The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1886-04-01
HIS SECOND CHOICE.

|
HIS SECOND CHOICE.
''And you really are going to fall
into that trap, Dick?" said Hetty Nor
gan, Indignantly
Mr.. Richard Carisforde looked calm
ly at his wrathful little cousin.
II don't exactly phrase it in these
terms. Hetty," said he, quietly, III
you mean to question whether am in
tending to offer my self to
Miss Deerhaven, l can only answer to
you yes"
ut is trap, and l insist upon it
that it is, - said Hetty vehemently.
"Oh, dear, why will men be so wise
upon all other subjects, and so IDIOT
cally blind when women are concerned?
Julia Deerhaven is an ill-tempered,
| scheming $50
"Hetty!'
''She is not your wife yet; no, nor
even your tiancee. thank goodness, -
persisted Hetty; land something may
happen to open your eyes before you
have hopelessly committed your SELF"
"Hetty,' said MIR. Carisforde, rest
lessly turning lead pencil round and
round in his fingers, ''what has oc-
Cured to give you such a prejudice
| an unfounded one, as l sincerely hope
against Miss Deerheaven? She IS
certainly pretty, and"
"Pretty? Yes,'' said Hetty with a
shrug of her shoulders, $50 is spotted
tiger pretty after its fashion, and a
black and yellow leopard
"And amiable.''
''No. Interrupted Hetty emphati-
cally; cher temper is anything but the
temper to make a mans life happy
''What makes you think So
don't think 50 said Hetty,
with an air of calm assertion
II know it; she is ill-natured, shrewish
to her poor old father. and mother,
unamiable in every relation of life."
"You misjuige her Hetty, / am
sure pleaded MIR. Carisforde, with a
troubled look.
'Oh, of course" answered Hetty,
satirical(y; ''that's always mans ar
gument. l only hope you won't find
my Judgment correct, when it is too
late to mend Matters
Eat all events she is industrious, or
she would never have undertaken to
lead the district school,
Eyes; because she wants more money
than She can screw out of her faith er
tor dress ornaments and inappropriate
jewelry.''
''Now. you are uncharitable, Hetty."
''Oh, am l." retorted Hetty, with a
toss of her pretty little head. :'Just
you wait and see for yourself, that's
all; only don't say that 1 havn't warned
you.'
And she tlirted out of the room like
butterfly in high dudgeon.
Richard Carisforde sat with con-
tracted brows and grave, thoughtful
eyes, as he still turned and twisted
the cedar pencil between his fingers.
Could it be possible that there was any
shadow of truth in what Hetty Morgan
had just been saying to him. No,
surely not-and yet-the reflection
would keep recurring to him that if it
was so, what a very disagreeable discov-
cry it would be to make too late. He
thought of Julia Deerhaven, fair, serene
anil deweyed as an angel-surely she
| could be nought but what she seemed.
Hetty must be mistaken; and yet
Hotty was generally pretty shrewd in
her conclusions, quick to understand,
and an adept in reading all the signs
of character.
els there no way of deciphering this
| riddle?' sighed the would-be lover.
''Oh, for wise woman to unfold the
mysteries of futurity-for a clue of hid
den meaning of sweet voice or gen.
glance! remember how, as a boy, l
used to write in my copy-book, over
and over again, All that glitters is not
gold! Can it be possible that l am
destined to live over the significance
of the words? If Julia Deerhaven is
not perfect, then women are more OF
dissimulators than have any idea.'
And Mr.. Dick Carrisforde, too unqulet
to sit still, went for long walk, whose
windings took him past the one-story
school-house where Miss Deerhaven
taught young ladies how to shoot, at
the rate OF twenty-four dollars month,
and in sight of the lower farmhouse,
under the hill where Farmer Deerhaven
himself dwelt, trying to force a preca-
rious living out of the sterile and rocky
soil. For the fair Julia was the eldest
| OF seven young Deerhavens, and money
didn't grow on every black berry bush
in the pasture meadows, by any means,
| as the poor tiller of the soil found to
his cost.
1t was no very tempting casket to
enshrine the jewel of Julia Deerhaven' 8
rich blonde beauty--yet Richard Carts
forde stood looking at it as lovers will
gaze upon the homes of those thew have
learned to worship, until the purple
clash came down, like a royal curtain,
all glittering with stars, and a light
flashed out of the lower easement, where
perhaps, even then, Julia was tighten
ing her mothers household cares with
the tender ministrations of filial love-.
He stood quite silent and immovable
for full ten minutes-then started as if
from magnetic trance.
III can but try it, he said, as if ad-
dressing some other presence than his
own individuality. 1T seems a strange
unnatural way of solving the riddle,
but am placed, just now, in a position
where correctional form and mere sur
face inquiry are actually worse than
nothing. will 90 back once again to
the pictured visions of my boyhood,
and temporarily play the part of the
disguised Sultan who visited the streets
of the Eastern city, seeing life, as
from his throne, he never could have
had the opportunity to behold its
various phases. Hetty's real friend
ship for me deserves that the matter
should be testcd-and if she is really
right, why then-''
Mr.. Carisforde did not finish the
sentence-it was not an alternative
upon which he liked to look.
Mis- Deerhaven released from the
duties of preceptress of the little
school-house at the crossroads, was
stretched upon the kitchen lounge, in
no very picturesque dishabille, her
feet thrust into loose slippers, her yell
10vU he r,,,chnl LOol~