Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-07-18

| TO myseh an cir OF sanity, Jury wye"
| in seeming psrusal Of . paper. only TOO
| soon 10 learn through the medium Of 4
email shriIl voice, "Hs's holding 1t
upside down."
Flesh and blood could not stand this.
| Ieiye the misg aided owner Of the china
blue eyes look meant to freeze the
marrow 10 his bones.
He returns it with q wide bland
stare.
After that relinquish any idea OF
re. establishing my character in the rail-
way csrrisge, and fall anew to think
ing.
"How pretty she looked as she stood
beside me What hair! Why did
she stand at the window, and why did
she 20 away? What dear little hanG
she had How--Is that old lady
going to have flt?" This somewhat
irrevelant question is suggested to me
at this point Of my reflections by obs
serving in this person the most curious
facial contortions. ] have, when lost
| in thought, an unhappy habit OF fixing
nv eyes rieidly on whatever happens
TO be exactly before me, and attribute
TO this fact, combined with my pre-
ceding strange conduct, the evident
terror Of the worthy old dame, at
whom, as my ris-d-pis. have gszed
fixedly while indulging in the above
mental soliloouy. 1t is o relief to see
her depart at the next station.
"Friendship!" So / continue my
monologue "She offered me friend
ship. placing Der hand in mine. The
mockery of it How could a man OF
thirty, with his heart free, feel friend
ship FOR a girl whom no had hurt and
who had forgiven him?"
Friendship =" Was she mad ?
No; it was who was mad. Could
ever dare face her again? Could ever
dare face her father?
fancy CRASHED my teeth at the
answer my heart gave me. l believe
men do gnash their teeth--sometimes.
And so we crawled on to the north,
and in time reached London; and the
minutes grew to hours, and the hours
grew to days, and the days grew to
weeks, and the weeks grew to months
nothing changing. Always the same
picture of a young bright girl, with a
glory of red-gold hair; with a little
white hand and-ab. that was the worst
of it.-with a purple bruise on one
cheek, and tears in her eyes because
she was so sorry-it must be so dread
full for me.
This form l used to see everywhere {;
Just as young Werther used to see eve
rywhere The blue eyes of Somebody
even on the buttons Of her errand boy.
Poor young Werther
should think in those days there
wasSery little difference between US,
and but for the penetration Of other
blue eyes, superadded, perhaps, to a
certain amount of common sense in
myself, l sometimes fancy might at
this time have been found, like that
dismal young man, with a bullet in
some vital part Of me, seated, lie ex-
tinct. at my desk.
"Phil, dear !"
The speaker--need it be said was
the owner Of the other blue eyes.
CHAPTER V.
4" YOU ARE NOT LAUGHING, ARE YOU,
| NELLY"
Now, you know, Phil, you hear
me-"
] did hear her; but what in the
world was / to reply?
To say why girls act so or so,
or don't, 'ould be presumin'.
says an American poet; and /, for one
confess that my presumption has never
SCARED so high as to lead to my pre-
tending to understand that enigma, wo-
man. What did she mean? What
man would lean over ones shoulder
and say in tone Of Significance, Phil,
dear | ) or Tom, dear adding no re-
mark W whatsoever, and then feel aggrieved
at your not bursting into eloquence
Or was | to say in similar tone OF
sweetness-long drawn out
"Nell, dear "
For her name, Of course, is Nelly.
Half the sweetest women IN the world
are Nellys. This woman is my bro
theirs wife. She is young, is pretty, is
good; and, while loving my brother
immoderstely, she confesses to mode
rate liking for me.
In reply to her second speech" YOU
know, Phil, you hear II repeat q
kind Of shrug with which / had an
swered her fiIst-one Of those, to the
masculine mind, intelligent gesture:
which signify ago on; I'm listening
She proceeds
81 mean dear, you ought to tell u'
/ who she is"
HereI beg to draw the readers atten
, ton to three things: Firstly, the tint
was evening, and my study-lamp haC
not yet been lighted; secondly, ever
t had the room been illuminated, the lady
, speaking stood behind my chair; thirdly
while abiding apparently to more thar
one person, her use the pronouns was
so loose and obscure as to leave me a
' much in the dark symbolically as both
t of us " ere in point of fact.
5 Unable to catch glimpse of her face
, ponder on the possible meaning OF hel
: words. A two-year's residence under
4 the came roof with my sister-in-law ha
to certain degree familiarized me will
her style, and pique myself on being
a generally able, after some reflection, Il
+, guess what she is aiming at, even whel
her language is most yelled.
t scOrn to deny that an instant
q thought reveals her meaning to me.
;, blush to confess that, feigning cross stu
y pidity, | say interrogatively, with an
: other shrug and a hideous disregard o
: euphony:
oil ought to tell you who she is ?
? "Why, the girl you're breaking
your heart about"
Her two hands are on my shoulders
feel her breath on rather exposes
Q spot on the top of my head.
= "Girl? What girl?"
z My lady disdains to be more explicit
1 She still stands behind my chair.
d Supposipg tell her? | will.