Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1879-02-05

my dear Mederic," said Paul, ~
have a confession to make. When l
came here three weeks ago, / swear by
my hoary-headed ancestors that l had
the most disinterested desire to zee you
married. l had a pearl in my hand that
| would have given you on the spot; but
it is.weu to distrust your first thoughts
whiph are best. When / found myself
alone still said Yes Mederic shall
be happy. / haven't Abetter friend In
the world But as / was walking along
l began to reflect: 8 Yes, I have 4 better
friend now than Mederic-that friend is
myself / returned to the beautiful
widow and begged her not to go to the
church OF Saint Roch, or IL she couldn't
possibly. stay away, at least not to wear
the prettv hat she wanted to wear for
the Art time, for good luck. She
laughed she blushed, she laughed again.
Then / mustered up all my courage. I
said to- her, Il love you, my cousin
And she said. my cousin, I know IT,
And 70 my dear Mederic, I have come to
invite you to the wedding. But, now,
take my hand, for | have betrayed
friendship. One word, however, I have
come and come again, several times. in
hopes Of meeting you. l believed you
had closed your doors on me, and felt
like taking offence, but finally contented
myself with writing to you.
~ did not get your letter"
~ thougb you were furious at not
meeting the lady in the blue hat"
~ did meet her, and meet her to such
purpose that l am engaged to her and
now ask you to my wedding. Only it
was . white and blue"
Ibid not get your letter."
al don't understand it," cried the two
friends in chorus, with as much unison
as If they had been actors at the opera
coninpe
"Iwant to own up,"' muttered the
valet, falling on his knees before his
master. "There is only one culprit
here, and that's me! First, / told Mon
sieur the marquis that Monsieur the
viscOunt was out of town; second, /
closed the door on Monsieur the viscount.
l suppressed the letters of both gentle,
men. To be brief, I acted like a rascal,
and, what is harder to admit, like a fool.
l wanted to prevent my master from
marrying, and | was ass enough to put
him in the way Of it. If it hadn't been
for my folly you two gentleman would
have met the next day after that fatal
Sunday. You'd laughed . little about
it mt the club. Monsieur the marquis
would have retired from the affair as
soon as he perceived the feelings of the
viscount towards his cousin, and there
would have been an end of it." 60
"The rascal is right, cried Paul.
" He has been the necessary obstacle
which makes these things successful.
WELL" responded Mederic, eff my
wife doesn't take a dislike to him I'll
keep him"
"Monsieur the marquis does me great
honor" said the valet, but l am bound
to leave his service. I have sworn to
follow the examples of my ancestors,
who died bachelors, every one of them,
and who never would consent to go out
to service with married people. Unjust
religiously keep the promise l made to
myself"
Mederic married the lady with the
blue hat, Paul married his cousin. The
two households are perfectly happy, and
there are plenty of children too. Me.
deric has given up his German lessona
The little girl has an excellent teacher,
but she thinks he doesn't begin to teach
her as much or rs we'll as her dear papa.
81 have been intending for several
years." said the marquis one day to hi
wife, " to ask an explanation but we've
always had something else to talk about
when we've been alone. What kind Of
a hat was it you wore at St. Roch the
first time ! saw your Was it blue o.
white?"
"Blue."
"WhyW
Because l ordered a blue hat of my
milliner. If I'd ordered a white n she
would have given me the same hat, bat
it wonld have been white.-Paris Figaro