Daily globe., 1883-10-31
The Opal Set.

beISIdSS, Il am III love with her-nOr5 fool
me!n
With which candid confession he turned
suddenly around toward the nantle-piece,
and pretended to find great difficulty in re-
lighting his pipe, which by the way had not
gone out. A small segment of his right
cheek, however, that remained visible from
where l sat betrayed the bashful blush that
his subterfuge was meant to conceal.
''The more pity" l replied; ''but you can't
help it. La Rochefoucauld says: One may
love like mailman; but not like fool
and don't think, old fellow, that you were q
fool in your life You're too philosophical" {"
Sobersides bit his lips
Eyes; philosophy holds very good--till you
need it. My theories on the subject are
sound enough. but they don't prevent me
from feeling Frank Harley, poor devil!
was one of the most philosophical men ever
knew. We'll, when he got into a tight place.
one fine day, he blew his brains out!"
And my friend laughed very melancholy
laugh.
tried to think of something consolatory
that might say, but nothing suggested it
self The fact was, that the case presented
no very fattering indications of any kind
III all love affairs. according to some
writers, there is one who loves and one who is
beloved | will notgo so far as to indorse this
somewhat sweeping statement; but will say
that, i'll nine out of ten cases Of real, genuine
passion, there is one victim. Ip the present
instance it was the man whom | designated
under his common nickname OF 'tSobersides" :"
Poor fellow, he had had hard time Of it,
Knocked abont the world from early you'll !;
buffeted by all the storms OF poverty, family
quarIelS, failure of business, and unsuccess-
full ambition, he had only settled down at 35,
with "a comfortable income, to exist in peace
and quiet for the rest of his life, when!
heels over head III love he went beyond hope
Of recovery and without possibility Of sic
cess.
OF course, the woman who captivated him
was the last one he should have thought Of
Fannie Lowell was hardly the girl TO appre-
ciate such an affection as Sobersides felt for
her. She had good deal of the coquettish
element that made her sister Maggie such a
terror to unsophisticated young men, but
without Maggie's experience in guiding it,
The most inconsiderate creature in the world
is young girl. Under 10 or 90, many girls
ignore their future, their comfort, their inter
est, their friends feelings and everything else
that ought to be considered. series of Ca
prices, mere freaks, oftentimes brilliant,
oftener stupid, but always bizarre, seem 10
be their only motives; and series of extra
ordinary and whimsical fancies seefo 10 Ee
their only principles.
Imagine Sobersides-the profound, sedate,
brusque-mannered, tender hearted, honest
and earnest Sobersides-devoured by an ah-
sorbing passion for such a giddy, contra
dictory girl as Fannie Lowell, just from
boarding school and hardly past Ter l7tL
yearl
On being shot forth from the bosom of The
family into the whirl and glare and glitter OF
society, the first desire of Miss Fannie was,
naturally enough, q grand conquest. Too
young in years and too incomplete in expert
ence to comprehend love- she thought only Of
bringing some one to her feet and, conquer
ing her homage, the f1atteries, the iloatry,
in word, that appeared SO sweet to her
dashing and brilliant sister, already tee i,eli>.
Of four successive seasons.
Miss Fannie's ambition was high Novels
OF the ultra-sentimental type, and anecdotes
current at school, Of splendid Cubans who
had eloped with young ladies {. just ont, ~ and
LED them, covered with diamonds and sffec-
tion to the sunny island whence the oranges
and cigars come, and whittier the opera cou,-
panies go, had given her some lofty ideas of
the manly beauty and wealth that should be
offered at her shrine several times ever,
season.
At first, then, she cast her eyes upon Astor
Courtlandt, who was handsome, rich and cul-
tivated, but, curiously enough, he did not
bow before her at all, so she turned from him
to Harry Tandem, another of the same stripe,
but little more fast" After trying in vain
to mesmeriZe his heart with her great blue
eyes, she learned that he had been engaged tn
Jenny May, the Wall street brokers' daugh-
ter, ever since she was Is, and old May was
rich enough to buy and sell a generation Of
Lovells. Then, giving up wealth and family
Miss Fannie flew to genius for consolation.
She danced twice with Cecil DaShe, and had
a long talk with him in Madame Pavons con-
servatory one evening. but the next time she
met hin and his sister Nina-wbo also had
genius, and had published book of poems
the little maiden could not help fancying, or
at least suspectlng, that they were making
fun Of her.
Then, as last trial of tho artistic world,
she had a dash ut Grahame Allen He called
her ''my little dear" and brought her poclz-
etful OF bon-bons and she was done with
genius.
Time passed. Balls and parties illuminated
fashionable drawing rooms and died away.
Seasons came and went. Newport flung its
cool foam-capped breakers around the little
maiden, and for her the pleasant, sparkling
waters arose from Saratoga springs. Still
no grand conquest She began to grow
sharp-a trite witty, perhaps and other
nlaidens complained to their mammas that
she sometimes said rather iIl-natured things
about their OWL, private and particular
beaux-for the most part. inexperieDcev
young gentlemen from the provinces dowp.-
chinned West Point cadets. md the like
Suddenly, while sitting in u friends box at
the Academy of Music, there came to her !
stout, plain-looking gentleman, with clear,
blue eyes, serious and kindly of gaze
This Individual was the unfortunate Sn,,er-
sides, her first victim to be.
He came to have ten minutes chat with
Miss Fannie's friend-a lady of considerable
Importance in the great world of society
and was instantly presented to the young
girl That meant something He must he
eligible. She cast a glance-one of those
glances that devour every detail-over hirn,
to see how she should like him for i. I,ys-
band. The verdict was unfavorable
Sobersides was not magnificent creature,
nor splendid fellow, nor anything of that
sort. He was not tall, nor pale, nor spirit
ual. His hair was neither very dark and
picturesque nor very blonde and classic. It
was Of common hrO-vr, and cratti,,.r O trina