The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-10-02


The gardens a. Copplethwaite were already
very well filed with guests, and more were
coming with each moment. The party from
Barnarlw;stle-tha il to say, the Ark
wrish.s husband, wife and several chidren)
| with the two Lancers, Hardness and Lucy
arrived Just as the hour struck Lucy
thought he had never seen Olive look half
| so lovely as she did that afternoon, III a
gown of creamy muslin and lac, With a
great cluster of crimson roses in her bosom,
| and with her mothers bangle of rubieS upon
her arm. The fan which he bad given as
| his birthday off ,ring was in her hanl, and
| his Jealous eyes were quick TO notice it; his
| Jealous heart gave great bound of exultaut
pr ide 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-
| cuped in thinking, as she had thought in
the morning, that Capt Hardness was,
without exception, the handsomest man she
had ever seen Now as a matter of fact
Hardness was not what many people would
have describel as handsome at all. A big.
fine man. with a broad back and muscular
arms-a man of extreme gooi-nature, sound
Judgment, and a somewhat amusing tongue
but otherwise not particularly distin-
guished in any way.
Lucy, on thu contrary, was Just about as
handsome fellow as you could wish to look
upon-lithe, graceful, and very strong
though some inches shorter than Harkness;
| with sunny, smooth hair and very blue eyes;
with good, regular features and particu-
larly pleasant VOICE He was altogether
beyond comparison with Hardness, rs Hank
nsss himself would have 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
into the gardens with his sister, on the look
out the while for the some one who was to
be the means of bringing the wayward Sally
into fit and proper state of mind-that is,
a state of mind which should make her
adopt a manner which should encourage
or, at least, not discourage him from asking
| her to become his wife, and should prompt
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 tims By his
| attentions There was no lack of damsels-
dauIseI5 who were fair and young rich and
amusing. There was Margery Donni-
| thorne, one of the richest girls in that rich
| neishborhood; but Margery Donnithorne
| was intensely stupid. had long neck like Il
swan, which, though lovely in that regal
bird, and exquisite in a woman on paper, is
| anything but attractive in flesh and blood
| and MarrerY, too, bad mouth so small
| that some people wondered if, as q baby,
! she had been able to suck her thumb, and
even went so far as to say It was a thousand
pities her mother had not taught her to
Cobble her whole baby fist, in the hopo,
by 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
| sare be was afraid of them Besides, Octa-
via squinted horribly; and even with the
hope OF winning Olive ever before his eyes,
LUCY uiu uOt lttt ~ HbAi cNCt. tc lUoStui5
| for him to say tender things to one eye at a
| time, not even though tine tender things
meant nothing, and had only the object ci
making Olive Weyland jealous. No; Mar
gerry would not do, and Octavia would not
do, either. True, there was Sybilla North.
as pretty girl as any man on earth need
wish to fiirt with Yet Sy5illa would not
do any better than either OF the others; foi
Lucy knew, and always felt little ashamed
of the knowledge, that Sybilla had rather
! more than a partially for him, and would
certainly take every word he said fol
| gospel; and, indeed, might even go so for az
to break her heart outright, a contingency
rs devoutly to he avoided as breaking hi,
| own neck.
All at once, however, he hit upon tGt
right person; AMI as Mrs Arkwright stoppeC
To speak to i ladv, and Immediately intro
aGcei Capt HarkueSs to her, Lucy, aftel
lifting his hat and making his bow, will
the addition OF enc or two polite common
place remarks, sheered off and made his wa,
To little group, consisting of an old lady
two young ones and young gentleman whC
was 50 very young that he did not count fol
anything at all
Good morning, Lady Charlotte" sal,
Lucy, pleasantly. 4Fine day. is it not, Mis-
Eaumme: How do you dos" to the boy
Then he drew chair trifie nearer to tina
of the young lady whom he had first ad
dressed, AMI then sat himself down Thereon
with considerable care. testing its weight
carrying powers very ginserly indeed; TO
it was frail-looking affair of wicker work
and seemed utterly unfit for the responsi
bility of carrying his goodly allowance o
bone and flesh and muscle.
ut will smash. if you don't mind" sal
Miss Baumme, with a laugh; then added
mschievously, "How wish it would"
Lucy looked at her with his wisest air an
shook his head solemnly.
Miss Bsumme," he asked, reproachfulIy
"what can evan have done 10 you tina
YOU should be so-er-cwrusl as to wish t
see me-er-spwrawling ANONYMOUSLY o
the pansy bedsi I-er-warn you solemnl
that if it does come down l shall clutch hol
of your chair and-er-you shall come dow
with me-
"Oh, l shall hear the warning groan G
yours, and jump up in time" she answered
with laugh. Then asked, in quite a dii
ferent tone, "Who is that with your sister,
oh that is Capt. Hardness, one of OIL
officers" Lucy answered
Shaving ot Barnard wistlsT sail th
young lady, carelesslv.
Yes; and one of the best fellows in th
worl IT, Lucy returned.
At that moment Olive clme quickly alon
the path toward the group of which Mr.,
Arkwright was one Hardness turned asid
and spoke to her. Lucy envied him tt
bright smile and the upward glance 81
gave him "a, with one or two words of n
ply, she passed on and entered the hous
After q few minutes she appeared agar
and this time took course which led he
past Lady Charlottes group.
1.-THE band Is going to play some walizss
she informed them; $50. if any body wan
to dance to them. anybody can 60 to II
marquee and begin"
"How very nicer Miss Baumme e,
claimed. Il, for one, shall go as soon I
anybody else asks me-"
@May have the pleasuref' asked Luc,
promptly.
He was undoubtedly O man of action. tn