The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-06
NOT 50 BAD, Aztec ALL

Last winter, in a flush OF enthusiasm. he mad
rewarded Emily Cummings seraphiC smiles by
an offer of his hand and fortune. and she, hav-
ing been for months an earnest competitor, &C
eepted the prize with q show Of tenderness that
was perfect 10 its way.
She was a belle and a beauty, but, TO give the
poor fellow his due, he was not very much in
love himself, and had, moreover, a faint feeting
notion that his 81OO, 900 had more to do with
her acceptance than any purely personal merit
of his own.
However, the marriage in all human proba-
bility would have taken place, and my little love
story been entirely nipped in the bud, had it not
been for the grim hand of fate, which beckoned
the unfortunate Con to a little watering place,
on a fshing excursion ostenSibly, but in real
ity to fan in love with pretty little Mabel Cor
don.
He met her at some village gathering, and it
being a fixed principle of his to attach himself to
the ~prettiest girl in the room, he in the present
case adhered to his purpose with a rigidity
which would have been extremely amusing only
that it so soon became serious, for after two or
three meetings had followed the rustic soiree
Master Con was fairly infatuated, and innocent
Mabel began to think that her ideal hero had
stepped but from his castle IN the air and
taken earthly lodgings forever and evermore.
For a week the dream was bright and undis-
turbed; then Con began to feel uncomfortable
With the prospect of being married to one girl
in a month, no was hardly dishonorabfe enough
to propose tho same course with another; but
being neither very clever nor original, he
couldn't see the slightest l~oophole. So, by way
OF inspiration, perhaps, he fingered on at Ma
| hale oi10. ann che naO child xUaq hannU AVaD
in the uncertainty.
OF course people talked. as they always do
talk; and some, more daring than the rest, en-
| compassed Cor. and looked unutterable things as
they spoke of Mabel's pareBtage-
Lives with her father and motherY Oh, yes.
But then they don't happen to be her father and
mother. She is their daughters daughter; and
as to who was her father-well, we don't know,
and the Blairs take care to give US no informa-
ton"
Then Con was awfuily angry.
He was Just young enough to be Quixotic, and,
of course, he wanted to marry her, shame or no
shame; to take his little star-faced angel to him
self for evermOre-to transplauS his little field
daisy to q more luXuriant soil.
He went up to see her with a letter from
Emily Cummings in his pocket and an ominous
| guilty feeling about his heart
by Jove but this is q cheering scrape.
Those C~unimingses will be after me like q pack
of v~ultures; but all l know is that I'll never have
q wife if | don't get Mabel Gordon
So, with trembling determination, he went
into her presence-pretty Mabel, with her white
face appraised and her wondroas hair falling
around her like a glorious golden cloud.
81 thought you would come, she said shyiy,
the color family flushing her fair cheeks. And
then, though nature hadn't made him so, Con
felt more utterly foolish than ever.
CASH I could stay away!" he answered, half
reproaehingly; then added, pathet1cally, "At
least, until l have to, for I'm going away in a
day or two"
f~suppose Mabel had had the natural coquet-
tishness of her sex; but at that particular mo-
ment it deserted her entirely. Her eyes wan
dered down the road, and she leaned more heav-
lily than ever against the garden gate.
ooh, are your very faint and tremulous, she
murmured.
yes; but I'll come back again if any one
wants me-
She stole one quick glance at him from under
\ her downcast lids.
"Do you want me, Mabelf Shall 1 como back
to your
No answer came from the parted lips but
/ think he knew she wanted him, for, leaning over
the garden gate, he answered her silence by say
ing. Very well. dear, III be back in a very little
while, and you'll be waiting for me, won't yonf'
1t was not very definite, to say the least of it.
ANY other girl would have preferred q more
lucid proposal, but poor little Mabel had one of
those rare natures which are satisfied to give all
and take almost nothing-to lore pre-. eminently,
perfectly, and receive in return a trfhng need of
| affection.
The world doesn't contain a great many like
L her, ana l, Tor one. am heaftlly Eldu-
l think tho women who hold their own, and
f anything else they can get, are far more prefer
able; but then earth and earth's children must
be variegated. sharp as well as sweet.
Con went home that night ecstatieally but
guittily happy, and when he reached home he
found a letter awaiting him-a letter from his
mother. the elder Mrs. Creighton, asking. or I
should say demanding, his instant return.
Emily is very ILL" she said, 'and certainly
your place should be beside the lady who in
four weeks will become your wife. In addition
to this. l am afraid that some Interior object
causes your long delay in that out of the-way
place. have heard, but totally dishelieve, a
rurlor Of some girl whose pretty face has at
tracted your attentions 1t 1oated upon me with
some appearance of veracity, and might have
troubled me had l not known that | could trust
your dignity as being a member of the Creighton
family and your honor as being engaged to EN-
lily Cummings"
Con crushed the. letter in his hand and tried
to stare circumstances in the face, but circum-
stances bahled him, and in a state of semi tor
ture he retired to his dream disturbed couch.
The next morning he returned to London,
leaving u little note for Mabel in explanation Of
his absence.
Emily Cummings was much better when he
reached the city.
Mre. Creighton greeted him with dignifed
pleasure, and poor Con felt as utterly mean and
dishonorable as his most inveterate enemy could
have desired.
For a week he wandered around In a very I'M
comfortable state, and then he began to make
sndden resolutions.
what a COMPOUNDED fool I amir ne soliloauiz-
ed, as he walked along Piccadilly in the most
dolorous frame Of mind. Il haven't written a
word to poor little Mabel, and these people are
determined to get me married. I'd better break
my bonds before its too late"
"Mr. Creighton, I would like to speak with
you for a moment, please"
Con turned with a start and encountered his
lawyer, Arthur Gray, of tho firm of Gray &
Myers. solicitors.
HCertainly, MIR. Gray. What's the business
nowf-
"Rather unpleasant business. I am sorry to
say, sir. But will. you step in my Office, where l
can fully explainH'
So Con followed him in, and waited to hear
! what the business might be.
| tsYnu arc aware sir that yonr Lotto f,aaia fropo