The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-03-19
+" ready pointed to kiss" rs the Germans
lie h,1 "A L


say. il it had not been for George, I
should have fallen III love on the spot;
as 1t vas, l resolved that my papers and
magazines, which had been intended for
the IL location ct Mrs. Browns lodger,
should be my tribute to the new diyin-
ity.
VI course swim was now out of the
question; 80, taking out book, sat
myself down Mt short distance, in u
position whence had full view of the
new arrival. Not one glance did she
deign to bestow on me. She read steadi-
ly on till ] o'clock, aud then, after con-
sulting her watch, rose from her seat,
removed her Sailors hat and deliberately
twisted the whole of her magnificent hair
into bright silky coil, which covered
the back of her head, and then drawing
on her gloves and jauntily setting on her
hat again she prepared to ascend the
cliff
don't think, considering George
Lomax had left my last letter n week uu-
answered, that l was wrong in following
the fair unknown (at respectful dis
lance. of courseD and admiring her
! graceful walk and the soft undulations of
her figure the whole way. l had some
difficulty IN keeping her III sight, with
out letting her perceive it, but still man.
aged to reach the top step Just as the
blue and white dress disappeared within
the doorway of my lodgings. / nearly
fell backward down the steps again of
Mrs. Browns house.
"My compliments to the lady mp
stairs, Mrs. Brown" l said, landing her
the days papers rs she placed Il chop,
colder and greasicr than ever, before me.
"She is an old lady, l think you told
me-" l continued, us l thought, very
slyly, land probably good deal in
doors. Ii you find she is in want of
books-and they are not easy to get here
You can offer her the use of mine.
THANK you, sir" said she. I'm
sure aS both the laiies will take it very
| kind of you"
"Both!" repeated, and ray of hope
! floated across my brain that the girl l
had seen on the beach and Miss Tabitha
kezia Smith might yet prove to be diff
ferent persons. "You only told me of
one"
1.-The second one," said Mrs. Brown,
"the youag lady Though, for the matter
of that, she is widow, though only
twenty-one, which j know what it is,
being one myself, and also not old, when
left desolate) only came this morning,
having been detained by business, for
her late husbands affairs are not yet set
tied"
How sad! So young and pretty, and
n widow; and her husband must have
been dead some time, for she was dressed
in blue, l mentally observed.
Is the other lady her MOTHER" /
asked
"No, sir; the other lady is her COM
panion, she told me, she being too young
to live alone ut present"
"And what is her name, Mrs. Brown ?"
"Mrs. Campbell, sir; which her hus-
band was Scotchman, should think;
for poor Brown once knew"
But as what poor Brown knew was Il
matter of the greatest Indifference to me,
cut my landlady short ut once.
well, take up the papers now, Mrs
Brown" said; "and I'm sure the lauies
are very welcome to any of my magazines
and things"
Mrs. Brown retired with mutton
bone and the Illustrated NewS, leaving
my mind relieved of the hideous fancy
which had bcset it, that the graceful
woman j had seen on the sands did vet
rejoice in the name of Tabitha, and was
left free to give her whatever name her
appearance and my imagination sug-
gested; and l, being suppose in n
spoony mood just then, did then and
there christen her Undine, whom, ac-
cor,iing to the most beautiful of all the
beautiful German legends, she really re-
sembled.
After the first overtures we got on
wonderfully fast. Undine and wandered
about together all day, and played chess
in the evening, while Miss Smith, the
companion, dozed over her knitting; and
though another week had passed without
felt happier than had ever been in my
life, not even excepting those palmy
days of Miss Bamford's last illness, dur
ing which l was received with open arms
in Bryanstone Square; and Mrs. Lomax
WAS so plainly atfectionate, that had she
not been Georges mother I'll have cut
her acquaintance.
confined all my history and its trou-
blcs to Undiue; all, excepting my en-
ga2cmcnt, which | did not see Chc use Of
doing, considering Georgies shameful
treatment of me; aud she was very kind
and sympathizing, though she could not
imagine why / refused to see Miss Ellis
ton. "Who knows? Perhaps she was
a very nice girl, whom you might have
liked, and in time have loved" and
Undine's voice, M she said this, was SC
soft and tender that was within IN ace
of forgetting Miss Lomax and every
other consideration, and telling her il
was she / loved, and none other.
And it was true. Nowthat a real deep
attachment had sprung up i'll my heart,
realized III full the difference between
the love born of nature, amid the blue
sky, the green earth, and the mighty
waves, and such love as | once imagined
felt for Georgiana Lomax, the offspring
of the light and glitter and falsi'y of a
London drawing-room, M exotic which
must be carefully nursed in its native
atmosphere, or it will shrink, and wither,
and die.
But stop! I'm actually getting senti'
mental. Well, If you had seen Mrs
Campbell, 80 young, so lonely, so desc
late, you might have done the same
But l will return to the prose Of every
day life.
Ihave not yet mentioned Frank Hardy,
and yet he was the greatest friend l had
in the world. We were ut college togeth
er, and he knew the history of all my
troubles, of my ENHANCEMENT with Miss
Lomax, of the disgust had felt ut the
proposition of Miss Elliston, that should
come and see her, and of my firmly-root'
ed determination never either to see, OF
in any way have anything to do with tn.
young person. 1t is my private belize
!. that he thought me rather fool for my
pains, for Frank is not the fellow to pass
handsome fortune by merely because
of its being encountered by so slight 4
hamper as a wife; no, not ii she were AT
old as Methuselah and rs ugly as Hecate
Indeed, after the first acrimony of my
, disappointment had passed off, he hnC
in various occasions tried to bring mt
round to his own way of thinking.
eff you think George Lomax intends
, to reward your disinterestedness by the
gift of her precious self, can tell you
! my boy, you are wrong" said Frank
"Take my word for it, the same houl
| that the knowledge Of the contents O
| Miss Bamford's will reached Bryanstont
[ Square, the walls of Mrs. Lomax's dress
| ing-room witnessed conference between
2 the young ladies and their worthy moth
er as to what would be the most respect
| able and least scandalous way of throwing
you over, of which conference the TRIP
to Baden-B Baden was the first result. Al
2 they say on the stage, 'She is not wor
r - 4 4...- l..