Morning journal and courier., 1881-09-07
The Dock and the Maiden.
Regulation Society Novelette,, Writ
 ten by Request of il Sentimental Per-

A Regulation Society Novelette,, Writ |
 | From the San Francisco Argonaut.l
 ''Ah, me I" sighed Miriam Maginnis, weari- ly; q would that were dead !" And she l laid her golden head on the extension table l and wept bitterly.
 Miriam Maginnis was born in poverty and Tar Flat The maternal Maginnis was 8 blanchisseuse. This means ''washerwoman, /"
 but blanchisseuse is more high-toned. The | writer cares nothing for expense where style ! is concerned.
 The Maginnises were very poor. The pa- 1 ternal Maginnis had his ups and downs in | life; he was a bod carrier.
 Why did Miriam mourn? Why were those | lovely blue orbs tear -bedimmed? Why was \ the dainty retrousse nose red Z? This means
 s'turn up, but, as before int,mated, his story
 is going to be composed of three-ply intel l lect.
 1 Alas The pen almost refuses to record l the dreadful fact, but it must be. Her mother had refused to buy her pair of sandal shoes
 and some of the new three story stockings, 1 lace clocked.
 1 Miriam's parents had taken pride in their
 beautiful daughter. They had toiled to send
 her through the Girls High School she spoke French with the perfect Hyde street
 accent, and her drawings were readily recog- nizable. But after having inculcated in her
 love of learning, to refuse her the accoutre- ments of polite society. It was too much. When she reflected that Belinda Boggs,
 daughter of Boggs, the banker, and her class
 mate, possessed the converted article-nay, stockings of uncomputed altitudinicity and ! fabulous cost-Miriam's blood boiled She 1 could have scratched her \ "Young woman" said naughty, high l bred man, in disdainful tone, poking as he | spoke the person addressed in the small of
 the back with an umbrella, ''Young woman, ! could you tell me the way to the Palace ! 'otel?"
 Miriam Maginnis turned-for it was she 1 and fixed her blue and lustrous eyes upon the | speaker.
 "He wears cork helmet," she said to her self "He is an Englishman." And as her ! eye ran over his form she noted the tweed ! trousers, the binocular slung across his broad l breast, the gigantic turned-up shoes, the cot | ton umbrella and the short clay pipe ''I | know it." said she ecstatically; know it by his pipe and his toot ongsombull He is an Englishman and he is noble!" "Young woman, "began the stranger again. ''Your pardon, sir said Miriam, dropping | her eyes. ''Excuse the embarrassment of a timid maiden. The Palace Hotel can be reached with comparative ease by securin g position upon the next vehicle which pro- ceeds along the tramway." ''Tramway!" !" said the stranger with sur prise, 'tdid lear aright? All of these Hamer- jeans call it an 'orse car line" 'True, sir," said Miriam medestlY, "but we learn pure English at the Girls High School. Adoo, mongsew, adoo And, with fawnlike grace, Miriam tripped away. 'tAh, me!'' said the stranger, as he gazed
 after her sylph-like form, would that were
 not juke!"
 'sPaw,'' said Miriam some days after, | sCousin Patrick has made turn in stocks. He has given me $1OO for a birthday present, | and I am going to Yosemite" ''But" said Maginnis, fondly stroking her golden hair, "who'ul you be goin' wid, me choild ?''
 q am going alone," said Mi r jam firmly
 There is an innate chivalry in the American breast which makes every man the defender l of an unprotected female" /" 'Listin to that, will ye, Moichael Magin-
 his, '' said her mother proudly, "did ye ever hear the loike O that?" Bridget Maginnis was right. He never had But still the sentiment was not original with
 Miriam. That is, not entirely She had
 heard it befope. A few times. * The little party toiled painfully up the nar-
 row trail. Deep down lay the valley, the river glistening like silver ribbon in the monday sun. The giant Hanks of the valley rose silent and grim, shooting toward heaven in awful majesty. And so forth. SuQQ6nly L00r6 WAS CrdSn, a roar, ana
 then a rushing sound as some immense body
 swept down the mountain side. The guide turned pale "A land slide has carried away portion of
 the trail, he said, i've must turn back" The reason he turned pale was because he
 foresaw the loss of $5 per head. He was comparatively poor for Yosemite guide, be- ing only worth $500 OOO Hence his dismay. Suddenly Miriam perceived well remem- bered cork helmet the other side of the trail, and under it a pair of pale sandy whis-
 kers and short clay pipe. '''Tis he," she murmured passicnately. It was indeed the dock. At 8 glance he saw the condition of things. With that quickness of comprehension pecu-
 liar to the English nobility he detected the
 fact that something had passed over the trail
 He was as quick to act as to see. Placing one of his feet across the chasm, commo-
 dious bridge was thus made, and, the party
 leaving their animals, the gulf was quickly
 crossed by all
 But hold-not by all. As Miriam Magin-
 nis' dainty foot was leaving the sentient
 bridge the periphery of sole leather around
 the toe rose up and caught her French heel as in wise.
 She was prisoner in 1ove's bonds.
 'sBe mine," whispered the nobleman pas
 sionately, as he gazed into her eyes.
 F'Unhand me, sir, " she said, in seeming in-
 dignation. 1T mean, untoe me-" she added. upon reflection. Mot until you promise to be mine," he whispered.
 What Miriam answered let none tell but the echoes of the valley. Suffice it to say that
 the leathern hinge slowly opened. Miriam was free. Lot us change the scene. We stand before | an ancient castle. Over the gateway may be
 seen the armorial bearing of the NortherlandG -a squab, purpure, impaled, on 8 fourehette, argent, nose, sanguine debruised, on field, 9ules three sheets or fottont. But what forms are these which emerge | from the castle gates? The one is tall and
 stately; he wears a coronet and robes of er-
 mine Yet those sandy whskers erstwhile | gleamed beneath cork helmet. It is the Dock of Northerland. | And that other gentle and clnging form, upon whose golden head rests also the | golden coronet decked with strawberry leaves?
 | 'It is the duchesz-she that was Miriam Maginnis"
 l He speaks: My love, we lave now seen the 'aunted tower and the secret chamber.
 Let us now hinspeek the donjon keep" | Hand and hand they descend the stairs
 leading to the gloomy donjon of the Norther-
 lands The declining sun gilds with his last
 rays the knob on top of Miriam's coronet-
 she who was once poor high school girl,
 now duchess and mistress of 8 manor, 8
 haunted tower, 8 secret chamber and don
 jon keep.
 Let us leave her in her happiness and her donjon.