The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-11-10

creature your ewes ever rested on, or you
imagination conjured up in the form of
woman, and apply the resultto the presen
case.
Her eyes, her complexion, her figure
- But will not attempt to describe them
= for fear they should clash with your indi
vidual ideal of beauty, and so destroy tn
illusion.
She could not have been more than nine
I teen or twenty. Was this my "elderly
charmer" of yesterday No, there must b.
some mistake. .
The vision came forward with a seraphi'
smile of ill-disguised amusement at my
evident establishment.
Miss Damian" / stammered.
81 am Miss Damian, Miss Ethel Damian
In my aunt's house, and my aunt desire:
me to express her regret at being unable
to see you this morning. She caught g
| slight cold on the river yesterday, but she
hopes you will call again very soon."
That voicel What can l liken it to in
order to convey an idea of its mellifuous
sound? All the old SMILES of nightingales
and running water pale before such per
lection.
81 am deli mean / am distressed be-
yond measure-er-what an extremely
warm day"
"You appear to find it so; had thought
it rather cool.o
"What meant to say was" Il was be-
coming more confused and stumbling
| deeper into difficulties at every step)
what meant to say was that | ought to
| be indebted to almost any accident which
was the means of introducing me to Miss
Damian's niece, although | had no idea of
expressing anything but regret at Miss
Damian's Illness"
| "Qui s'ercHSe, S'dccuSe, so no more com
| pliments to me at my aunt's expense, if
| you please. How did the picnic go off? |
was pEeyented from g4ing, unfortunstelX.1
sit was delightfufw Heaven forglvT me
forthe falsehoodD "Indeed, l amindebted
to your aunt for all the pleasure extracted
from it. Without her it would have been
dull enough"
"Ah, my Aunt Barbara has been adding
yet another victim to her train of admirers,
l see!"
"What do you meant? Surely"
"Yes, it is my painful duty to state that
Aunt Barbara is a confirmed flirt. Papa
used to say that his sister Barbara walld
firt with pair of tongs' for lack of any,
thing better, and she has gone on practising
her amiable weakness all through life. In
deed | always tell her that my time is
spent in following her about like a sheep
dog, to play propriety. Do not be alarmed,
she means nothing serious. 1t is her only
foible. We are very much attached to one
another, and she is always in all things
my very dear Aunt Barbara"
The charm of the speakers manner en-
tirely carried off any sense of brusquerie
that this unconventional declaration might
have otherwise impressed me with.
The ice once being broken, sat on, talk
ing with my vision, quite oblivious to the
thrOes of Impotence that Ralph might be
feeling outside in his hanson.
AT last it was time to go. ~ may call
again, may l not"
81 hope so, or Aunt Barbara will feel
greatly disappointed at your lack of fealty
to her."
l left the house over head and ears in
love. had been in love many times be-
fore, in fact [ had always been falling in
love ever since | was fifteen, but this time
there was no doubt about it,
''No need to ask what luck, Charlie,' ex-
claimed Ralph, as | bounded into the han
som, ''for Accepted is written in huge cap
itals all over your face"
Ralph, she is an angel"
"Ah! the most of them are, notice, I'M
til they are married" | deigned no reply
to this insulting remark, but drove back in
silent ecstasy, leaving Ralph to his own
meditations.
But every sweet has its accompanying
bitter, and the reaction of my miserable
position upon the last blissful hour was
harder to bear than before. Why, it was
ever so much worse. Here was pledged
perhaps to the aunt, while / was desper-
ately in love with the niece. Irecalled the
words that my vision had uttered regard
ing her aunt's foible, as she termed it, but
even this could not offer any strong solace
to me. How could she know to what ex.
tent matters had gone? There was no help
for it, must go to the governor like the
returned prodigal, and confess my dilemma
even at the risk of being called every
epithet expressive of the plain, and ugly
word fool" in his extensive vocabulary.
He was sitting in the library. | felt an
mtolerably sneaky sensation creeping over
me, and an ineXpressible desire to get be-
hind myself as l opened the door and
walked, or rather edged, myself into the
room. All my courage was oozing out at
my finger tips like Bob Acres. The sooner
the matter was over the better for me,
however, so broke headlong into my con-
fession.
At first, of course, the old man was
furious. II always had been fool, and
now was going to commit the greatest
folly of all, and tie myself up to some
woman old enough to be nv mother, of
whom nobody knew anything, and who,
for all we could guess, might not even be
respectable" and so forth, in the usual
manner of irate fathers, when they have
got the whip-hand of their erring sons.
bore it all meekly enough, and at last
Gained the explosion by throwing myself
upon his mercy and asking him to help me
out of the fix. The ruse was successful.
we must see my elderly charmer to-
gether; we had better call tomorrow. No?
Well, then, the next day, and he would see
what there was to be done"
And so ended the interv Jew between the
governor and myself | felt relieved, but
L could not feel at rest until this dreaded
call was over.
The governor wasvery good all that day.
He generally did turn up trumps at the
real crisis.
The next day after lunch he proposed a
stroll in the Row, as he said, to distractmy
attention from the painful and absorbing
topic that engrossed it,
We had been walking up and down, stop
ping now and again to greet some passing
friend, when | suddenly saw my vision
before me. 1t could be no other; there
was not a face among all the beauties pres
ent that could have compared with or be
mistaken for hers. She was sitting under
the shade of one of the great elms, daintilv
dressed in some diaphanous, creamy white
material, and looking more bewitching
than ever. And that lady sitting beside
her-why that, of course, was she to whom
l believed myself engaged, my elderly
charmer.
In my self-accusing hour of remorse l
had done her an injustice. There was no
make up" there. She was dressed in
good taste and as became her age. Anv
dlslnterested person would have pro-
nounced her decidedly elegant woman.
we'll preserved for forty, if, indeed. She
were So Iuuph and with ~ n...11