The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-12-01
anne though; l wish father would let

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feel like riding one that could fyr'
She gave low laugh again, and sway
ing sidewise on her willowy waist she
said: Look between the trees there,
you can see the prairie twenty miles
away. | can't tell you how quickly II
would like sometimes to ride to that
point. expect so fast that the horse
would drop dead when he crossed it.
She looked the incarnation of the
wish for an instant, like some eager,
beautiful animal, and John Earling
watched her with smiling amazement
in his eyes. She bit her lip and col
ored, for he said nothing.
1T is one of my many follies; the
most foolish, l guess; this greatness,
father calls it, for riding"
'Oh, a good mary are fond of it,
but few so passionate with i'll think.
You must have inherited it. at any
rate, it is evidently not artificial" he
said, with smile.
She looked at him an instant, as if |
not wholly compromising. g Yes,'
she said, % it seems to me | can re-
member riding years and years and
years ago: the sensation or some
thing; can't explain it. But l some
times feel the same way when l look.
out upon the prairie; somehow it
seems to me have known it forever
and forever. Do you ever feel SO
about it?"
"No, but l sometimes feel a sim;.-
lar sensation when come upon sou le
idea in reading. l have wondered if
my father or mother wasn't acqu4 mt
ed with the thought or item of kn owl
edge before me. and transmitted it to
me somehow; that all the time it had
been sleeping in my mind. AMI only
for being touched by strange hand
! might have never Weakened up and
turned its face to me. But tb at is only
a fancy, l presume; it is probably
something had once knowa and for
gotten.
81 guess mine Is a m,mory, too,
| coming from my childhood in Mexico
and Southern California. | suspicion
that | was happier then than since
! father set about makinga lady of me. -
She laughed and said, suddenly. 80! /
remember, when you were here before
you spoke of liking flowers so well"
/! and she sprang up and went down to
| the end of the ver;nda to a climbing
vine, and posing before it, began
making little nosegay of its blooms.
| John Earring watched her swaying
about like living hazel, and when
she came back in her 1.-the, erect and
gliding way, he could not stay thrill
at his heart, and an inclination to put
out his arms and catch her, she delig ht-
ed his sense of symmetry and motion
so. But he only returned her smile as
he took the flowers and thanked her,
saying that she was very good, and aft
er seeming them, that they were very
lovely. She watched him with a
! quizzical look as he opened the bios
SONS and looked intently at their deli
cate stamens and pink-lined spathes,
and the mystitied look deepened on her
face when he said, without lifting his
eyes from the flowers: ''How full of
expression they are sometimes! [
wonder if flowers are not the eyes of
God? He may not be an individual,
but permeating Spirit, and looking
into the world that way. Sometimes,
too, l have thought they might be the
mouths of spirits whispering things we
can scarcely understand, and with
such sweet breath! Of course it is
only fancy" and he looked up at her,
but was so taken up with his thought
that he only half-consciously saw that
she did not comprehend the poetical
fneness of his drift.
81 never cared much for flowers"
she said. eve don't have very many.
I guess like to, ride too well to mind
them. Do you ever go to row on the
rlverp" she asked.
.Not often,n he said. sHarry and
used to play there a good deal when we
were lads, but since then Icould not
spare the time. like it though. Do
you ever row?"
Eyes, sir, sometimes row papa of
evenings. We are both fond of it, but
he never let's me 60 with the rowing
parties on the river. | have often seen
them, and l think / should like it.
"Why does he not let you go?"
"Oh, he never goes with other peo-
pie himself; he is so bitter you know,
and he has always kept me from every
one. 1 get ebellious sometimes, but
he is so good to me he has his way in
!. the end. He values me too much,
think
"Oh, no; Pm sure one could hardly
| blame him for being selfish in that
way, though confess it seems little
odd and perhaps unreasonable.
She lifted her eyes to his gratefully
and dropped them saying: I'm not
worth much" Then quickly: 20, can
not I play for you?''
"Thank you, certainly" And they
went in; the young man watching heI
as she went about putting back the
curtains to admit more light, and still
: feeding upon her outline, quite as
much as listening, when she played
, with vibrant. animated motion.
. When she had done he thanked her and
, rose to go, and she came forward
glowingly and gave him her hand
) again and he held it moment: its
grasp was so grateful and full of throb.
bing warmth he could not let it go.
He had never held the hand of mother,
, sister or sweetheart, and the touch OF
7 her flesh was new and strangely sweet
When he sprang from the veranda and
started down the graveled pathway
she came to the end of the porch, and,
; balancing forward like bird, said,
, with a smile: "You must not forget
us!'
y s.Tho+ oo,Id not ha IN bumor