The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-04-14

bloweth where it listeth; and you might
as well try to turn that wind back whittier
it came by blowing against it as to turn
the young mans fancy by any breath of
yours. .
1t was Flora by whose side Lawrence
was ever to be seen. Itpleased his sense
of beauty to look at her; it pleased his
sense of pride to be seen with her; it fed
his budding passion to feel the magnii
cent creature by his side He squan-
dered his money in flowers and books
and music and the like She wore the
! flowers; but when with her it never oc-
| CURED to him that the leaves of the
| books were uncut; and as for the music,
he was in that state when a frog, if it
had been as beautiful as Flora, would
have croaked divinely.
But Mrs. Hounslow was not woman
to- endure without a struggle She called
some wisdom to council. She did not
express personally the slightest dissatis-
! faction with Flora, but she allowed other
people to speak unexpectedly of her
when Lawrence was within hearing,
knowing the force of public opinion; she
took care to admit her beauty, although
in the same breath telling some Incl
dental tradition to the discredit of her
family; and she was very hospitable to
| two fat old toothless aunts of Flora's,
dwelling with sympathy afterward on
the loss of the beauty of their youth,
and the exact likeness between their
youth and Flora's. I" l suppose" said
| Mrs. Hounslow, that Flora will look
just like them twenty years away. Well,
it is something to have had beauty, if
one does become little less than awhale.
What fate, to see ones self turning to
blubber! Perhaps it would be worse,
though, to see another, if you cared. By
the way, Flora called here this after
noon. She had the loveliest enamel belt
buckle; she can wear one the size of
| spread eagle" Then his mother looked
up at him with a twinkle that could
hardly help being contagious. "Ah!
all" she said; "what thing it is to be
| Lawrence Hounslow's mother | have
all the pretty girls declaring me the
most delightful old woman! But sup
pose must leave choice"
When / marry, mother" Law
renee Indignantly began.
| AOu VIII sun SOulS LlC, GOO.
! Dear me' she went on, 81 had almost
forgotten; your Cousin Fanny is coming,
poor thing, and am inviting all these
| girls to come and make it cheerful for
her. She loves young people, for all her
crabbedness." And as Lawrence acqui-
esced, no one but his mother knew how
his heart was beating all the time.
Poor Mrs. Hounslow! Lightly as she
| spoke then, it was not without a tragic
scene in her room, with her husbands
| portrait for sole spectator, that she had
come to the conclusion to try her expert
ment; not because of the experiment
but because of its reason. All! there
was the bitterness-that her idol was
broken, that Lawrence, whose father was
an angel in heaven, was himself, after
all, nothing but clay! She wiped her
| eyes only for another burst of tears, an
other blaze of indignation, to think that
her marvel of man was so small as to
be tricked out of his will by such sub
terfuge as her contemplate experiment.
AS they lived few miles from town,
Mrs. Hounslow had some excuse for her
company. She had often heard that you
never know persons till you live with
them: Lawrence was to have a chance
to know Flora Furlong. What if it
should end by his pursuing a better ac-
quaintance with Louise Mandel! She
began her operations by confiding in
Cousin Fanny-a maiden lady of an I'M
certain age and temper.
"Qulte right" responded Cousin Fan
ny. 81 suppose men are necessary in
the scheme; but if had been making a
world could have dispensed with the
element"
Fanny" cried Mrs. Hounslow, re-
garding this as derogatory to her de-
fenseless husband and outrageous to her
living son.
ooh, indeed~ sale Cousin Fanny, 1.-THE
best of them is only stomach. They
are all simple elevations of the jelly
fish, their great prototype, and he is
nothing else. You can reach their feel
ings, their affections, their passions, their
intellect through the stomach. How
many man has married his cook! The
whole secret of domestic quiet is just to
keep that stomach well filed" Mrs.
Hounslow could not say a word. 1t was
on exactly that theory that she was pro-
ceeding
Three days of the visit had not passed
before an easterly storm gave her her
opportunity Mrs Hounslow had been
scarcely able to conceal her disgust over
Lawrence's devotion to Miss Furlong
"There is something animal about that
girl" she exclaimed once, as Flora left
the room.
Every" echoed Cousin Fanny. "When
she eats-I declare, when she eats, ex-
pcct to see her put down her face like
dog and lap the gravy"
Lawrence's banging door shook the
house. Lawrence was doubly kind to
Flora that night. He sang with her, and
then he took her into the little conserva-
tory. You should always wear those
rich stripes" he said, as she wound an
Oriental scarf around her, stepping in.
"It SO recalls that serpent of old
| Nile"
The sea.serpent, do you mean?"
And then, seeing Cleopatra stranger
to Miss Furlong, Lawrence thought of
the delight of molding the neglected
intellect belonging to such beauty. AS
! for the vouno lady il never entered her