Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-06-03
DISENCHANTED.

The St. Ledger mansion was very
broad, very solid, very square, very
respectable. and very old-fashioned; !;
the st. Ledgers were also one and all
of these things themselves.
They kept their original and heredi-
tary traits and characteristics almost
unadulterated; and one of these was a
great fondness for old associations and
old localities.
They had always lived in town. The
square upon which their windows open
ed had once been very aristocratic, and
even now retained an appearance of
exclusive gentility which suited the
chastened taste of the st. Ledgers.
1t was also pcrvadHd with an atmos-
phere of great quiet at all times, which
pleased all the st. Leger ladies, with
the exception of one. This was Flo
renee st. Ledger, only daughter and
sole heiress of old Abraham st. Led
ger.
All the staidness, the stolidity, the
impenetrableness of the St. Ledgers
had run to grass and weeds in the per-
son of this last offspring of their race.
1t was as though the repressed i'm
| pulses and checked ebullitions of whole
generations of ancestry had finally
broken loose in this slight, hgh-strung,
enthusiastic. restless girl of twenty,
whose wide eager eyes looked out from
her slim, pretty face with a hungry de-
sire to know and enjoy more of the
great untasted world which opened at
her very doors, but from which it had
always been the custom of the ST.
Ledgers to exclude their daughters as
completely, to all practical intents and
purposes. as though they dwelt behind
convent-bars.
1t had never occurred to them that
such system of repression could ever
lead to dangerous results.
Florence would be like all the other
women who had borne the name of St.
Ledger. of course. She would marry
some steady fellow, approved of by her
relations, when the proper TING came,
and be disposed of for life as comforta-
bly, as every St Ledger should be.
The Misses ST. Ledger, elderly ladies',
aunts of Florence and persons of CON
siderable authority in the household,
had decided that the proper time had
about come now.
Most OF the ST. Ledger girls had mar
ried at twenty. They were the two
solitary maidens of mature years to be
found in the family annals. But they
had both been engaged in their youth,
and they had lost their .fances in the
war. There was a romantic consola-
tion in this.
The Misses St. Ledger had then add
ed their approval to that of their broth.
er Abraham when Mrs. st. Ledger had
suggested that Mr.. Percy Stockton
would be very proper husband for
Florence.
He had very fair pedigree-th there
were better, but then everyone could
not be st. Ledger; he was a lawyer,
rising apace in his profession. and he
had some private means outside of the
latter.
Moreover, his life and habits were
irreproachable--a thing not always,
alas! to be found in the Young men of
the day, said the Misses ST. Ledger
with Il sigh apiece; and his extremely
sensible way Of looking at life-quite
extraordinarily sensible, indeed. he
was for man still so ycung-would
have the beneficial effect of acting as a
check and balance wheel for those
flighty tendencies in dear Florence s
character which all their love could
not quite disguise from them.
Miss Florence st. Ledger was per-
fectly aware of these plans in her be-
half, and she did not second them ut
all.
Not that she objected to Mr.. Stock
ton. He was really very nice in his
way. But his way had not the good
fortune to please her. He was so cold,
so matter-of-fact, sO-so-unromantic,
SO different from
In short, Miss Florence ST. Ledger
had other intentions for herself.
Whatever these intentions were, they
seemed to have weighed considerably
on her mind Of late. She was very
dtstraA at times, and at others in a
state OF feverish eXaltation, or of ner-
vous tension, which, although it quite
failed to be noticed by her placid rela-
tives, did not escape Mr.. Percy Stock
toms quietly penetrating eyes, and, in
deed, had set him wondering and piec-
ing possibilities and probabilities to-
gether in his usual active way more
than once.
Lately Florence had been more rest
less than ever. Size had scarcely re-
mained in one place five minutes and
no one less amia5ly dense and obtuse
than st. Ledger could have left un-
observed her unusual pallor and her
generally altered demeanor.
But nothing of this was remarked,
and when her mother. meeting her as
she was going out Of the house at about
nine o'clock one winters morning, re.
ceived in reply TO her query as to whith-
or she was bound the answer that she
wished TO make q school-friend short
visit, the good old lady was quite un-
conscious Of the fact that Florence
stammered little ~ she spoke, and
changed color.
Once safely out in the street, the
girl walked rapidly northward. She
looked about her furtively at times as
though somewhat In fear Of meeting
anyone she knew. Finally, she turned
into side-street, as neighboring
clock struck the half hour, and the
blood dew in tell-tsle fashion to her
cheeks ~ she saw coming towards no.
. tall, fair-haired man, undesira bly,
and indeed oonspiouously handsome,
and with somsthing foreign in his