Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-08-11
MY LOVERS.

anu, LOT Une maUGcI Ol tndt, VIC are SnOp-
girls still. But one day we had a little
money left us-just a trif1e-and as we
were tired to death with pleasing other
people, we decided to please ourselves,
and take a vacation at the beach.
"For once" said Lefty, s'let us be
grandees. Let us go in good style, if it
takes every cent. Let us go as we
might have gone if you hadn't been
sentimental and had married Mr..
Dunn" ?
s.Mr. Dunn was a bachelor, immense
ly rich, bald and stout, and no longer !
young; not the lover 1 had dreamed Of,
not the realization of the ssdim sweet |
vision which had haunted my thoughts
for even a shop-girl has dreams and
fancies. 1 had been greatly surprised
when he asked me to marry him, and
live on Beacon Street, and drive in my
coupe. OF course lie didn't mention
these things, but Lefty did; and l had
said: ''No, thank you,'' at once. What
poetry could there be in marrying Mr..
Dunn? Living in luxury on Beacon
Street would be pleasant enough, but it
would put love and romance and happi-
ness forever out Of the question, [
thought. Lefty d%isapproved, 1 know,
and so did Mr.. Dunn.
''Why don't you love me?" he asked.
''Other women have;;'' and. he smiled
and blushed at the confession.
ooh, like you very much as a friend,
Mr.. Dunn" 1 said, to soften the blow.
Friendship is easy enough to win,
But one isn't loved every day."
he quoted.
It was pretty slow at the beach, after
the first excitement Of arriving and I'M
packing had worn off; after we had
gotten used to bathing, and sitting idly
on the piazza, with the sea rolling at
our feet, or reading novels in the ham
mock, or watching the firtations and
the scheming. We didn't know my
body, you see, and there was nobody to
introduce us. We talked with some of
the ladies, but they seemed to have
known each other before; and while they
discussed this or that acquaintance. the
opera of the season past, the soirees
where they had met, we naturally
dropped out of the conversation. Then.
when there was dancing, we had no
partners, and it was not exactly pleas
ant to play the wall-f1ower while others
were in the swing of everything. Lefty
had said: 81 think we had better 90
home, and use the balance of our cash
in joining the Harvard Annex, and I'M
proving our minds" when n evening,
as we sat forlorn on the piazza, who
should come to meet us but Mr.. Dunn!
I never was so glad to see anybody in
my life before. He didn't seem to bear
me a grudge for having refused him.
He introduced me to all the young
swells and nabobs and their sisters as
his particular friends; in fact. / believe
he told n Of the dowagers that l had
declined to become Mrs. Dunn. He
didn't stay a great while; he was due
somewhere else-at somebody's country
place-and l was rather glad when he
went; for although I had refused him, I
couldn't help feeling a sort of owner
ship in him, and when he tirted with
other women I didn't like it. One
doesn't like ones discarded lover to re-
cover too soon, if at all. We were no
longer wall-flowers; we danced and
sang and rowed and bowled with the
best. We were Mr.. Dunn's friends. [
think perhaps some of the women were
even grateful to me because I had not
married him.
However, it seemed to me that pres
ently 1 1OfSOJ Mf. Dunn altogether.
Clarence Cuthbert began to fill the
measure of my thoughts completely. L
hardly knew if anybody else existed.
"All men beside were to me like
shadows" We sat together secluded
on the piazza, or walked on the sands
by moonlight, OF strolled in the pine
woods and read poetry, o sang together
on the rocks with the surf beating at
our feet. He seemed the embodiment
of all poetry and lofty sentiment and
romance. He had a voice like the wind
in the pines, OF an Eolian harp, full of
tender meaning and deep unfathomable
feeling, l believed; he was like that
princess whose lips dropped pearls and
rubies of speech. He read Byron so
beautifully that Il felt he would have
written it all if Byron hadn't, and he
had composed airs to some of Shelley's
divine verses, which he taught me to
sing. Oh, it seemed to me just then as
If l were a real live heroine breathing
romance. About this time I happened
to have q severe neuralgia headache,
(which Gondnad me ip my room seyerll