Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-01-13

childhood with the earliest literature we
lmbI0ed through the innOcuOus pages OF
Evenings at Home" but Join the two
tOgether In the order of alphabetical pre-
cedence and you get an AikIn-Payne,
which is a thing to make a sensitive man.
compelled to bear it for a lifetime, turn
/ permanently red like a boiled lobster NV
uncle must have done it on purpose in or
der 60 inlet deadly blow ON what he
would doubtless have called my con-
founded self-conceit!
However, l changed my tourist suit for
a black cutaway, and made my way down
TO the salle-a-manger. The dinner was
good III Itself, and was enliYened for me
oy the presence of an extremely pretty
! girl of, say, 10, who sat Just opposite
ana whose natural protector l soon man
aged TO draw casually into general con-
yersatlon. l say her natural protector
/ because, though took him at the time for
! her father, L discovered afterward that he
was really her uncle. Experience has
| Taught me that when you sit opposite
! pretty girl at a hotel YOU ought not to
open nre by directing your observations
TO herseIt IN person; you should begin di-
/ plomatlcally by gaining the confidence of
her male relations through the wisdom or
the orthodoxy OF your political and social
opinions. Mr.. Shackleford-that found
atterWard was the uncle's name-haD-
pened to be fiery Tory, while | have the
! personal misfortune to be an equally rabid
Radical; but on this occa sion | success
! lully assembled, acquiescing with vague
! generality IN his denunciatiOn of nv dear
est private convictions; and by the end of
dinner we had struck up quite an ac-
! quaintance with one another.
'Kuby," said the aunt to the pretty
| girl, as soon as dinner was over, E'shall
we take stroll out in the gardens?o
huOy! what charming name really. /
nd nnruF H. L
what beautiful graceful figure, as she
rises from the table, and throws her little
pale blue Indian silk scarf around her
pretty shoulders! Clearly, Ruby, is a per-
son whose acquaintance I ought to cult
vate.
Uncle won't come, of course" said
Ruby, with pleasant smile what teethN.
The evening air would be too much for
MIN. You know" she added, looking
across to me, almost everybody at
Cannes is in tue invalid line and mustn't
stir out after sunset. Aunt and are un-
fashionable enough to be quite strong, and
to go in for stroll by moonlight"
Il happen to be equally out of the
Cannes fashion," said, directing nv OBJ
seryation, with great strategic skill, rather
to the aunt than to Miss Ruby in person,
land If you wi allow me | should be
very glad to accompany you,
so we turned out on the terrace of the
IaFauls, ana walked among the date
palms and prickly pears that fill the
pretty tropical garden. 1t was a lovely
moonlight evening in October, and Octc-
Der IS still almost summer month on the
Riviera. The feathery branches of the
PANS stood out in clear-cut outline
against the pale moonlit sky, the white
houses of Cannes CLEANER with that necu- |
lIaPly soft, greenish Mediterranean Int in !
the middle distance, and the sea reflected
the tremulOuS simmer in the back |
ground. between the jagged sierra of the |
craggy Esterel and the long low outline |
OF the lie Ste. Marguerite. Altogether II |
was an ideal poets evening. the very /
evening to stroll for the first time with ? !
beautiful girl TIN Ough the charmed alleys /
--0.,nal @ar 1nn
Oh IL 1TON N..---- !
Ruby Estcourt-she gave me her name (
before long was quite as pleasant to talk |
to as she was beautiful and graceful to be- !
hold. Fortunately, her aunt was not one /
of the race of talkatfve old ladies, and she /
left the mass of the conversation entirely /
to Ruby and myself In the course of half /
an hour or so spent in pacing up and |
down that lovely terrace, ! had picked /
out, bit by bit, all that [ most wanted to
know about Ruby Estcourt. She was an
orphan, without brothers or sisters and |
evidently without any large share Of this T
worlds goods; and she lived with I
her aunt and uncle, who were child /
less people, and who usually spent |
the summer in Switzerland, retir'
ing to the Riviera every winter |
for the benefit of Mr.. Shackleford's re- /
naming lung. Quite simple and unat- |
fected Ruby seemed, though she had /
PASSED most of her lifetime in the too /
knowing atmosphere OF Continental hotels /
among that cosmopolitan public which is /
so very sharp-sighted that it fancies il |
oh
humbug as honor in men ana maidenlv |
reserve in women. Still, from that world |
Ruby EstcOurt had somehow managed - !
keep herself quite Hnsnnftnh. and = Gin
'',.5r, prettier, more natural little fairy /
you wouldn't find anywhere in the Eng !
lish villages Of half dozen counties.
1t was all so fresh and delightful to me /
the palms, the Mediterranean, the balmv |
evening air, the cleaning white town, and /
pretty Ruby EstcOurt-that l walked up !
and down on the terrace rs long as thew |
would let me; and | was really sorry /
when good Ars. Shacklef0rd at last sug- I
gested that it was surely getting time for |
uncle's game Of cribbage. AS they turned /
to go, Ruby sand good evening and then |
hestating for moment as to my name, |
said quite simply and naturally, "Why, |
you haYn't yet told us who you are, have I
y0u?"
l colored q little-happily invisible by
moonl;ght--as l answered, "That was an !
omission on my part certainly. When YOU |
told me you were Miss Estcourt l ought |
to have mentioned in return that my own
name was Aikin-Payne, Theodore Aigin- |
Payne, if you please; may l give you a
card?"
"Aching Painr' Ruby said, with
smile. 'Did [ hear you right? Aching
Pain, is it? Oh, what a very funny
nameV
drew myself up az stifly as l was
able. 'sNot Aching Pain" l said, with
doleful misgiying in my heart-it was clear
everyb body would put that odd misinter-
probation upon it for the rest of my days.
''Not Aching Pain, but Aikin-Payne,
Miss EstcOurt. Akin, Akin, the
Atkins of StaffOrdshire; Payne, Payne,
the Paynes of Surrey. My original sur
name was Payne; surname that | Yen-
ture to say Pm little proud Of; but my
uncle, Mr.. Akin, from whom / inherit
property" l thought that was rather
good way of putting it, wished me to
adopt his family name in addition to my
Own-n fact made it a condition, sine qua
non, of my receiving the property"
sPayne-AIkin," Ruby said. turning
the names over to herself slowly, "Ah,
yes, l see. Excuse my misrepresentation
MINI. Aikin-Payne. 1t was very fool
sh of me; but really, you know, it does
sound SO very ludicrous, doesn't it nOwY'
/ bit my lip, and tried to smile back
again. Absurd that man should be
made miserable about such a trife, and
yet / will freely confess that at that
moment, in spite of my uncle's twelve
hundred year, felt utterly wretched.
bowed to pretty little Ruby as well as !
was able, and took a couple more turns by
myself hurriedly around the terrace.
Was it only fancy, or did | really de-
tect as Ruby EstcOurt said the two names
over to herself just now, that she SEE med
to find the combination famiiIar Ones 1
really didn't feel sure about it, but it GER
tainly did sound as if she had once
known something about the Paynes or the
Atkins. All, we'll! there are lots of
Paynes and Atkins in the world, no doubt;
but, alas! there is only one of them
doomed to go through life with the absurd
label of an Aikin-Payne fastened upon his
unwilling shoulders.
III.
''Good morning, Mr.. - Mr.. Akin
! Payne" said Ruby Estcourt, stumbling
timidly over the name, as we met in the
! sdlle-d-ndnqer al breakfast next day. 81
hope you don't feel any the worse for the
| chilly air last evening""
bowed slightly. "You seem to have
/ soua dihiouItv IN communicating my full