Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1885-01-21

81 beg your pardon, colonel" said
Captain Hilton, stifly; "but / object
equally to being throttled. Allow me
to wish you good morning"
stop, my friend" said Colonel Hal
dane, confusedly; 81 don't know what
is the matter with me! I'm half asleep,
l think. Sea and sentiment, as you
said just now. Come, my friendl DO
tell me what on earth Miss White
means?"
means? Something green," said
Hilton, viciously; "but whether sprout-
ing in tub, after the fashion Of the
blossoming shrub, or done up in glass
case after the artificial mode, y know
not. l wish you good morning col
onel."
And with that he retreated TO the
mess room.
"Blossoming shrub" murmured
Colonel Haldane, "Bless his Eliber-
nian wit! Eureka! Now 1 have it"
And with that he sat down at his
writing-table. and penned the follow
ing letter:
"Au MyoSotis No. 10, Avenue Victor
Emmanuela Menton Alpes MaritimeS." ."
"Send the finest towering myrtle
you possess to the following address:
Miss Florence White, The Grange,
Porterdown, Sussex. The myrtle must
arrive on the afternoon of September
the 9TH, one week from this date"
Then Colonel Haldane rang the bell
hastily, and told his man to post the
letter, This done, he placed the note
from Miss Florence White in the
pocket OF his frogged coat, and then
proceeded to read the rest of his CORE
spondence
X X X II X
The afternoon of the 9TH duly ar
rived, and with strange palpitation
at his heart ( a sensation which ought
to have aroused his suspicious as to
the exact state of his susceptibilities), !,
Colonel Haldane drove up in his little
hooded carriage, with the tiger jump
ing up and down behind, to the gates
of The Grange.
"Here comes the pig in the poke" "
said Felicity White, a younger daugh-
ter who was given to using her brains
in off hand criticism. "If man will
drive carriage with hood, what is
one to call him, but pig in poke,
you know? He is lidgeting at the gate
most awfully, Florence; do come and
look"
81 like that hooded carriage" said
Florence. And then she turned with
ready grace to meet Colonel Haldane,
who had just entered the room. "Fe.
licity and were drawn to the window
by the magnetical influence of your
charming little carriage" she said.
II SO admire your poke"
"Do you?" said Colonel Haldane,
gratefully. at is very kind of your
who, answered to the ubiquitous name
and then he looked steadfastly at Flor
ence, absolutely blushing as he did so.
Florence, catching the glance inter
rogativa, was arrested in her amiable
intention of transporting him to the
other end of the long, lone drawing
room, and introducing him to Mrs.
Harrington, the rector's wife. This
agitated gentleman did not look exact
ly in a fit state to be discoursed to
about winter blanket clubs and work
ingmen's clubs and friendly societies.
It's all very fine to talk about lead
ing an unpuzzled existence, like Jane
Austen; but achy on earth did Colonel
Haldane look at her with this un-
fathomable glance from his undeniably
fine gray eyes? What did it mean
She fell away from him, musing, and
turned the outward machinery of trte
commonplaces on her greeting of the
numerous guests, who were now rapid
ly arriving.
The Whites had just started page,
of Tommy" one of those specimens
much adapted by ambitious matrons as
an improvement on parlor maids; a
creature raw off the fields, with the ex-
preston of an animated turnip and
brains to match. In the midst of a
buzz of voices intermingling with the
frou-frou of rich dresses, Tommy sud-
denly darted into the room, and made
straight for Miss Florence White, car
rying in his lobster colored hand book
suggestive of the p. D. Company.
Colonel Haldane, from his solitary
seat in the deep recess of the bay win
dow facing the entrance to 1.-The
Grange" felt an awful sensation come
over him. Was this the myrtle arriv-
ing, and had the Mention folk absolute
ly charged the carriage to Miss White? ?
What should. he do? lie shrunk be-
hind the deep amber of the curtains,
then as suddenly emerged.
Bring Myrtlel these were her own
words, and he made a violent rush
across the room to her side.
"It's the myrtle" he said, breathless-
ly. "Allow me! The stupid people
have made a mistake" he continued,
incoherently. "The idea of charging
the carriage to you" and he threw a
sovereign into Tommy's bashful fingers
Miss White looked at Colonel Hal
dane with ever-enlargng pupils. He
had returned lately from Egypt, had
hnnr, nlnfnt imnlln nt fha hnn1 In rd M q n