Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1879-11-28

lessons in French and water .colors at thu
Young Ladies' Institute, that she shoulc
one day be doing her own work, and econ
i omizing to pay for little house with foul
rooms only, on the lower floor.
She might shave done BETTER" Their
was Samuel Fletcher who every summer
now, came to Sweetville with his carriage
horses and his saddle horses. There wa
Charlie Fordyee and, why VIM was ;
good fellow. She loved VIM. of course
but VIM had kind of honest stupidity
that she feared would prevent his evel
rising That stupidity wearled her
Life was wearisome anyway cherries
and prospectless. M
u may not be the most judicious intel
/ lectuaf exercise for men or women to, re
view matrimonial opportunities, even il
without the slightest disloyalty of imagi
nation. Might-have-beens are extremely
slippery premises, anyway. Possibly, my
dear sir, had you presumed upon the smiles
you once chose to ignore, you would have
found smiles significant only according to
the imagination that Interpreted them.
Possibly, my dear MADAM, the man who
once rather impressively offered himself to
you. now ascribes the notifying act to a
transient impulse, and is sure he should
have found way out of the engagement
had you accepted him.
Meb's door-bell rang. She was familiar
with the humiliation of answering it in
person. Charlie Fordyce was on the steps.
Charlie Fordyce had no tar streaks across
his face. He was starched, brushed and
polished to the last degree. Charlie was
employed at the ''Office.'' He inquired
for VIM. s.s }a4.
"Has he left the depot, think?'' asked
he, as he followed Meb into the little sit
ting-room. ~
81 heard the Bucephalus signal at the
Ferry street crossing minute ago.
"That's too bad; Ellis sent word to have
McGregor take Little Rhody'' out to
Ply mpton in WINS place, and:the Buce-
phalus 60 on to Sidon and come in with
the night freights. We've just had a tel
egram that there are hundred and twen-
ty-ive cars waiting to be moved from 81
don. They were delayed by the snow
storm on the Central and Shore Line last
week. and have only just got through
The chair Meb had set for MIR. Fordyce
was very easy. He was tired after the
slippery. sloppy walk. and, since his pay
went on just the same, why shouldn't he
Finger? e. =
"Were you out to hear Janauschek last
evening"" trs as aa
"No; there was some delay-a bridge
gone, and VIM didn't get in until nine
o'clock. a13 a..a..y $40
''Of course you we're at the concert Of
the Glee Club last week.
No; VIM seldom took her anywhere.
He liked to settle down at home evenings.
Mr.. Fordyce reviewed the performances,
mingling the choicest of the art phrases
culled from his daily paper with others Of
unknown derivation but legitimate sound.
Very humble and hard seemed the round
of uneducated labor in which Meb moved,
to the circle of art and culture in which
Mr.. Fordyce ornamentally revolved.
Meb failed to recollect that Mr.. For
dyce's monthly receipts were little more
than Winn's and that artistic revolutions,
if continued for any length of time, must
depend upon some considerable pecuniary
steam power and quite tangible betting.
She had all that blind confidence in the
money-gettlng powers of fluent man,
which is one of the most curious segments
in that circle of faith from the centre of
Which women look out upon the world.
Mr.. Fordyce's grandmother had small,
inexpensive black eyes. She had deeply
sorrowed and suffered and here and there
amid her descendants appeared large dark
eyes with a weight OF sorrow in them
limped, melting eyes. calculated in their
turn to produce sorrow and suffering.
MIR. Fordyce bent those eyes on Meb.
His voice grew tender and gentle. In his
musical generalizirg he had alluded to the
power of the human voice to stir the heart.
/ 'You look tired, Mrs. Wright
81 am always tlred-latelyn'
This old friend Of the days when she
played the church organ, and took lessons
in French and water-colors, he seemed SO
well fitted to sympathize with herl
Two or three bright irresistible tears fell
over her cheek. Agitatediy, she laid her
hand upon the sofa arm. Mr.. Fordyce's
chair was at the end of the sofa. Very
reverentially Mr.. Fordyce bent over the
hand. ,rnet @ b.a; $3.50.
'.You don't wear the moss-agate now?''
II can't. my fingers have grown so large
with doing my own work."
Mr.. Fordyce's eyes rested for an instant
in Meb's.
She drew away her hand but Mr..
Pordyce understood that his sympathy was
not offensive.
! After this, constraint slightly stiffened
Meb's manner. They talked of agate and
onyx, opal and jacinth, and all the secon-
Diary stones. Mr.. Fordyce said a design
once cut in jacinth was never obliterated.
He was sympathetic, and grave. and ten
der, to the very last over the front door
threshold. Then he whisked through the
gate, and buttoned up his coat with the
comfortable assurance of man who had
successfully enacted the part OF lady-cnar-
mer, his pay going on all the same.
| Meb stepped into an adjacent room to
ascertain by the mirror how her hair look
ed, and whether the cardinal loops under
her chin were not disarranged. Gentle
men Of Mr.. Fordyce's taste were not map
preciative of cardinal loops against back
ground of white illusion.
AS she turned away satisfied, through q
half-open door she saw pair of coarse