The Republican journal., 1886-07-08
A Charming Widow.

Il
day over ID.
Except in strong light In strong light
she would be taken for every day of twenty
one. never settle upon a woman, AGE until
have seen her in a strong light
This rather pointed remark from the lips of
Mis- Pickett. Il >pnstei whose age was frankly
beyond repair, seemed to produce AZ electric
effect. Every woman on the piazza though
suddenly reminded of Il neglected duty, began
carefully projecting her eyes from the glare of
the sky.
Il wonder if She will get the I.ngli,nan."
began the first speaker again. she is putting
in some pretty hard work. Her slightest gAncr>
are the incarnation of ilaitcry.
"A great mistake. Never give Il man more
Than Tie eXpcct>-you will only bore him
II am not sure of that, 4 man is very
weak thing"
"WcIl, mark my word he doesn't mean any
thing; he is only amusing himself
4 boardnG-hou>c in Santa Barbara. even
when nestled amidst all the IuNurancc of semi
tropical California, is quite like other boarding.
houses after all. II contained the usual ahund-
alrc of idle women, the usual scarcity of Wig
oror, men, the usual supertluity of gossip. 50
it happened tIi,; the boaricr> at Radcliffe maj
>ion-which. by the way was no more of
mansion than amy respectable two-Story build
n@, but was burdened with that title in defer
cnrc to the prevailing Californian tendency to
make everything greater than il i>-were all
more or less interested in Mrs. Cora Tyrrel
Mrs. Tyrrcit sat opposite me at the table, and
used to watch her i'll Il sort of amaze that any
one could be 50 young and fresh and fair and
Yet be widowed. Her form was ah>urdly slight
for 4 full-grown woman'S. while her face was
a, sweet and guice>S as a chd>.
She some WAY reminded me of lan>y. par
tirnlary when She wore a slightly tiaring hat,
it, du>ky hrm setting of to perfection the
Transparency of her conn mIloNon, the soft,
baby like rings OF her hair, the large, ten
der, pathetic eyes. Beauty of this sort wins
women a> well a> mcn. Even Miss Pickett,
noted for the severity Of hcr mental atmos
phcrc, was >ulju-ated. Not Il woman grudgcd
Mrs. TYrrc her beauty. but several drew the
line at the Engl>hman. Feminine generosity
ha> it, limits. You see Percy Elliott the
only eligible man at Radcliffe mansion-eligible
in the worlds acccptation Of the term which
has we'll ctined reference to an irreproach-
able bank arcount-and il WAS hard to watch
him slowly disappear down the widow little
throat. He was tall. nonchalant VOTING fel-
low. quite convinced of his own importance.
after the fashion of his rountrymen. a certain
narroWMeSS of chest told why he was winter
ing in this Tar Western land; and frequent
horseback rides with Mrs Tvrrc told that he
believed in min.lin@ business with pleasure
She was Il wonderful hor>ewoman, riding as
easily without the saddle as with it. and jump
inc any fence without tremor. These eque>-
triaH duets stimulated the bOar,lerS to the live
lir> speculation. Cora certainly was not over
burdened with money though her taste in dress
>killfuly concealed the deficiency. .Jewerv of
c1cry description She utterly e>chewed; but the
gloom of her Grape WAS cNullistcv rcliel ed bv
flowers. She WAS never without flowers upon
her breast: at first modest ,lcnure VioletS.
suggestive of wi,lowhood: then. a> the d,v>
Wor, on, ro>r>-Whie for Il long time, and
finally pink.
came to measure the progress of her affair
with Mr. Elliott bv these roses: when the pink
ones appeared wa, a. excited as a girl over
her first offer
1t was about this time that the boardcr> learn
cd through a cousin of Eiott's, a lad who
had accompanied linn from England. that there
WAS another factor in this interesting case. He
said that Percy was engaged to an English Girl
and was to be married the following winter.
NV woman'> curiosity 50 far cot the better of
my manners that | finally spoke to Cora about
it. She looked ut me quietly for a moment.
and then murlnurcd:
"Yc>. know
"'lhen it is truc:" ! asked eagerly.
''rllat is Mr.. Eiott'> affair." she answered
with shade of rcproof
The boarlcr>, as if moved by one common
impulse persisted in decIariut that Elliott
'.diln't mean anythng
"Of course hes getting all the fun he can out
of it," observed one experienced matron; ..but
marriage is quite another matter"
Then there was the English grl-or. rather,
the rllnur of her.
But | was not so sure about it, To me il
seemed very plain that from marked intlitler-
ence this nonchaant En"lishlnau had gradually
awakened into vivid interest, and. as time wore
on. | could have sworn that Mrs TyrrrlI was
becoming n necessity TO him
He leased and torncntcd and even bullied the
little widow but at the same time he began to
follow her every movement with hi, ewes to
play with his soup until She appeared at table,
wander in his rpplics whenever he WAS adj
dressed
ian.uil he was at all times. bur there is \
natural and al1;rtcd Ian@,,or. and i, seemed to
me that the les he retained the one the more
he cultivated the other.
, Few mon can resist the ,loily urr>rucr of soft
tender ewes raised in appeal 10 their superior
manhood i-of an ar,lcSS innocence needing con
>tant correction from their LARGE knowicioe of
the world.
Miss Pickett and Mr.. Elliott were always at
lo"ncrheats Her Keen saIlics We're continually
wounding his self-loye: his lang,,il assumption
of Slmeriority was a DerpetuaI insult TO her
progressive womanhood. and so their mutual
antipathy GRADUALLY cxpaudrd into soII hotrrd.
Miss Pickett was too thoroughly feminine NOT
Y. | b.
served her cIoscted with Mrs TvrrclI for two
| hours one day easilv Guessed what if mcaut.
| If all came ont the next evening on tbr hin ho
hind the house. whittier Cora, Elliott. And |
had strolIed Mrs TvrrrU leaned h,ck ,r,inst
| a friendly mound and looked out info thr mirbt
one Of those eyuuisitc luminous distinctly
Californian uiphts.
The scents nf ;, thous,ud fo,.ars- -tl,t of tbo
oranne-blossom risinu above thc resi- NJ thc
| voice Of the prima donna leads and ncccntuatrs
| the song of the chorus-,Irifted upwar, to
| charm our senses
| Cora sighed Il little and then BEGAN: Miss
| Pickett said | did NOT understand men at ALL
| that was too lmsuSDectinm. too coutdiu~. She
| said men liked TO play with such women. but
| that they SUSPECTED most those women who
| treated them best"
..Aiiss Pickett be lanecd,' burst forth from
Elliott
"Then YOU don't think have done so very
| wrono"' and her velvet ewes looked into his
with !, troubled sweetness.
Wrong. Humphr
..IIow dreadful it seems to never trust anv
one. ! believe I would rather be ALWAYS de-
ceived than come to that You see" turning to
| me- Il am strangely situated | an: a widow,
and vet am scarcely more than a girl. You
never have heard about nv marriage? 1t oc-
cured four years AGO, when was only Il, and