Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-24

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slower. l bin hurry de life out of me
now"
Clare, turning suddenly around, could
not restrain her laughter at the picture
which Rosa presented as she came along
pulling and blowing, and the perspiratiOn
pouring from her face. She said:
'HOw is it you can't keep up with meg'
Il bin to try my best, miss, but de we'd
der so warm l can't STAN 'em."
Clare tried to curb her impotence and
accommodate her pace to that Of her sa-
BILE friend.
Mrs. Thompson was the nearest neigh
Dor of Mrs. HOnfleur. She too was a
widow, and in the lifetime of her husband
had been in affluent circumstances; but at
his death his affairs we're left in great con-
fusion, and, when the estate was settled,
she found herself the pOssessOr of nothing
but the home she was living ina small
plantation and few negroes to work it
barely enough to make them a comfOrta-
bic support. She was a weak and inef-
fcient woman, the mother of but one
child. the jamie of whom we have spoken.
whom she found it impossible to manage.
because of her own imbecility and the
headstrOng nature of the child, and she
committed her at very early age to the
care of the Sisters of st. Vincent to be
controlled and educated. She was some
years the senior Of Glare, and had been at
home several years. An intimacy had
sprung up between them, grounded not on
any existing affinities of character. but
merely growing ORt Of the fact of their
living in such close proximity to each
other, and isolated as they were in a
measure from other society.
Clare 5 warm heart, full to overlooking
Of affection, was reaching forth and
yearning for objects on which to lavish its
gushing sympathies, and her pure and
cOnfding nature was ready to believe
every one as guileless and unselfish as
herself.
But Miss Thompson was Of a different
stamp. Trained in a school of compare
tive poverty, after having had petted
and INDUCED childhood, and having been
led to suppose herself the heiress of I'M
bounded wealth, her nature had grown
embittered, and she had allowed herself to
become the victim of petty envy, and re-
garded her more fortunate neighbOr with
the malice which is ever the concOmitant
of envy. But she was far from betraying
such feelings to the object Of them. She
was educated and intelligent, and if she
was heartless she could assume the sem
blance of affection, and she induced Glare
in her unsuspecting innocence to believe
that she fully reciprOcated the friendship
of which she was the object.
1t was Miss ThompsOn's interest to keep
up that friendship, for she depended on
Clare's wealth and position in society to
hold her up in the circle where she desired
to move; and thus the friendship, which
was on the one side the fruit of affection,
was on the other the offspring Of the cold
est and most calculating seltishness.
Ought we to degrade the name of friend
ship by calling this such? Yet it passed
for it in the eyes Of the world, and was
perhaps as near an approximation to it
as it was possible for the nature Of this
girl TO feel.
Clare went to her for sympathy, full of
glowing hopes of enjoyment in the So
ciety of her cousin Frank, who in all
their early life had been to her as a brother.
! They mad shared in common the sports of
childhood, had fished together in the
| branches near their homes with crooked
pins fastened to a piece Of thread, and
baited with the wild viOlets of the woods,
when they were too young to be trusted
with fish hooks, and too timid to handle
any more appropriate balt-had together
hunted the wild birds nests, watched over
the unfledged birdlings, and tried a thou
sand times TO raise them, particularly
when they were the young of the hooking
birds which in myriad numbers filled the
vast forests, and made the woods alive
and vocal with their music; together they
had shed tears over the untimely end of
those pets, and buried them in their child
gardens with all due hOnOrs.
Hand in hand they sought the sweetest
flowers and the earliest fruits; arranged
MANY a grape vine swing upon the
branches of the grand old live oaks.
They had spent hours in patient watch
ing at q gopher hole to see the repulsiVe
object come out; had spread crumbs to
tame the sparrOws, and hung gOurds to
attract the martens; had made and tend
ed traps to catch the cartridges, and ever
so proud when they could carry trophies
of their success to the cook; in short, their
lives had so blended through all the period
of their early childhood, that neither had
any memories of that time unconnected
with the other.
Clare had seen Frank only occasionally
since their childhood. His father took
him to New Orleans when quite young
and placed him at school; subsequently
he went abroad with his rowing mother
Travelled with her in France and Italy and
Switzerland, and only returned to enter
college where he had been for the last two
wears. He had made brief visits in the
meantime to his fathers plantation which
Joined Mrs. HOnfieur'S, and which was in
charge Of an Overseer, during which visits
his time had generally been spent with his
aunt Honfleur.
Frank loved the place because he had
so many happy memories connected with
it. and loved it more for Clare's sake,
whom he had come to look upon as his lady
love.
jamie Thompson professed to enter with
great enthusiasm into Clare's JOY, and ac-
COMMANDED her home to spend the night
that they might talk over more fully what
measures were to be adopted to make this
visit an agreeable one; what friends in
vited to meet him and what pleasure eX-
cursions projected.
ssIn the first place." said Glare, after
they had sought her room for the night
and closed the door, 'we must have bevy
of girls here. Bessie and Julia Sanford
have been promising me visit for a
long time. / will write and ask them to
come now. Then who else can we send
| for? There is Ella Jones, but she is Sc
hard to please, she Will be sure to want
something different from any one else. She
was at BellfOnt when l was there last
| summer. and size was the spOil-spOrt OF
! the partv-if we wanted to fish it was toe
sunny, or too windy, and she would not
! consent TO 90; Of course some one must
stay at home with her; II walking was
proposed il was the same thing, it was toe
| dusty, or too cloudy, or it might rain, and
so with horseback riding; there was nc
end TO her whims; we will nOt ask her
/ that is settled"
Miss Thompson said:
ssBut she is considered very handsome,
| you know, and is great belle, and would
/ add brilliancy to the circle. She is never
4 fond of Out-of-dOor sports, from the fear
that she viii ruin her complexion"
| Clare replied:
''Well, prefer some one whose com
/ plexiOn is not of so much value. There
| is Carrie Cochran, she viii be an acquisi-
i ton"
Not that Overseer's daughter, Clare
| certainly YOU will not invite her."
'Why not? You were pleading for
! Ella Jones on the score Of beauty, and
am sure she is a thousand times prettier
| than Ella ever was or can be-
"But then she is only an OYerseer's
| daughter, and her father is poor"
! Il never chose a friend yet because she
was Tich,'' was Clare's reply, with a
/ proud curl of her lip. Il can afford to
| associate with any one 1 please, aud ]
! love Carrie. She has had the best Of adj
yantages, and while her mind has been