The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-07-13
FAIRLY PAID.


leave of your senses, I always told you
I intended to wed a man with blue eyes
and golden hair, and yours are dark.
Besides, you are twcnty-seven and a
medical student, two things never could
tolerate in the man I honor with my
heart II hand" And lovely little Lot
tic Rexdal laughed q very wicked little
laugh as she pushed the end of her red
silk parasol into tho soft soil under an
old apple tree, at the same time glancing
saucily up at her companion, a scholarly
young man.
"Why do you ask me? she resumed.
"Becausc I wanted to be made fun of,
to be ridiculed by the little girl I love-"
replied Vanc Winton, smiling sadly at
the pert young lady perched on the back
of a rustic gardcn-seat, her brown frizzes
falling roguishly into her dancing brown
eyes.
"Now that doesn't sound n bit like our
own grave Vane, who studies medicine
and cultivates IN ice cream complexion"
A ice cream complexion" asked
Vanc Winton, n little mystiicd.
eyes; that's Lottie Rexdal's term for
students compilations. You book-worms
study away until your faces take on the
hue of that sweet compound" answered
the roguish girl.
eff you would only be grave for a
while I might talk to you," said Vane.
eyes; you know I'm such a rogue that
I should put you to the blush a thou
sand times a day." chimed in Lottie.
II am, willing to run the risk"
"Ah! but I shall not agree to n such
sacrifice. Marry some steady, sensible
girl. Alice May will be here in one hour.
Be polite, and captivate her. Miss May
is so highly cultured and grave that she
will surely not be less than sublime in
your eyes. I'll tell you"
But Vane did not stay to hear more.
He walked off, leaving gay Lottie Rcxdal
laughing merrily.
Lottie was the ward of Vane Winton's
kind father. She had been orphaned ut
a very early age. A maiden aunt had
then adopted her. When Lottie was but
ten, and her education not half complct-
ed, her kind relative died. But before
that she had sent for Mr.. W~inton, her
girlhood's lover, and made him promise
to receive the little orphan girl. The
kind man consented; and so Lottie be-
came an inmate of Vane Winton's home.
Vane was the only child of wealthy
parents, and at the time when Lottie
came to his fathers house he was away
on the Continent.
When he returned three years after
wards he found his ''ward%- sister, "as he
had called her in his letters, away at
some school for girls. So it happened
that Vanc and Lottie had never met until
six months before. Vane was a fine
scholar, but he had never studied any
profession. Now, at the age of twenty
seven, realizing perhaps that cit is never
too late to mend, he was lifting himself
for the ministry.
Vane was trying to study at his home
that summer. Sometimes he found it
impossible to do so amid the tempest
aroused by mischievous Lottie Rexdal.
She threw open the unused piano, and
made the house ring with her clear, bell
like notes. She filled the library with
flowers, tossed up Vanc's books, and wen
scribbled on them. She rode every horse
on the place, romped with Prince, the
great shaggy dog, tore her dresses, went
bare-headed, and turned the wide hall
into a skating rink.
She was utterly spoiled by both Mr..
and Mrs. Winton. At first Vane had
been shocked. But the more he studied
her original character, the more he be-
come reconciled to it. Tolerance gave
place to admiration, and that, in due
time, to love. He had always felt a
vague longing to discover a woman in
whose character he hoped to find origi-
nality and freedom from affection. If he
could only teach Lottie to love him,
what q splendid woman she might be-
come!
He would wait patiently md hopefully,
he reasoned, as he walked away. TAX
ing a volume from his pocket, he sat
down on a bench under an elm, and be.
gan to persuc it. Soon a merry laugh
caused him to look up, and he saw Lottie