The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-11-11
when the genuine article was not TO be had,
1t was pleasant to play at love-better half

woods one afternoon, where the pine needles
made carpet, and q froliesome brook capered
and dubbed down from its mountain source.
Leroy and Louise had wandered away to col,
lect brushwood to boil the tea-kettle, but had
gathered flowers instead; and when the sum
set had begunAto fade, and warned them to
return to their party, they found 1t was some.
thing more easily said than DONE After some
time spent In vain search for the right path,
they Seated themselves on q messy log I'll
Louise should recover breath and strength.
and studied such fragments OF CONSULTATIONS
as peered through the branches overhead,
and listened to the lonely pathos OF the whip
poor-will, and made the place ring with their
chorus, not much daunted by the situation,
Leroy happy enough in the protracted seclu--
sion which had befallen him. Later he had
waxed sentimental and pOetical, and she had
laughed at and Interrupted his loftlest
aWere you ever in love, Miss Dabney9" he
asked
scores of times; from the age of six.
Isn't that everybody's experience"
Not mine, ;, he returned Il was never In
"And who was the happy creaturey', she
asked, recklessly, thinking he referred to
"Who seas sheS Why do you speak in the
sad imperfect
"You don't mean to say"
II mean to say that the only woman ever
loved, or shall love, is"
"Oh, bark p cried Louise, rising. IT hear
nsso the dEe s5s ho tae
Mr. Northcote how glad am to see you! 1
didn't know as we should get home till morn
ing" as that gentleman waved the brand he
had stolen from their gypsy fire and shouted,
Eureka
Il didn't know but was de trop again,
when found you and Leroy taking it SO
cozily" said Northcote later, as he opened
Mrs Furniss' garden gate for Louise to en-
ter, Leroy having been already captured by
the hostess. 81 feared / had mistaken my
vocation, and had not been cut out for a dis
Indeed, was never so glad to see you in
my life; life, :, ., Wac u so Ind 30 tbat,p
eve were so hungry
II doubt if you would be tender"
Il could be. Miss Dabney, depend on it,
both tender and true There, don't start.
You thought you had escaped Charybdis only
afraid you would have accepted Leroy before
could find you"
''You thought was to be had for the ask
ing. -, 49,, ,..oro -. 70 bo had .t oil,
"But why should you have cared If had
accepted forty heroysr
''Because, in the first place. 1t would be a
little unusual, and because l thought you
| might DO better. =, xr.,
any letters tonight, Mrs. FURNISH"
fHere are two for Mr.. Loring Northcote,
ditto for Miss Mellish, and one--yes, one
for Miss Dabney," replied that lady.
81 don't know the hand, said Louise, turn
Fairfield / never heard of that place be-
fore. Some mistake fear"
Fairfield" repeated Leroy, catching the
word and speaking On the impulse, with
sort. There's some sort Of water there good
for blues and biliousness."
Louise opened the letter and read:
"Miss Dabney-You may think 1t an in
trusion for me to address you, but hear
the same roof with Mr.. Leroy, and that he is
falling a victim to your cruel spell; beg
you to send him back to me. He is mine; he
Is all I have. cannot live without him. Be-
fore he met you, he was all my. own Have
mercy, and send him back to me heart-whole!
What will it signify to you?-only one con-
quest the less among. your scores, while it
will mean either lifelong misery or hap
piness, as you may choose, to
The gentlemen had gone to the smoking
room, and the ladies Of the house were chat
ting merrily about her as she read. Mr.. Leroy
had been trembling on the brink OF propo,
sal that very night, and yet he was engaged
to be married. How dared he mention love
to her But had she been blameless2 Hadn't
she tlirted deliberately with another girls
lover2 What disaster had she not wrought in
her mad pursuit of an admiration which she
did not valuel What should she say to himf
pense had her vanity been flatteredl Just to
prove that she was attractive like
other women, she had worked this
wrong. To be sure, she had no experience to
daries Of Irritation and love-making were
more clearly defined. She had never meant
| to make Leroy love her; but, whatever she
had meant, it was all one to this poor foolish
Lizette. Her regrets and self-accusations be-
set her 50 sorely that she was obliged to
leave the gay raillery about her and take re-
| fuge upon the veranda, where the shadows
| hid her. and, leaning her head against the
lattice, where the dewdrenched passion
flowers shook out their sweetness, the hot
tears filled and overlooked her eyes, and sobs
seemed to tear her heart asunder.
Tears idle tears, Louise" whispered
some one whose neighborhood she had not
needed 'Can help you? Shall stay and
try yyonodv con bo,n mo Mr. Nortboote
have done such a dreadful thing! l have
been flirting with another woman's lover. She
has written to tell me SOTO beg l will send
him back to her He Is all she has, she says.
And IL don't care a fig for him; and what
"As he would have DONE If hadn't arrived
in the nick of time, tonight"
"What shall do? How shall send him
back heart whoe?'
"You would avoid the dreaded question,
fancy, If he were to hear tomorrow that
that you belonged to somebody else; that
some one had stolen march on him-if he
We're to hear that you belonged me-"
"Oh. Mr.. Northcote, to you! You don't
want to own such mischief maker
81 want to own you, Louise"
Mr.. Leroy, stro1ling out from the smoking
room, was petrified by the shadow Of a pai1
Of embracing lovers, cast by the late rising
moon. 'Cheekmated, by Jove!" he muttered
reectively. mo fun hanging about here
any longer. had better go back to Lizette.
| Adams hats 26 St Charles street