Claiborne guardian. [volume] (Homer, La.) 1877-188?, 1880-09-15
MAYS WAGER.

vvsNSssss
81 bet you six pair of Jouvin's
best, my dear, that l bring the
scorner of women to my feet within
six weeksf That is a fair allowance
week for each pair of gl0ves!- ex.
claimed Miss May Meredith, as she
sat chatting with a gay party of
girls.
She was an acknowledged belle
with them, and although the man
in question, well adapted to win
w.Omen's hearts that he was, was
known rather to avoid the sex. or to
waste upon them cynicisms or cour.
teOus sarcasms, there were none
present who did not believe Nav
Meredith had but to will and do.
None present, did l sayi In q
far-off corner of the luxuriously fur.
nished room sat a young girl, busily
sewing. The shell.tinted ears could
not fail to catch the conversation,
and although the long lashes did
not lift themselves from the great
brown eyes bent upon the work, a
slightly contemptuous curve gath
cred about the well-cut lips, followed
by a half unconscious shrug Of the
pretty rounded shoulders.
1t was only Miss Harlon, Mrs.
Merediths poor dependent. She
was a distant relative of the family,
but 80 distant that the relationship
was lost sight of in the meagre
salary al lowed her for supervising
the large household and taking the
part somewhat of a Cinderella tor
the young ladies.
What mattered that, three years
before, she had sung out of her
young heart, from morn till eve, in
the pretty country parsonage in
which her dear, dead father had
been actori He had died and left
her with the song unfinished on her
lips. The blow had almost killed
her, but a sweet hope in her heart
Of another strong arm ready to plo.
tect her, and fill, as best he might,
his place, enabled her to live through
it, until she learned, as she sup
posed, that all the world was false,
and gladly, thankfully, accepted
Mrs. Meredith's final offer of a home,
independence, however small, and
only bowed the auburn covered head
in silence, when her cousin said:
al do not expect you in any way
to presume upon the distant tie be-
tween us, but simply to fulfil the
duties assigned you. Of course,
having two young lady daughters,
and the fact of your being in mourn.
ing and without a suitable ward.
robe, you will not expect to enter at
all into society, or even into my own
drawing-roOm."
Which sentence being delivered
very quickly, and without, it must
be confessed, due regard to the
rules of parsing, only lost its i'm
pressiveness through Miss Harlon's
entire indifference to the subject
matter it contained.
Her life was not q hard life, ex.
cept in its utter loneliness, and the
moments when she waged her war
with memory over a wound that
would not heal; but she idly won
dered, sitting there, who this man
was who had given rise to all this
absurd speculation.
"Bring him to your feet, May, is
rather ambiguous, is it notT ques-
toned one of the party. "What do
you mean by that phraseT
81 mean that within six weeks, if
l 40 will it, l may become Mrs. Leigh
Creighton"
The words were greeted with q
laugh; but from the girls hands in
the corner the work had dropped,
all trace Of color had left the lonely
face, the great brown eyes were
open wide, even dilated, with q
strange, frightened expression in
their deptha-
Leigh Creighton! Was it her
own fancy which had imagined the
wordsi No. They were all busily
u