St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-11-15


depart in that mood he might lose he
forever. He could think of but on,
way of convincing her instantaneous,
of his devotion, and SO what should h,
do but take the most inOppOrtune Occa
sion in the entire course of the acquaint
ance to make his declaration He wa
like general whose plan of battle ha
been completely deranged by an utterl,
unexpected repulse in preliminar!
movement, compelling him to hurr,
forward his last reserves in a desperat,
attempt to restore the battle.
"What have [ done, Miss Dwyer
Don't you know that | love you? Won
you be my wife ?"
''NO, sir" she said fatty, her tast,
outraged and her sensibilities set OIL
edge by the stupid, blundering, ham
mar-and-tongs onset which from frs
to last he had made. She loved him
and had meant to accept him, but i
she loved him ten times as much sh,
couldn't have helped refusing him jus
then, under these circumstances
if she died for it. AS she spoke sh,
rose and disappeared within the car.
1t is certainly to he hoped that th,
noise of the wheels, which out on the
platform was considerable, prevented
the recording angel from getting thu
full force of Lombard's ejaculation.
1t is bad enough to be refused wher
the delicacy and respectfulness of tn,
lady's manner make "NO," sound 81
much like eyes" that the rejected love
can almost persuade himself that hi
ears have deceived him. 1t is ba(
enough to be refused when she does i
so timidly and shrinkingly and depre
catingly that it might be supposed SHE
were the rejected party. 1t is baC
enough to be refused when she ex.
presses the hope that you will alway,
he friends, and shows disposition tt
make profuse amends in general agreea
bleness for the cOnsummate favor whicI
she is forced to decline you. Not tC
put too fine Il point upon it, it is bad
enough to be refused anyhow you Cal
arrange the circumstances, but to be
refused as Lombard had been, with g
petulance as wounding to his dignity
as was the refusal itself to his affections
is to take bitter pill with an assaf9tida
coating.
In the limp and demoralized condition
in which he was left the only cleal
sentiment in his mind was that he did
not want to meet her again just at pres
ent. So he sat for an hour or two
longer out on the platform, and became
us thoroughly chilled without us he was
within when at dusk the train stopped
at a little three-house station for sup
per. Then he went into one of the
forward day cars, not intending to re-
turn to the sleeping car till Miss Dwyel
should have retired. When the train
reached Ogden next morning, instead
of going on east he would take the
same train back to San Francisco, and
that would be the end of his romance.
His engagement in New York had been
a myth, and Miss Dwyer's "No sir" the
only business with the east that had
brought him on this trip, was at an end.
About an hour after leaving the sup
per station the train suddenly stopped
i'll the midst of the desert. Something
about the engine had become disar-
ranged which it would take some time
to put right. Glad to improve an op-
portunity to stretch their legs, many of
the passengers left the cars and were
strolling about, curiously examining the
sagebrush and the alkali, and admiring
the ghOstly plain us it spread, bare,
level and white as an ice-bound polar
sea, to the feet of the far-otf mountains.
Lombard had also left the car, and
was walking about, his hands in his
overcoat pockets, trying to clear his
mind of the wreckage that obstructed
its working; for Miss Dwyer's refusal
had come upon him us a sudden squall
that carries away the masts and sails of
a vessel and transforms it in a moment
from IA gallant bounding ship to mere
hulk drifting in an entangled mass of
debris. Of course she had Il perfect
right to suit herself about the kind of Il
man she took for husband, but he
certainly had not thought she was such
an utter coquette. If ever woman
gave man reason to think himself as
good as engaged, she had given him
that reason, and yet she refused him as
coolly as she would have declined a
second plate of soup. There must be
some truth, after all, in the Iant of the
poets about the heartlessness and tickle
ness of women, although he had always
been used to consider it the merest
bosh. Suddenly he heard the train
moving. He was perhaps fifty yards
off, and, grumbling anathemas at the
of the conductor, started to
run for the last car. He was not quite
desperate enough to fancy being left
alone on the Nevada desert with night
coming on. He would have caught the
train without difficulty if his foot had
not happened to catch in tough clump
of sage, throw ing him violently to the
ground. AS he gathered himself up
the train was hundred yards off, and
moving rapidly. To overtake it was
out of the question.
"Stop! ho! stop" he yelled at the
top of his lungs. But there was no one
on the rear platform to see him, and the
closed windows and the rattle of the
wheels were sufficient to render much
louder noise than he could make in
audible to the doing passengers. And
now the engineer pulled out the throt-
tle-valve to make up for lost time, and
the clatter of the train faded into dis
tant roar and its lights began to twinkle
into indistinctness.
"DamnatiOn ~
A voice fell like falling star: tGen-
tlemen do not use profane language in
ladies' company"
He first looked up in the air, as on
the whole the likeliest quarter for a
voice to come from in this desert, then
around. Just on the other side of the
track stood Miss Dwyer, smiling with
somewhat constrained attempt at self
possession. Lombard was good deal
taken aback, but in his surprise he did
not forget that this was the young lady
VINO mad refused him that afternoon.
:! beg your pardon" he replied with
. . SUN bow; 81 did not suppose that
there were any ladies within hearing.n