Louisiana capitolian., 1879-07-19
NEARLY A VICTIM.

i
am going to get married. "At least,
coloring up and dimplng all over like
u large baby in her embarrassment, 81
have il under consideration"
"Who is tho young man ?" said aunt
Agatha.
''Wcll, he's not so very young" said
Miss Warden; "at least not what You
would call in his first youth"
"Ah" said aunt Agatha, who had
rather genius for guessing riddles; "a
widowerW
eyes" said Lille. "ro tell you the
truth, aunt Aggic, he has been married
twice"
"And you want to be Number Three,
ch p said aunt Agatha.
OTIS Mr.. Vanc," said Lille, skillfully
cvading the question.
"Oh' said aunt Agatha; "Mr. Vanc,
eh eyes, I've heard of him. As n
general thing, my dear, when u man has
killed off two wives"
ooh, aunt Agatha" cried out Lille,
Indignantly, chow can you talk in that
dreadful manucrW
ats the story of Blucbeard, my
love-" said the old lady, beaming mild
ly through her spcctacIcs. AS old as
the hi!ls And you deliberately elect
to become Fatima, or Scheherazadc, or
whatever her oriental name was---"
81 havn't accepted him yet" said
Lille, stitching away very fast at her
piece Of worsted work; but l like him
very much indeed"
"lloratius Nane" slowly repeated
aunt Agatha. 81 knew his first wife, a
pretty, bue-eycd dot of thing who
blushed when you looked at her, and
faded into the grave not twelve months
after she put on her wedding ring"
ooh, yes, she fen into decline. Mr..
Vane sheds tears whom he speaks of
her"
"Old crocodile p' said aunt Agatha
with energy. "IIer mother says he
killed her with his temper and tyranny
as completely as if he had held q knife
to her throat"
"Mothers-in-law are always prcjudc-
cd witnesses" said Lille petulantly.
"The second wife, too" said aunt
Agatha; "she was a spirited, black-eycd
girl from the South, with money of her
own. She died in an insane asylum
at was hereditary" said Lille, "IIo-
ratius-Mr. Vane, | mean--has told me
all about it,"
Perhaps" said aunt Agatha, cough
ing dryly, cher relatives thought diff
fercntly. think they would be ready
to practice Judge Lynch's code on him
if he ventured to present himself at her
Southern home"
@I'hat's all nonsense" spoke up rcso-
lutte Lille. "Any mans character could
be taken away with insinuations like
those. If you could only see him, aunt
Agatha" o
Hearing of him is quite enough for
me-" said aunt Agatha.
''Hc is so piOus," said Lille. "He
has Bible class, and he is the superin-
tendent of the Mission Sunday School,
and he has the sweetest Bible quotations
ready for all the incidents in life. And
oh, he is so charitable He gives to the
poor and visits the sick, and"
''stay minute" said aunt Agatha.
''IIow do you know all this 2"
"Why, from what he tells me-"
Aunt Agatha smiled.
"My dear little girl" said she, "you
wouldn't make very goY judge of the
Supreme Court"
Lily pouted.
''You don't give me credit for even an
ordinary amount of common sense" she
said.
Not while you are so desperately in
love- said aunt Agatha.
The fair girl worked on in silence. The
old lady sat and watched her through
the cleaning circlets of her spectacle
glasses.
She is like a child playing, all un-
conscious, on the verge of precipice,"
thought aunt Agatha. How can l
warn her--how dissuade her from the
fate on which she seems bent on rush
ing' | firmly believe Horatius Vane to
IL, , Sn,art tOnCued scounIre) nf the first