The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1884-07-05
MISS ENDICOTT.


Miss Endicott was an old maid, if we
are to believe her friends and neigh
bors; she no longer went out to ger
mans, and as for flirting, they said she
could not give it up because she had
never taken it up.
"Why, | don't believe she ever had
such a thing as proposal in her life, "
said Mrs. Snow, and Rev. Mr.. Snow
wondered if it were wrong for u clergy
man not to disabuse his wife's mind of
such an error. Miss Endcott had ac-
cepted the verdict of her friends with
out q demur, and seemed resigned.
What did it signify If she had never
been in love, was it her fault?P She
had once believed that the time would
come, had wa ted and watched for her
hero, but he had delayed, and now she
was pdSSee, and heroes always loved
youth and beauty, and she no lone er
eXpe ted him. She had her interests, her
poor people, her books, her friends, and
If these did not satisfy, she said nothing
ABOUT it. If life was little prosaic
compared with what she had expected
of it, it was not because she brooded
over all she had M ssed, and did not
enjoy the sunset of the present in re-
grett ng the Eight that never was on
sea or land" She loved to see other
women with their lovers, and she often
ought t, at she took as much pleasure
in the sight of a pretty Irritation as
those most concerned. Love making
interested her impersonally; she no
longer considered herself in the matter.
and when men, young and old, flocked
to her receptions, she took no credit to
herself; they came to see the pretty
girls with the bloom upon their cheeks,
and were civil enough to seem inter-
ested in whatever she had to say; she
did not know there was charm in her
face, dependent neither upon youth nor
bloom-"a sweet, attractive kind of
grace" which even the pretty young
girls coveted, in all she said.
1--WE are going to drive to the Glen
to day." ventured Mr.. Lawrence one
summer morning, when she was visit
ing at the country house of her friend
Mrs. Turner. ''Unless you will drive
with me, shall be obliged to go
alone"
"And you don't care for your own So
cietYP"
There is society 1 covet more"
"Oh," put in Miss Hughes, eyou
needn't go alone, MIR. Lawrence; |
heard Miss Scott express her belief that
she would be paired off with YOU"
''Miss Scott was mistaken
"That old maid!n said Miss Scott, as
she sulkily watched Mr.. Lawrence and
Miss Endlcott driving off. Every day
there was a little journey hither and
yon, and every day it was Miss Endi-
colt to whom Mr.. Lawrence attached
himself. It was Miss Endicott whom
he helped up the steep paths, for whom
he found the wild flowers, to whom he
gave the humming-bird' nest or the
Indian arrow head, whom he Joined on
the veranda, with whom he searched
the heavens tor the comet or tracked
the consultations; it was Miss Endicott
whom he rowed up the creeks among
the meadows, TO whom he brought the
birds he bagged, to whom he read Mat
thew Arnold's poems under the lofty
pine trees, or Browning on the sea-
beach, for whom he sketched the glen.
why" pouted Miss Scott. ''he is
familiar enough to call her Vera
alreadyr'
"Hush:" said their hostess, Mrs.
Turner; "he has right to call her
Vera 1 suppose; they were engaged
once, but she broke the engagement.
This is only friendship"
'.Fiddlesticks!' declared Miss Scott.
81 don't believe in friendship"
"'When friendship half would look like love;'"
quoted Miss Hughes. 81 must say it's
dangerous experiment for two people
who were once engaged to flirt. "
This is not tiirtat on; it is compan-
ionship," said Mrs. Turner.
"Of course he can't be in love with
her-at her age, too" continued Miss
Scott. Hes only amusing himself. !"
What Miss Endicott thought about it
was quite commonplace. Mr.. Law
renee was her most intimate friend:
they had known each ether for years
and wears. They had been lovers; that
is, he had loved her, and she had hoped
to love him, and had failed. If she be-
gan to suspect that it was not impossi-
bic, after all, what then? Many wom-
an has loved in her maturer years the
man whom she only liked in her youth
Was it because years had brought her
the capacity for appreciation, insight
and understandings She began to
wonder why the tones of his voice had
never thrilled her in the old days.. why
she had not loved him, why he had not
been her hero. Was it too late? 1t
seemed not. He waited upon her