall have
my bulruslies and be back in good sea-
son.
.We1l not fail. said Mallory. And
tn that end, assure this company that
il is the witc.ling hour Of night, when
the sweetest sound the ear can hear is