Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1885-12-12

| said to her, hastily coming down from
my starry height.
oh, yes, indeed" she remarked, "i
is such a comfort to have some common
ground of conversation on which TO
meet a chance ac suaintance. Anything
is better than to be doomed to hear the
everlasting changes rung upon ones
eyes and other personal features" 81
fully agree with you, replied |. "Neyer
do | see a pretty woman that | do not
say to myself: she has been over
whclmed with compliments all her life.
! will spare her. | will have pity upon
her, and ! will do myself the pleasure
OF speaking to her of other things than
her unfortunate face"
said this as a sort of an indirect
compliment to the as yet unseen face of
my companion. 81 think you have
reason, = she replied, for it can but be
tiresome to a moderately sensible girl to
have her personal attributes forever
dwelt upon; it is easy for a man to act
in a 1attering manner toward a woman
without ~nauseating her with the tradi-
tional complimentary the way" ghe
c~ontinued-'if not open to spoken flat
terry, you must not suppose me beyond
the usual gossip of this place. / al
ways liked that remark of Sidney
Smiths to Lady Holland, when he wrote
to her saying: 4 know you are much
too sensible a oma not to en- ,oy a
little gossip"
Indeed, l enjoy it immensely" l
quickly replied, do give me some nice
It'd bit-though | have not been here
long enough to get the RUIZ of the
habitues of the hotel"
"Well, I" said she, there is a spirited
lit of fun going on here. If you had ar
rived a few days ago, you might have
seen a tall, good enough looking gen.
tleman on the sunny side of 35, who
has leen the professional 'masher' of
the place. He has been in the habit Of
watching for the new arrivals, and when
his eye fell upon a brilliant and elegant
young lady-for he is quite fastidious
in his taste-he would lie in wait, get an
introduction to. her, then he would
bring all his ponderous ammunition to
bear on the sole pro. ect of captivating
the fair victim After this noble object
is accomplished, he, Alexander-li like,
signs for new worlds to conquer, but he
has just now suffered a little check in
his career, by a species of tactics known
as a combination movement among the
young ladies OF the place.
ut happened that the various victims
OF his attentions met together, talked
over his methods, and discovered that
they were precisely the same as applied
to each and every individual. The same
assertions and declarations had formed
his limited stock in trade for the last
half-dozen years. When the young
ladies found that Mr.. Washer had not
even taken the trouble to give variety
to his mode of attack, they said, among
themselves, now let's bother him a lit
tie. Then one said, turning to Blanche
Maitland, who had been for the present
season assuring the ambitious con lueror
that all his asserverations had failed to
make any impression on her finty
heart: Now, Blanche, why can YOU
not turn suddenly and directly around
and confess yourself subdued by his
persevering efforts; say that you believe
every word he says and that you think
yourself most fortunate in securing the
love and admiration of SO noble and per-
sistent a being. Then we will see how
he will slip out of the snare. . Agreed. ,
said Blanche. 4 will do it. 1t will be
great fun to aveuge you ALL
$50, at the next moonlight, sitting at
an unfrequented part Of the plaza.
Blanche confessed herself conquered by
all his feryent appeals. She was, of
course, hardly surprised to observe
that he was not entirely oyerpowered
with gratitude for her relenting mood,
and she was secretly amused to see the
willingness with which he allowed him
self to be so attracted by a party of his
relatives passing along that part of the
piazza that they deemed it no impolite-
ness to stop and sit down beside him.
The conversation soon became general
and harmless, the party afterward dis
persed for the night, and the self-sup-
posed acceptable lover has found safety
in tiight-he must have taken the next
mornings early boat-for he has not
been seen here since"
| was about to reply that such char
acters were as constant at the seashore
as the annual sea serpent, whom
they much resembled in their
shifting man / uvres, when our atten-
ton was drawn OF by the discordant
notes a gentleman who was irving to
hum a popular air from ''Iolanthe' at a
short distance from US. After running
it over several times, the untuneful
singer observed to a friend: II don't
know why, but that tune seems to haunt
me. No wonder" remarked my com
panion in a subdued tone to me, "for he
Is forever numbering it." l was smiling
at this little sally of wit, and congratu-
lating myself on finding an evening
companion so well bred, SO wise and so
witty, when, at this inopportune mo-
ment. her uncle appeared at the door,
and said: well, nv dear. if YOU will
be good enough to come into the cot
tase and read the evening papers to me,
j shall be cry glad" "oh, with great
pleasure" she replied, and turning to
me, airly said, in bowling her adieu:
HAu revoir-sus Iusa demain soir'-
and quickly disappeared in the dark
ness.
Eut, alas. the impression which the
fair unknown had made upon me would
not vanish. Here, said I, is the full
flment of my dream. A woman sweet
voiced, intelligent, sympathetic, witty,
and. without doubt, handsome, at least
she SO appeared in the dusky ~obscurity.
hat a fate would be mine, thought /,
if Heaven should send me such C mate
"a woman so full of grace, sense and
dignity. The tameness, flatness and
f~riyolity which are so tiresome to me in
the average girl of the period, sup
planted by all the qualities which make
companionship enlivening and helpful
How shall | know her again, thought
], for | had been quite unable to dis
Germ her features. OH I shall recog-
nlze that dice among ten thousand.
Then am almost sure I can draw her
personal attrib ties in my mind eye.
lighted my cigar, with my thoughts
persistently fixed on the lovely stranger.
Indeed, it was impossible to wrench my
attention into any other channel. I
fell to picturing her to my mind
knew she must have the rich, der,
beauty of coloring which distinguishes
the low-voiced creole woman-that con-
traltO tone would scarcely har.noni n