Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1881-10-27


10 are not tlie sanie kind. Nov you ana
], Bill, belong 10 the same class, and suit
each other. We've been bred alike. And
you'll be back in q months time, II all goes
wellf"
Her words were incoherent and her man.
ner excited. No wonder" thought Bill;
why, ! don't suppose any man but me
ever spoke q word Of courting TO her be
fore" And again a strong sense Of graft
fed vanity crept through his big frame, and
as he gave her a strong, warm hug, and
said "GoOd.by," he had the real sense OF
absolute ownership Of her, which is the
sweetest and dearest sensation a man OF his
type ever feels in his relation to a woman
CHATTER ii. nd.
Arthur Middleton had come down TO this
outof-the-way place for two things; to
sketch from nature, and TO kill time during
a period of probation which lay before
him. 1t was only two months now, but II
looked long, and the young mans mood
made society distateful TO him. He wanted
to dream, which is always better done alone,
and so he had determined on this trip. He
had never had but one strong feeling in his
life, and that was his love for his cousin
Helen Featherstone. 1t had grown up with
him, and seemed to be rooted deep in his
heart He was not q man of much strength
of will or decision of purpose, but he had
always since his boyhood known his own
mind about this one thing, and had per.
sisted in his devotion TO his cousin with
force and consistency that did not seem
part of his character. She was intellectu.
ally his superior, and, being a woman OF
remarkable energy and will, was stronger
than he was, except on this one point. She
could have made him change his mind
about anything but this; and so, after sew
eral years Of determined, persistent waiting
on his part, he had so far succeeded as to
gain a promise from her to consider the
matter that Summer. She was TO spend
three months in Europe, and they had
agreed that should she have decided in his
favor he should know it by line written
before the arrival of the steamer and mailed
to him at once when she reached the dock.
One month had gone already, and after
having struggled through it between Sara
toga and Newport, Middleton had decided
that he would face the two that remained
alone with his thoughts and his pencil.
core. No genuine artist drop in his blood,
but fond of nature, especially of the ocean,
and always capable of amusing himself
with sketch.book.
A gentleman every inch of him. He was
also one of those people who, if they had
lived under the hot-house process of the
middle ages, would have turned out propa-
gandists and inquisitors; little later phil
anthropists, abolitionists, and prison re-
formers. Living as he did at the present
day, he was just little apt to try to model
and mould and influence any one with
whom he was thrown IN contact for a time.
He could do anything for any one except
let him alone. 1t was one of the standing
grievances of his cousin Helen, who cared
for nothing IN life so much as not being
interfered with. "You were meant for
schoolmaster, Arthur" she would say, cor
a nursery gardener, and then you could
train and shape and turn to your hearts
content" He could be unselfish and gen.
erous without an effort, but he could not
resist his impulse to meddle in other peo-
pies. lives; and it must be admitted he did
it we'll. Most people were really influenced
by him, and for their good. He taught
great many people to like what they had
disliked, and to do what they would have
left undone, 1t was only wilful, way
ward, selfdependent nature, like his cous.
in's, that at the first hint of bride kicked
up its heels in his face and galloped dis
dainfully away.
What could be more natural than the de-
sire which came into his ratherunoccupied
mind, as he stood smoking in the sunlight,
tn inn, a.x,:l:
girl, who had cut him short the night be-
fore? Perhaps Arthur was little bit of a
prig-the word must be spoken. Are not
all reformers more or less prigs? It's the
visible sign of their human infirmity, and
he was quite too full of good intentions for
it not to be readily forgiven him. His
vanity after all was not of the ordinary
coarse, cruel, masculine type. 1t never
would have occurred to him to make Meg
Anderson the subject of an idyl in which
he and she played the principal parts.
All he ever dreamed of was to drop
upon her a gentle shower of estheti-
cal refinements and courtesies till she melt.
ed, and then develop her intelligence i'm
prove her manners, and get her to do jus.
tice to that beautiful hair which his eye,
quick to see the beauty of color, had been
struck by as it fell over her shoulders the
evening before. Like all kindly vain peo.
pie, Arthur firmly believed in the elevation
of the lower classes, and that it was to be
altogether effected by personal influence.
But let the story tell ITSELF While Arthur
was smoking his cigar on the steps of the
little cottage, with a sense of quiet enjoy.
ment in the beauty of the scene before him
and in his isolation from the outer world of
human beings, Meg was going through the
mornings work within doors. She had
left his room to the last and when she en-.
tered it, it was with sort of shrinking
feeling. The sight of his numberless lit
tie toilet appurtenances of things many
of which she had to guess or imagine the
use-of the personal elegance and exquis.
iteness which he had brought into the room,
excited in her a feeling of mingled scorn
and wonder. She resented intensely that
he, a man, should be on height of attract
iveness and refinement of which she had
only dreamed. And she had dim glimpse
OF the possibilities of pleasure and delight
wrapped up in superficial, sensuous enjoy.
ment, of which her life had known hitherto
SO little that the first perception Of it was
like flash of scarlet to man born blind,
whose eyesight had been given to him.
She could not touch his ivory boxes,
brushes, and facons without doing it dain.
tily, with sense of involuntary pleasure.
And yet she felt wayward, sudden i'm.
pulse to dash them on the floor She ac.
complished her task and went down stairs.
Arthur had settled himself to sketch just
outside the door, under solitary tree, the
only one in the immediate neighborhood
She looked at him as he sat there his fair
hair shining in the sunlight, his delicate
aristocratic profile bent over his work,
everything about him eloquent of culture
and refinement, and she felt q sickened
sense Of longing and pain come over her
AS he raised his head and saw her averted
look her attit11da exnrnssi1o onlu of culla,,