Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1882-09-13

a llshman 1T Is perfectly rldIculou
10 distinction, But don't know that
y Is worth moving to Mexico for
u Louis lreton was one Of the habitue
!, OF the household, Aunts and cousin
d wondered he had not married Clara be
y fore now, There seemed no objection
i except that he wouldn't know what (,
d do with his evenings, Perhaps, indeed
= the fact that ho was already very com
= Portable at tho Calyerly's, had mad,
u him more unconscious Of any necessity
! for making any change,
But now there was this Mexico plan,
looking more aud more possible, and
! lhorc w0Sthis EugliShman, who evident
y admired Clara Calyerly very much,
aud Clara appeared TO like TO talk with
him.
Mr.. Bradshaw did admire Miss Cal
} ycrly. She had the case aud freedom
supposed in tho typical American girl,
but she had not tho iorwardncss, She
allowed her mother to talk, and he had
supposed that American girls suppress.
cd their mothers and Mrs. Calvcrly
talked very well. II was pleasant
thought that Clara looked like her
mother, and that her fragile beauty
might ripcn into something rs charm
ing,
Louis lreton saw all this admiration,
and abused himself for the nonchalance
Of the last year or two. Why had he
not spoken to Clara before? If the
matter could only have sbecn arranged
last summer, Mr.. Calverly would have
given less thought to the Mexico plan.
What an idiot he had been!
lie tried to get chance to speak to
Clara that very evening. But there
was music, Clara ut the piano, and Mr..
Bradshaw selecting her songs. And
Clara was going the next day for q
visit of n few days only, just out of
town. lie knew Mrs. Bruce, and
could visit Clara there. But Mr..
Bradshaw now knew Mrs. Bruce, too
he was at that moment talking with
her, and accepting her invitation to
staying with her.
Louis was cxasperated. What bust.
ness had she to ask this Englishman,
whom nobody knew anything about, to
come and see her.
AT the last moment he did get n
chance to speak to Clara; not very
good chance, for there was Oscar CAL
verify close by, picking up the counters
of u game they had been playing, and
could not tell how much he was listen
ing.
There's something l want to say to
you,' he managed to say.
you'll come out to Carries, of
course, said Clara.
Yes, but l can't come tomorrow
night he answered. There's that
plaguy meeting l must 60 to at Franks
but I'll write YOU
All right, said Clara, with deep
flush in her cheek. She watched him
as he went down the stairs. He did
not turn back. She did not think she
should ever see him again, yet she hur-
ried forward to see his very last turn
on the stairs. Her head was a little
dizzy, she hardly understood what Mr..
Bradshaw was saying to her.
Her mother noticed she was looking
pale, when her guests had gone, and
she said You look tired, do 60 to
bed, Clara, you will have all your pack
ing to do in the morning.
That very evening Louis wrote his
letter that is, he wrote two or three
long ones, and then he burned them up.
In them he had devoted more than q
page to giving his opinion of Mr.. Brad
shaw. But he decided these were not
to the point, and determined upon a
shorter one. He scarcely believed any
note was necessary, he wrote. Clara
must know what he meant and felt.
But perhaps that was the trouble, per-
haps she had seen too much of him,
really to care for him. She was so
used to him that there was no novelty
about him, as there might be about
the Englshman-but no, he had deter
mined Mr.. Bradshaw should not get
into this note, SO lie scratched out
'Englishman,' and put somebody else.
He begged Clara to answer him direct
| ". If the answer was tn be mo- the
fewer words the better, and the quick
er. Of course it was not her fault, it
! she could not love him, it was his, and
she needn't apologize. He would rath-
er not have her sorry for him, and she
need not say so.