Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-03-05
STAUNTON VA, TUESDAY, MARCH s. 1873.
pathos. Meanwhile, Heaven help you,
and forgive nneU

my hospitable host had kept always re
served for me in my wanderings.
fingered some time over my ablutions
hearing the languid, gentlemanly draw
of Sylvester below mingled with thu
equally cool, easy slang of my mysteri
Gus acquaintance. When 1 came dowI
to the sitting room I was surprised
however, to find the self-styled Kearney
quietly seated on the sofa, the gentle
May Sylvester, the "Lilly Of Lone Val
ley," sitting with maidenly awe and
unaffected interest on one side of him
while on the other that arrant flirt, hel
cousin Kate, was practicing the pitiless
archery of her eyes, with an excitement
that seemed almost real.
"WhO is your deliciously cool friend?''
she managed to whisper to me at supper
as sat utterly dazed and bewildered
between the enrapt May Sylvester, who
seemed to hang upon his words, and this
giddy girl of the period, who was emp
tying the battery of her charms in ac-
tive rivalry upon him. "Of course we
know his name isn't Kearney. But how
romantic And isn't he perfectly love
ly? And who is hep"
| replied with severe irony that I was
not aware what foreign potentate was
then travelling incognito in the Sierras
Of California, but that when his Royal
Highness was pleased to inform me, 1
should be pleased to introduce him
properly. "Until then," 1 added, 'I
fear the acquaintance must be Morga-
natic.n
YOU'RE only jealous of him." she
said pertly. "Look at May-she is COM
pletely fascinated. And her father ertoo.n
And actually the languid, world-sick
was regarding him with boyish inter-
est and enthusiasm almost inconlpati-
BILE with his nature. Yet submit hon.
estly to the clear-headed reason of my
own sex, that could see nothing more
in the man that haye already deliver
ed to the reader.
In the middle of an exciting story of
adventure, of which he, to the already
predujdiced minds of his fair auditors.
was evidently hero, he stopped sudden
ly:
tits only.some pack train passing the
bridge on the lower trail,n explained
Sylvester. "Go on"
'It may be my horse is trifle oneasy
in the stable" said the alleged Kearney.
He amt used to boards and covering"
Heaven only knows what wild and
delicious revelation lay in the statement
OF this fact, but the girls looked at each
other with cheeks pink with excitement
as Kearney arose, and with quiet ab-
sence of ceremony, quilted the table.
"Ain't he just lovely I" said Kate,
gasping for breath, land so witty"
"Wittyp' said the gentle May, with
just the slightest trace of defiance in her
sweet voice. witty, my dear? why,
don't you see that his voice is Just
breaking with pathos? Witty, indeed;
why, when he was speaking of that
Mexican woman that was hung, I saw
the tears gather in his eyes. Witty, in
deed !"
'Tears," laughed the cynical Sylves-
ter, tears, idle tears. Why, you silly
children, the man Is man of the world
"a philosopher, quiet, observant, unas-
suming."
"Unassuming" Was Sylvester in
toxicated, or had the mysterious stran-
ger mixed the ''insane herbn with the
family pottage? He returned bafore I
could ansWer this aelf-asked inquiry,
and resumed coolly his broken narrative.
Finding myself forgotten in the man
had so long hesitated to introduce to my
friends, / retired to rest early, only to
bear, through the thin partitions. two
hours later, enthusiastic praises of the
new guest from the Voluble lips of the
girls, as they chatted together in the
next room before retiring.
AT midnight L was startled by the
sound of horses hoofs and the jingling
OF spurs below. A conversation between
my host and and some mysterious per-
sonage in the darkness was carried on
in such low tone that could not learn
its import. AS the cavalcade rode away
l raised the window.
What's the matter'
Nothing" said Sylvester cooIly, only
another one of those playful homicidal
freaks peculiar to the country. A man
was shot by Cherokee Jack over at La
grange this morning, and that was the
Sheriff of Caleveras and his posse hunt
ing him. I told him I'd seen no one
but you and your friend. By the way,
l hope the cursed noise has not dis
turbed him. The poor fellow looked as
if he wanted rest"
thought so, too. Nevertheless, 1
went softly to his room. 1t was empty.
My impression was that he had dis
tanced the Sheriff of Caleveras about
two hours.