St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-05-10

1T was delightful y QIeaven forgive
me for the falsehOOd y Indeed, | am in
debted to your aunt for all the pleasures I
extracted from it. Without hsr it would
have been dull enough"
''Ah, my Aunt Barbara has been adding
yet another victim to her train Of admirers,
/ see''
'sWhat do you mean? Surely
eyes, it is my painful duty to state that
my Aunt Barbara is a confirmed flirt. Papa
used to say that his sister Barbara would
flirt with pair of tOngs for lack of any
thing better, and she had gone On practicing
her amiable weakness all through life. In
deed, always tell her that my time is spent
| following her about like sheep dog, to play
propriety. Do not be alarmed; she means
| nothing really serious. 1t is her only foible.
| We are very much attached to one another,
and she is always in all things my very dear
Aunt Barbara"
| The charm of the speakers manner en-
tirely carried off any sense of brusquerie
that this unconventional declaration might
have otherwise impressed me with.
The ice once being broken, | sat on, talk
| ing with my vision, quite oblivious to the
| throbs of impatience that Ralph might be
feeling, seated outside in the hanson.
At last it was time to go. said
Il may call again. may not ~
Il hope so, or Aunt Barbara will feel
very much disappointed at your lack of
fealty to her,
| left the house over head and ears in
love- had been in love many times be-
fore in fact, had always been falling in
love ever since | was Is; but this time there
| was no doubt about it,
mo need to ask what luck, Charlie, :" eX-
claimed Ralph as l bounded into the han
som, ''for Accepted is written in huge
capitals all over your face"
''Ralph, she is an angel ?"
''Ah the most of them are, l notice,
until they are married.
| deigned no reply to this insulting re-
mark, but drove back in silent ecstacy,
leaving Ralph to his own meditations.
But every sweet has its accompanying bit
Ter, and the last reaction of my miserable posi-
ton upon the last blissful hour was harder
to bear than before Why. it was ever so
much worse. Here. [ was pledged, per-
haps to the aunt, while | was desperately
in love with the niece. L recalled the words
that my vision had uttered regarding her
arnt's foible, as she termed it, but even this
could not offer any strong sOlace to me.
How could she know to what extent matters
L
must go to the governor, like the returned
prodigal. and confess my dilemma, even at
the risk of being called every epithet ex-
pressive of the plain and ugly word, fool"
in his extensive vocabulary.
He was sitting in the library. 1 felt an
intolerably sneaky sensation creeping over
me, and an ineXpressible desire to get be-
hind myself as | opened the door and
walked, or rather edged, myself into the
room. All my courage was OOZing ont at
my finger tips, like Bob Acres. The sooner
the matter was over the better for me, how
ever so | broke headlong into my confess
sion.
At first, of course, the old man was
furious. 81 had always been fool, and
now l was going to commit the greatest
folly of all. and tie myself up to some woman
old enough to be my mother, of whom no
body knew anything, and who, for all we
could guess, might not even be respectable"
and so FORTH in the usual manner Of irate
fathers, when they have got the whip hand
of their erring sons.
bore it all meekly enough, and at last 1
Gained the explosion by throwing myself
upon his mercy and asking him to help me
out of the fix. The ruse was successful.
''We must see your elderly charmer to-
gether; we had better call tomorrow No
Well, then, the next day, and | will see
what can be done"
And so ended the interview between the
governor and myself. | felt relieved, but
| could not feel at rest until this dreaded
call was over.
The governor was very good all that day.
He generally did turn UP trumps at real
crisis. es
The next day after lunch he proposed a
a stroll in the Row, as he said, to distract
my attention from the painful and absorb
ing topic that engrossed it.
We had been walking up and down, stop
ping now and again to greet some passing
friend, whenI suddenly saw my vision be-
fore me. 1t could be no other; there was
not face among all the beauties present
that could have compared with or be mis-
taken for hers. She was sitting under the
shade of the great elns, daintily dressed in
some diaphanous, creamy white material,
and looking more bewitching than ever.
And that lady sitting beside her-why that,
of course, was she to whom | believed my
self engaged, my elderly charmer
\ In my self-accusing hour of remorse had
done her an injustice. There was no make
up" there. She was dressed in good taste,
and as became her age. Any diSintereSted
person would have pronounced her de-
cidedly elegant woman, well preserved for
40. if indeed, she were SO much. and
with no small pretensions to good looks.
| started invOluntarily, and the governor
observed it.
''Well, Charlie, what's amiss now ?"
'sWhy," l answered, suddenly growing
scarlet all over, there she is?''
''Where 2"
cover there, sitting under that tree, and
talking to that lovely girl in white"
''Now for it, my boy. Introduce me-
| walked forward and raised my hat.
''Miss Damian-"
''Ah and so we have met sooner than
we expected, Mr.. Carew: accept my apol-
oges for having a cold yesterday when you
called: vet can hardly blame the cold, for.
it was caught at the picnic, and is now
gone. and had it not been for the picnic we
should not have met. and you would not
have called at all. I dare say my niece did
the honors for me better than l should have
done them myself"
All the answer that l could make to this
was to look raptllrously at Ethel, and num-
BILE inarticulately to Miss Damian.
There was certainly a touch of coquetry
in Aunt Barbara's speech: but it was the
permissible cOquetry OF lady who knew
her position and could maintain it,
introduced the governor by way of hid
ing my idiotic confusion and the converse
ton became general, or rather broke up into
twos, for seized the vacant chair next to
Ethel. and left the governor to Miss Damian
altogether.
You may not believe me, but it is per-
fectlv true that I forgot all about my
dilemma from the moment plunged into
that heavenly tete-a-tete with Ethel, and
was oblivious of all surroundings.
At last my trance was broken. Miss
Damian leaned forward and pointedly adj