Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-11-23
ST. CECILIA'S.

hhs Hohe of inc pfetensl0ns OF the grand neigh
bors Of the Capitol or of the White House region,
nor any OF the architectural picturesaueness of
those about the Legation with their bays and
peaks and to,aetes. 1t is only a small wooden
cottage surrounded by galleries, and so over
hung and embowered with roses that blossom
from June to January, and with honeysuckles
that are green from one May to another, that
1t seems a bower still even when the snow is
railing. Around it the pretty gardens always
have some bloom or other to show and great
linden is the haunt Of multtudinOus birds that
make the air alive with song, and not sparrow
In the whole of them. And Maria Won Luitphen
is never ashamed to take any of her few grand
acquaintance to this little bower of a home that
was only their gardeners in the days when Gov
ernor Won Luitphen brought his pictures and
plate. and household gear and horses, to Wash
ingtOn. and lived enjoying himself at the top of
his bent. and burned his candle at both ends.
and left his family the ashes
People pitied the Won Luitphens enormously
when the state of their affairs was known But
after while II was considered that the existence
OF the United States Treasury was q proyidential
circumstance. and post there for Maria pro-
yided ior them amply; and then people forgot
thein-au but the few whom Maria loved
SO well that she would not be forgotten by
them. But Washington is too full of distrac-
tons for one to remember long what one does
not daily see, anu then the whole personnel
changes there so frequently that presently
there were not even all of those few
friends left in the town to pleasure Maria What
beauty she was. to be surei Her mother used
to look at her and sigh for what might have
been-with her tall and noble shape her head
crowned with its straight and heavy jet black
halr with her big blue-gray eyes and her COM
piexion like the cream and blush of tea-rOse
Inc coaches We're never heard whirlinG along
the avenues to the midnight festivals that the
mother did not sit and portray to herself the
loneliness of Maria We're she one of the ladies in
pan arTay-Maria in white silk with carnations:
MARIA In pale rose with clouds of filmy lace;
Maria in delicatest sea-blue shading into green
and dripping with jewels down the front, like
the gown Earl DoOrm would have had Enid
Wear-Marla IN all impossible splendOr. 1t never
occurred to her that Maria looked Just as charm
ing In her white print sprnkled with tiny roses
as she could have looked in velyets.
But such thoughts did not vex the girl any, if
they did her mother. She was content enough
to sit all day at her desk, and write letters for
nine hundred dollars year. and see men doing
the same work for twice the money For she
remembered unfailingly the CONSERVATION of
that time before they knew which way to look
with debts to pay. and life to live and little
Robert to be educated. Now and then some of
the old friends picked her up i'm the street and
took her home in their landauls; and now and
then some one would have her and her mother
to dine, and perhaps twice year insist on tax
ing her to the opera or to a reception. and pride
themselves on their virtue for doing it. 1t was
not mad whrl of dissipation but it was more
than she wanted; for even the enjoyment of it
all and the sight of her old world did not COM
pensate for the wounds pride suffered at the
hands OF dresses made over till she knew every
scrap in them by heart
1t was on one of these occasions when old
General Shurtlef had stopped her on her way
nome from the Treasury. and told her he should
call for her that night and take her to hear
Lucia and Mrs Shurtleff had embraced her in
the carriage and the dark and thrown a swans
down mantle around her lest she should take
cold. and half the audience had risen to stare at
her a. they went into their box, she moving and
looking like a daughter of the gods divinely
tall and most divnely fair" that i'm the e,tr acte
Senator Beifair joined the party
she had never heard Lucia before. and
with every measure her heart had beaten
wilder and wilder. and the color had burned
deeper and deeper on her cheek till it was like
dainask rose in the sun 1t was not alto
gether the melancholy tale of the Master of
RayenswOOd that moved her: il was quite as
much the personality Of the prima donna,
who seemed To her to wear the air of some
great Scandinavian goddess, to be no less than
treya herself STOPPING to play the part of the
ioSe-iofh scottish maiden. and over al! the sim
pie mountain melodies of the opera there ran in
Der mind some hint or memory of the mystical
: alfalfa music. and the ride of the yalkyrian
sisters. not hlnderng the sweet tunes but add
ing 10 their power. and giving to Them as it
a
Kind For music was the passion of her life.
and many thing had she gone without to save
money enough for the purchase of the sheets
whose burden when she heard it sung. and
when she tried to sing it herself fed her soul AS
meat and drink feed another.
she bowed mechanically to the Senator when
ne was presented. bui forgot his existence the
next moment. and when the curtain rI,ne I'D
Thought of nothing in all the world but the
abandon, the intense dramatic sppndor of
Lucas acting. the ineffable spell of the sweet
music. the sorrow and anguish and beauty of
the whole. Til it was a white rose not damask.
on her cheek, matching the swan s-tlown man.
tie-tlil her eyes were shining like stars and
tears yelling up and quyering in them. and
che shiyeied and thrObbed with the excitement
and delight and woe. And looking at her the
Senator said to himself that here was a woman
indeed. n Hover turned to woman strain
oi music herself; and then he laughed to find
himself growing poetical. But he told the GEN
eraI next day that Mrs. Shurteff must take him
oct 10 see that enchanting creature and helm
MN make her Mrs Beifair and the mistress of
his millions How could he know that in that
moment OF his ecstasy and elevation all the i'm
preston that he had made on her was that of
one of C:rces swine?
General Shnrtlef however never refused any
one a favor. and Mrs. Shurteff had the weak
Tess OF wOmanklnd, especially in Washington
ana thought fate was going to be good to
Maria. and the Won Luitphens were going to
take their old place again. and Maria was to
nave Tn" fortune she was to become so finely
Love: Well. She never thought of that One
cannot nave everything. And an establishment.
carriage. the proud position of "A Senator's
wife. diamonds. an unlimited purse and an old
Colonial na'ne-that was enough for ANYBODY
She would have been ashamed of Maria had she
been so forward and SD unmaidenly as to speak
oil love And besides. it would have been an
absurdity aud an impoSsbity, so why talk of
1t: Who costtd love Senator Befar-a fat red
laced. toothless old fellow. with shining fore
head that ran up and over into the nape of his
neck. man who cared for good dinner as he
Old Tor his life. and whose servants had now and
then 10 help him to bed from the table, Still
he was IA Senator. which many one had rather
De than president-a man of force and fortune:
anu what was past cure in him, Maria must
endure for the sake Of what was past reach for
others
Mrs Shurtlef lost no time in taking Senator
Beiiar Ia call at the cottage and had the mother
anu daughter TO dine with him a few DAYS
aier"ard To her amaZement and disgust
when. the day after the dinner Mrs. Won Init
pien made her duty call. and she opened to her
the scheme Tor her daughters advancement the
good little lady openly rebelled. and declared
that She would sooner see Maria i'm her ,,r.,,