The Red Cloud chief., 1877-05-03

Il Am truly glad / have found out his
rue character In time ! never could
endure those people who are as change
able a. the wind that blows"
After I broke with Miss Carter. the
course Of true love ran smoothly for .
time. / called on Mary frequently and,
enjoyed her society very much. There
were. however. several things that puz-
zled me somewhat. noticed that some
times they called her Mary and some
times Jane; but finally I made up my
mind that her name vas Mary Jane.
Sometimes / was sure she had blue eyes
and straight hair, and then. at another
time, / would feel confident that her
eyes were black and her hair curly. l
had read about persons eyes changing
color a. their mood changed. and con.
cluded this was a case In point; and As
to the curly hair. Il soon reached the con-
clusion that there were many stranger
things than for a girl to curl her hair
to please her-ahem-beau.
/ was sometimes confident that my
Mary was rather tall; and then the con-
clusion would force itself upon me. be-
times, that she was only Of medium
height-and, in fact, hardly that.
But such trifing discrepancies did
not trouble me much. I never was q
very critical observer Of small matters.
1 cannot recall q time when l went
from the presence Of q girl and could
afterwards tell what kind of a dress
she had on: and l can now recall
those discrepancies as mere shadows Of
thoughts that passed through my mind
and had no permanent abiding place
there. But there is n thing seems
ever now a vivid, fearful reality, and
that is the intense love l felt for Mary.
How often l told her Of my great love
for her / will not pretend to say. But
she persisted in treating the matter very
lightly. She would not promise to be
my wife. and yet l believed she did not
regard me with a feeling of absolute
indifference. She seemed to have two
moods, quite distinct from each other;
and while one gave me hope, the other
led me to the verge Of despair.
Finally I made up my mind to endure
the suspense no longer, and started to
the residence of my beloved, determined
to know my fate. When ushered into
the parlOr there were two or three per-
ons'there whom l did not particularly
wish to see just at that time and place.
There was Miss Carter, looking unu.
sually well, and Mr.. Briggs, whose coun-
tenance shone with the radiance of an
untold happiness. There, too, was Mrs.
Bradley and two daughters who looked
very much alike. My first thought was
that m of the girls had been off on a
visit and had just returned. A few
moments Of serious thought and close
observation convinced methat such was
not the case.
There sat Mary with the blue eyes,
while a little further away, in another
direction, there was the girl with the
black eyes that were even now spark.
ling with ill-concealed mirth. There
was the girl with straight hair, and there
was the girl whose hair was curly. There
was the tall girl, and the one who wasn't
80 tall. And there-yes it was plain
enough nowhere were the two girls
with the two moods.
As soon as l realized the situation the
thoughts and feelings that took posses
sion of my mind and heart were exceed.
ingly complex. To say that shame, in
dignatiOn and disappointment were
among the prominent feelings of my
heart would be to express what every
person would suppose to be the case.
And to say that 1 set my wits to work
to devise some means to extrlcate N.Y.
self from my unfortunate predicament,
is to declare that I did just what every.
body would have done under the cir.
cumstances. Although sorry to find
Briggs and Miss Carter there when
first arrived, 1 was glad of it. after hav.
ing been there a while, and hoped they
would stay q long time.
What 1 needed was time time to
think. But the more l thought
the greater was my perplexity,
Like a self-confident boy, who sits
down with an air of anticipated tri.
umph to master q puzzle that proves
too much for him. l was amazed thu
no way out of the epherraaeA~.
presented itself tom m mind.
I felt that the only speedy and sure
way oat of my trouble was to get up
and walk out of the house, and turn my
back upon the inmates forever. But l
hated to lose the girls. That is, l hated
to lose one of them.
Pshawi I find it impossible to ex-
press the ideas and feelings that had
possession of me at that time. / sup
pose one reason for it is that NO one in
all the worlds history was ever in just
such q predicament before or ever viii
be again.
Iloved both the girls just the same.
I could hardly get rid of the idea that
they were both the same girl But I
could not marry them both. Hence my
nornloYitv in chOOainO hofwoon thom