The National tribune., 1881-09-24
UNDER BoDDAM LIGHTHOUSE.

"Nellie, wonder why it is that you have not
married vet? / am sure it cannot be for want of
offers"
Mrs Custance, NellieS old friend and school
fellow with whose party she was staying at Peter
head, was the speaker; and had you or | been in
Buchan Haven cove on this sunny summer morn
ing, lounging with them on the sand, we should
have awaited the answer with some curiosity !;
for none could deny that Nellie Stewart was a
beautiful woman, beautiful still with the beauty
Of grlhoOd, though she only wanted three years
of thirty. The two friends had been bathing,
and Nellie's thick hair still fell in wavy masses
round the small delicate face Her complexion
was almost too clear, but the mobility of the
features and the quick glancing mirth of the eyes
redeemed her face from any reproach that might
attach TO its belonging to the impassive class Of
beauties Her tall, supple form seen to ad
vantage as she half sat, half lay against the
pebbly ridge, gazing across the sea at a few
brown dots almost lost in the haze, which were
all now visible of the receding fishing smacks
slowly making their way to the haddOck beds.
For moment or two there was silence. Not
so many as you would suppose, Mary" she re-
piled, with something of bitterness in the smile
which was wasted upon the distant horizon.
Then that must be your fault said Mrs
Custance, keenly watching the face only half
turned from her. She was anxious to obtain
knowledge of Nellies feelings upon a point of
some present interest to another in the party as
well as to herself.
!" 1t may be so; dare say it is. You think l
have suitors always at my feet. No. Mary: shall
n
is pretty enough to make men wish to he intro
duced to me; in London my life seems in the
season one long series of intrOductiOns TO fresh
men-tO soldiers. sailors, thinkers. and tailOrs"
added she laughingly, casting a stone into the sea.
"HOstesses like to have me, for l always draw at
first. I look very well at a distance, and make
quite a pretty picture. But men never dance
with me twice; not because my PAGES are bad
as Mr.. COlwyn would say, but because, Mary
they don't like me-"
Really, Nellie, you always Were ridiculous
girl" answered Mrs. Custance, not well pleased
by the tone of Nellies alluson to her other guest
No. it is because | too often make them ridic-
ulOus. that they don't like me. Men are natur-
ally so vain, my dear, that they never forgive a
woman who meets them on an equality Ny new
seldom says anything else-and it hardly needs
a word from me-a mere look is often enough to
send him of, to tell the first friend he meets,
FDoosid odd girl, that; uncomfortable sort O girl
And he doesn't ask for another dance. Mary |
am sure to hurt their pride. and away they 90
Isn't it a dreadful thing to have a sense Of the
ridiculous. and mastering inclination to use the
powers Of repartee nature has given ?" finished
Nellie, with comic sigh that had plaintive
reality in its depths.
What an odd girl you are Nellie!" said the
elder woman, pettishly.
Just what my new partner says when we have
had our first and only dance
"WelI, at any rate, all men are not of his opin-
ion; some come back for a second and a third
and as many as you will give them, Nellie;" and
Mrs Custance glanced meaningly at a little boat
with two rowers which had Just rounded the arm
of the tiny bay, and was slowly making its way
toward them
ayes, but those who are so ready to accept the
superiority of my cOntemptuOus highness are
hardly fit to become my lord and MASTER said
Nellie. in a lower tone. q do not think it bet
ter to rule in hell than serve in heaven. Mary"
with a sudden cry as she turned to the other
putting her hands in hers, "yOu do not think me
spiteful and ill-natured?"
Mrs. Custance saw that the eyes were brinl-
ming with tears, and hardly needed her womanly
clearness TO divine the warm depths that under
lay the sparkling cynical surface which her clever
friend opposed to the world.
The kindly little woman administered femi-
nine comfort in the shape of a kiss and, possess
ing the wonderful knowledge Of when it is best
to let well and i'll alone, said nothing upon
subject which very near her heart. She rose,
and proposed that they should stroll along the
shore and meet the boat which was coming to
fetch them back to Peterhead and luncheon.
If 1t is far cry to Loeb Awe, it certainly is a
long one from London to the little fishing town
of Peterhead, in the northeast of Scotland.
Before the herring fishery begins, it is pleasant
place enough; the coast is in parts delightfully."-
rugged, and where the sea is sufficiently smooth
to allow of small boats approaching the base of
the rocks, no more picturesque spots for water
picnics can be imagined. But it is seldom that