The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-06-25
NOT A COUNTESS.
Why Miss Dulcimer Did Not
f.. Marry Lord Lexicon.

Miss Dulcimer was fashionable
beauty; her photograph was in all the
shop windows, and for several seasons
She had excited universal homage and
admiration. She was strikingly
handsome girl, fairly accomplished,
and clever beyond the conception oil
most of her friends. For she affected
a stately and dignified repose of man
ner, which suggested languid tenn
permanent, whereas, in fact, Miss Dull
elmer owed the prominent position
which she occupied in society entirely
to her own energy and force of char
acter. Her mother, a widow Ii iy Of
good family, would have preferred to
live quietly and unostentatiously upon
her moderate income in some sleepy
provincial town, and would have been
quite content to see her daughter mar
Tied to a curate, or any worthy young
man she honestly loved. But Hilda
Dulcimer had far different ideas from
these, She had been ambitious from
child, and had early realized that she
could command the homage of the 9TH
CT sex, She was no less romantic,
perhaps, than most young girls; but in
all her day-dreams the ideal lover was
invariably possessed of an immense es-
tate, town mansion and box at the
opera. In word, Miss Dulcimer had
always been ambitious of making a
brilliant marriage, and in due course
she deliberately set TO work to affect
her purpose.
She induced her mother to take a
pill box of house near Park lane, in
an exceedingly unhealthy situation,
backing on to news. The rent was
ruinous, and the rooms were small
and stutfy, but, as Hilda pointed out,
the locality was undeniably fashion
able. She proved, too, that brougham
and digniIied man-servant were abso-
lutely Indispensable adjuncts to the es-
Establishment, and completely destroyed
her mothers peace of mind by com
polling her to keep up appearances far
beyond her means, But though the
poor old lady lived in state of abiect
terror of bailiffs and creditors, Hilda
contrived that she should not be mo-
Tested. Her success in the highest and
most select circles of society was i'm
mediate and enduring. In many little
ways which her friends did not sus-
poet, she turned this to account. Her
gowns cost her nothing; her milliner' S
bill took the agreeable and unusual
form of substantial check; and, in
fact almost every article of attire was
supplied free by tradesmen eager to adj
Sertise their wares. She had no diff
Guilty in disposing of her east-of ward
robe at highly satisfactory prices, and,
an addition to money thus saved and
gained, she was always willing, for a
consideration, tobear public testimony
to the efficacy of somebody's patent
,compleXion-reviver, or somebody else :
incompatible tooth-powder.
= by such eXpedients as these did this
clever young lady contrive to keep the
wolf from her mothers door and find
the means for those necessary expenses
which her career involved Mean.
while, without the slightest apparent
effort, she maintained the foremost
place among the beauties of society
WAS present at all the state balls and
grand assemblies, visited at the houses
of the highest nobility, and received
marked attention from royalty itself.
Many offers of marriage were made to
her, but Miss Dulcimer calmly and
disdainfully rejected them all. The
fact was, though she would not have
confessed it even to her mother, eligible
bachelors of the wealthy aristocracy
seemed very shy of taking a wife out
side their own select circle. An En-.
glish young lady, even though a pro
fessionai beauty, who could not aspire
to their own rank in life, was APP.
parently regarded as quite out of the
question. But yet llilda Dulcimel
was not diSheartened, and for -four
seasons she patiently angled and
waited.
AT length there appeared upon the
scene young nobleman, Lord Lexi.
con, who had recently inherited his
title quite Unexpectedly. He had
served as a lad in the navy, and Of ate
years had gained rather reputation
as an intrepid traveller and sportsman
in far countries. He had been absent
from England nearly five years, when
the news of his good fortune brought
him home to assume the position ana
responsibilities of a member of the
Upper House and one of the largest
landed proprietors in the Midlands.
He was 4 frank, open, unsophisticated
young man somewhat simple minded,
perhaps, but by no means fool His
return caused rather a futter of ex-
element among aristocratic mothers
OF manageable daughters, for, with
few almost hopeless exceptions, he
was the most desirable husband Of the
season. Their anxieties were, how
cter OF short duration, as, from the
moment of his introduction to her,
Lord Lexicon appeared to fix bis af-