Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-11-27
1t was Just four o'clock in the afternoon.

WY Law . Hu-Ssas ~ wi w 9
coming with each moment The party from
Barnard istle-that is to say, the Ark.
wrigh's husband, wife and several children,
| with the two Lancers, Hardness and Lucy
arrived just as the hour struck. Lucy
thought he had never seen Olive look hall
80 lovely as she did that afternoon, in q
gown Of creamy muslin and laca, with a
great cluster of crimson roses in her bosom,
and with her mothers bangle of rubies upon
her arm. The fan which he had given as
his birthday off ring was in her hand, and
his jealous eyes were quick to notice it; his
jealous heart gave a great bound Of exultant
eide that his gift had been singled out from
what he knew, by experience, had been q
host of presents.
Poor Lucy! he would have been less ex.
ultant, or. moro truly, he woull not have
been exultant at all. had he known that at
that very moment all her thoughts were oc.
cupied in thinking, as she haG thought in
the morning, that Capt. Hardness was.
without exec caption, the handsomest man she
had ever seen. Now as a matter of fact.
Hardness was not what many people would
have described as handsome at all. A big,
fine man. with a broad back and muscular
arms-a man Of extreme ~good-nature, sound
judgmen-, and n some what amusing tongue
but otherwise not particularly distin.
guished in any way.
Lucy, on tn contrary, was just about as
handsome q fellow as you could wish to look
upon-lthe, graceful, and very strong,
though some inches shorter than Harkness;
with sunny, smooth hair and very blue eyes;
wi, h good, regular features and a particu-
larly pleasant voice. He was altogether
beyond comnarison with Hardness, as Hark-
nsss himself would nave been the first to de-
clare had the subject been put forward for
his opinion.
However, as Olive kept rather in the rear
of her mother, that she might greet each
newcomer, Lucy betook himself farther
in % the gardens with his sister, IN the look
out the while for the some one who was to
be the means of bringing the hayward Sally
into a fit and proper state of mind-that Is,
a state of mind which should make her
adopt a manner which should encourage
OF, at least. not discourage him from asking
her to become his wife. and should prompt
a pretty Eyes" in answer to that important
question.
He, therefore, being a man quick to de-
eide such matters, kept his eyes open, and
cast about, in his quiet way, to determine
which of the many young ladies who were
present he should honor for the time by his
attentions. There was no lack of damsels-
damsels who were fair n young, rich and
amusing. There was Margery Donni-
thorne, one of the richest girls in that rich
neighhorhood; but Margery Donnithorne
was intensely stupid. had a long neck like a
swan, which, though lovely in that regal
bird. and exquisite in a woman ON paper, is
anything but attractive in flesh and blood:
and Margery, too. had a mouth so small
that some people wondered il, as a baby,
she had been able to suck her thumb, and
even went so far as to say 1t was a thousand
pities her mother had not taught her to
gobble her whole baby fist, in the hope,
Ly so doing, of widening the pursed.up
lips.
Then there was Octavia Long, the clever
est bluestocking in the county, or half a
dozen counties near it. But Lucy did not
think he liked bluestockings, and was quite
sure he was afraid of them. Besides. Octa-
via squinted horribly; and even with the
hope of winning Olive ever before his eyes,
Lucy did not feel it would ever be possible
for him to say tender things to one eye at a
time, not even though the tender things
meant nothing, and had only the object Of
making Olive Weyland jealous. No; Mar
gerry would not do, and Oclavia would not
do, either. True, there was Sybilla North,
as pretty q girl as any man on earth need
wish to tlirt with. Yet Sybilla would not
do any better than either of the others; for
Lucy knew, and always felt a little ashamed
OF the knowledge, that Sybilla had rather
moro than a partiality for him, and would
certainly take every word he said for
gospel; and, indeed, might even go so far as
to break her heart outright, a contingency
as devoutly to lie avoided as breaking his
Owl neck.
All at once, however, he hit upon the
right person; and as Mrs. Arkwright stopped
70 speak to u lady, and Immediately intro
ducet Capt. Harkness to her, Lucy, after
lifting his hat and making his bow, with
the addition OF one or two polite common
place remarks, sheered of and made his way
to a little group, consisting Of an old lady,
two young ones and a young gentleman who
was SO very young that he did not count for
any hing at all.
"Good morning, Lady Charlotte" said
Lucy. pleasantly. "Fine day. is it not, Mss
Baummes How do you dol" to the boy.
Then he drew a chair a TT. fe nearer to that
Of the young lady whom he had first ad.
dressed. and then sat himself down thereon
with considerable care. testing its weight
carrying powers very gingerly indeed; for
it was a frail-looking nff lr of wicker work,
and seem d utterly unfit for the RESPONSE
bility O. carrying his goodly allowance of
bone and flesh and muscle.
"It will smash, if you don't mind,' said
Mis- B,umme, with a laugh; then added,
mischievously, allow l wish it wouldp
L,lcy looked at her with his wisest air and
shook his head solemnly.
Miss Baumme," he asked, reproachfully,
'whnt can l evan have done to you that
you should DO ~so-er-cwruel as to wish to
ZEE me-er-spwrawling ANONYMOUSLY on
the pansy bedss I-sr-warn you solemnly
that f it does come down l shall clutch hold
of your chair and-er-you shall come down
with me-"
"Oh, l shall hear the warning groan OF
yours, and jump up in time," she answered,
with n laugh. Then asked, in quite a diff.
irrent tone. "Who is that with your ~sisters'
ooh, that is Capt. Hardness, one of our
officers" Lucy answered.
Shaving at Barnard w~istles" said the
young lady, carclessly.
"fe>; and one of the hest fellows in the
worll." Lucy returned.
At that moment Olive came quickly along
the path toward the group of which Mrs.
Ar wright was one. Hardness turned aside
and spoke to her. Lucy envied him the
bright smile and the upward glance she
gave him as, with one or two words of re.
ply, she passed on and entered the house.
After a few minutes she appeared again,
and this time took a course which led her
pas Lady Charlotte's group.
"The band is going to play some waltzes,'
she informed them; $50, if anybody wants
to dance to them. anybody can 60 to the
marquee and begin"
allow very nice!' Miss Baumme ex.
Claimed. u, for one, shall 60 as soon as