The Newark ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1877-1???, 1880-08-07
The Red Flag at No. 54.

Cousin Ned from California, Nevada,
New Mexico, and all other places be.
yond the Rocky mountains, has been
paying us q visit. You know Just what
a jolly good soul Ned always was, and
he is Just as jolly now-as why should
he not be, with an income of six or seven
thousand yearp Beside that my pooI
Georges eighteen hundred hides its
diminished head, He is handsomer than
ever, too-the same merry brown eyer
and chestnut hair; but, in addition,
an appearance, an air SO altogether
distingue that our neighbors all
go to their windows to gaze after
him. Well, do you know, the mo.
ment he appeared / set my heart on him
for our dear old friend Adelaide, who
shall not waste her sweetness on the
desert air if can help it. You know
] always had fancy for matchmaking,
though. to confess the truth, / have
never yet scored success in that line;
my two predestined affinities always fly
off at tangent Just as fatter myself
it is un fait accompli. (You will per,
ceive / have not forgotten quite all the
French we learned together at the River
side seminary. Notwithstanding my
years of devotion to pies and puddings.
will keepa little of IL out of respect
for the memory of poor Mademoiselle
Laurent who worked so hard to drill II
into mel.
Rut Adelaide and Ned have been cor
responding year or two; he speaks oi
her with great respect-as how could lie
otherwises of course p--and. 7 @hav.
fondly hoped that his missi Q the
East may have more relation % the
affairs of the heart than to mining
stocks, as he pretends. s
Well, soon after his arrival three
weeks ago, Ned and were sitting in
the dining-room alone; the children
bad started for school, and George had
kissed me and gone downtown, after
an hours talk with Ned about ranches,
and burros, and gulches, and canons.
Now that was alone with our visitor
the conversation took a confidential
turn, bordering on the sentimental, and
in pursuance of the idea uppermost in
my mind, / told him / thought il
mysterious, providential, that he had
not fallen q victim to some bonanza
princess, or some bewithing senorita
with no dover but her beauty.
"And by the way" / went on, "what
was ever the trouble between you and
the captains daughterP" Tv
You remember Of course, Julia, how
much we heard at the time about that
affair-how during the war 1 used to
read to you, even during study bours,
the letters / had received from brother
Jim, stationed at Fortress Monroe,
giving the details. in Jim's rather
satirical style, of the serious Irritation
In progress between Lieutenant Ned,
of Company G, and Captain Daring
tons pretty daughter, of the regularsf
And afterward, how some way a
shadow came between them-nobody
could tell how, only that Ned was
hasty, and had exaggerated ideas of
mans prerogatives, perhaps, and Miss
Darlington proud and shyP So it was
forgotten. ~ At4s siGA
And now this same lieutenant, after
nair- breadth escapes from shot and
shell, and scalping Apaches, sat there
in an easy chair by my Baltimore
heater and actually turned pale because
mentioned the captains daughterw
Love is indeed la grande passion.
He had nothing to communicate,
however; bade me consider that we
were always great fools a. -enty-one,
and likely at that time to tosught in
a trap, OF, on the other b vs,,i. throw
our chances of happiness d, Just aa
it chanced to be; he became silent, and
had not the heart to rally him as he
sat there watching the floating smoke
of his cigar with q far-off look in his
eyes-knowing as l did that he had
gone back fifteen years, and that he was
walking the moonlight beach with
pretty Lottie Darlington, while the
band of the regiment played In the dis
tance. &F
From the sublime to the ridiculous
1t is always my fate, dear Julia. Bar
ney, the factotum of the neighborhood,
tapped at the window, and as raised
the sash, "a foine morning, num-" said
he; there's red flag out at Number
81, and ! thought I'd be after comm to
tell ye. 'Tis toine house, and foine
Barney knows my weakness, and he
had seen me Few days before an ami
mated bidder at an auction in the
neighborhood. THANK you, Barney;
/ think I'll be on hand" l replied, clos.
ing the window. -
"a foine leddy be sure; I had
often met her--a faced woman,
plainly and tastefj lessed, walking
with two charmi1 children. Her
house seemed the abode Of peace and
comfort, so far as the passer-by could
Judge, and what could have compelled
the breaking up of 80 cosy an establish-
mentP At all events / would not stop
to speculate-it was possible here was
my opportunity to secure handsome
I sideboard at a bargain. As wished
to be on hand in time TO look through
the house before the sale began, asked
Ned to have the goodness to excuse me
for an hour or so.
"Oh, l will 60 with you, Mrs. Too
.les." said he. quite gayly. and ran up
stairs for his hat and cane.
So off we went to No. "a, where the