Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-02-02
A SMALL BOY.


Harper's Weekly.
"Oh! say, she's ous,'' said small
Ned, as be opened the door. "She's
gone to the dress.maker's, but she'll
be back soon, 'caus she's got to friz
her hair for dinner. Come in and
wait"
accepted the invitation, and in,
stalled myself in the easiest chair in
the parlor, after rolling it to the bay
window, So lis to command view of
the street, while Ned "hirted" him
self, as he called it, on a marblc-top-
ped table beside me, and sat there,
with the crispy cheekiness of early
boyhood, whislling and swinging his
feet.
Ned was chap of ten years, with 4
remarkable memory-:is was tated
to di>cover-,he youngest brother of
Miss Victoria ConrIl. and Miss Vic
loria Conrad was Il handsome, dash
ing, clever girl whom | had met at II
picnic the preceding summer, and
with whom had immediately fallen
desperately in love.
use the word "de>perately" ad-
visedly, for it was my first really seri-
Gus ENHANCEMENT, and my charmer,
being Il thorou yh mistress of the arts
by which young and susceptible male
hearts are subjugated, had enthralled
me most completely.
True, before l cast myself at her
feet, had felt Il great tenderness for
Il sweet little third or fourth cousin OF
mlne, a slight pale young girl, with
hair of the taln,est gold and eyes of
the sottest blue, and an innocent,
trusting, child-like look in her pretty
face.
But beside Miss Conrad, with her
magnificent form, glorious auburn
tresses,and wonderful big black eyes,
May Newton tadedinto insignitiance.
1t was as though one placed a deli
cate, cream-colored lily in The same
vase with gorgeous, Halne-dashed.
with-crimson-leaved, brown-throated
gladIOle.
And so l found, on becoming &C
quainted with Miss Conrad, that my
feeling tor May, which had existed
since our earliest childhood, was
only tenderness, while my feeling
for Victoria, although but three
months old, already amounted to a
passion.
But, in spite of my infatuation for
the latter, | was not blind to the fact
that she was Il finished coquette, and
| didn't half like the way, after the
very decided encouragement she had
given me, she flirted with my init
mate friend, Charley Thornton
Sometimes, indeed, 1t flashed upon
NE that there had been love affair
between them which had not entire
ly ended even now, and it was after
one of these flashes had sought her
house, determined to discover what
her real feelings toward me were,and
resolved that when | lett her it tshould
be either as an accepted or rejected
suitor.
TO speak frankly, I had every rea-
son to believe, in spite Of the flashes,
1t would be as an accepted one.-
For us much rs Thornton was dis.
tinguished by Miss Com ad above her
other admirers, just so much had |
been of late distinguished above
Thornton. And we two were equal
III age, looks, family, education and
four lady-love thought) tortune.-
| say our lady-love thought, for the
truth was, compared to me, Charley
was poor. How Twas, l had taken
care should not be known; for
though only three-and-twenty, had
already grown tired OF single life,
with its attendant boarding-houses,
and WAS looking for wife, with u
view to Il comfortable home of my
own. And like Lord Burleigh and
other romantic, poetical fellows, l
wanted to be loved for myself alone.
Only Charley Thornton knew Of
recently inherited wealth, and him |
had bound by all that is sacred in
friendship not to disclose it.
$50 in singing me out tor favor"
I argued, "Victoria leads me to sup
pose she loves ne. Aud it she con-
sents to become my wife, that sup
position will turn into a happy GER
tainty, for she certainly, with her
beauty and talents, might make
much finer match than the one Ieffor
her. And what delight it will be
when the words are said that seal
my happiness and make her all my
own, to see her resplendent eyes