Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1886-09-21
MISCELLANEOUS.
Fairly Paid.

"Marry you? Why, no, Vauc, of course I
won'tI You must have taken leave of your
senses. I always told you l intended TO wed a
man with blue eyes and golden hair, and yours
are dark. Besides, you are twenty-scvcu and
a medical student, two things I never could
tolerate in the man / honor with my heart and
hand" And lovely little Lottic Rcxdallaughcd
a very wicked little laugh rs she pushed the
end of her red silk parasol into the soft soil
under an old apple tree, at the same time
CHANGING saucily up ut her companion, u
scholarly young man.
"Why do you ask me ?" she resumed.
Because / wanted to be made fun of. to be
ridiculed by the little girl I love" replied Van
Winton, smiling sadly at the pert young lady
perched on the back of a rustic garden-scat,
her brown frizzcs falling roguishly into her
dancing brown eyes.
"Now that doesn't sound a Bit like our own
grave Vane, who studies medicine and Guilt
Yates an ice cream complexion"
"An ice cream complexion 2" asked vane
Winton. n little mystifed.
eyes; that's Lottic Rcxdal's term for stu
dents complexion. You book-worms study
away until your faces take on the hue of that
sweet compound" uswered the roguish girl.
"1f you would only be grave for n while !
might talk to you" said Vane.
ayes; you know I'm such q rogue that /
should put you to the blush a thousand times
a day" chimcd in Lottie.
"1am willing TO run the risk"
"Ah! but I shall not agree to any such sac
rifce. Marry some steady, sensible girl
Alice May will be here in one hour. Be polite
and captivatc her. Miss May is SO highly cul-
tured and grave that she will surely not he less
than sublime in your eyes. I'll tell you"
But Vane did not stay TO hear more. lie
walked off, leaving gay Lottie Rexdal laughing
merrily.
Lottie was the ward of Vane Winton's kind
father. She had been orphaned at a very early
age. A maiden aunt had then adopted her.
When Lottie was but ten. and her education not
half completed, her kind relative died. But
before that she had sent for Mr.. Winton, her
gir!hood's lover, and made him promise to re-
ceive the little orphan girl. The kin man
consented, and so Lottie became an inmate o.
Vane Winton's home.
Yane 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 afterwards he
found his "ward-sister," Us he had called her
in his letters, away at some school for girls.
So 1t happened that Vane and Lottie had never
met until six months before. vane was n fine
scholar, but he had never studied any profess
sion. Now. at the age of twenty-scvcn, rcaliz-
ing perhaps that at is never too late to mend"
ne was fitting 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 Rexcal- She threw open the unused
piano and made the house ring with her clear
beIl-likc notes. She filed the library with
flowers, tossed up vane's books, and even
scrubbed 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 became reconciled to it Toler-
ance gave place to admiration, and that, in due
time, TO love. He had always felt a vague
longing to discover a woman in whose charac-
ter he hoped to find originality and freedom
from affection. If he could teach LOttie 70
love him, what a splendid woman che might
becomei
He would wait patiently and hopefully, he
A-01SHSa9 IN III "oAhNN away AeAAH5 - va
ume from his pocket, he sat down on a bench
under an elm, and began to peruse It. Soon a
merry laugh caused him to look up. and he
saw Lottie riding down the lane ID her milk
white Floss. Very bright and piquant she
Hooked in her riding habit as she drew rein
beside him.
"sir Owl, I'm on my way to meet Miss
Alice now; and while I'm gone 1 shall expect
you to comb your hair, part it in the middle,
put on a clean collar, pin a flower in your but
toD-hole. and act very aesthetic aud dude-Iike."
And with a merry laugh she rode away.
For weeks alter Alice Nays arrival the house
WIS filed with company. vane devoted him
self almost entirely to her, leaving Lottie to
amuse herself. At the frequent Picnics Alice
shone as the chief star of the occasion She
might he gone al day, but returned with her
elegant costuIncs Is perfect as when she started
while LATHE would lose her parasOl and fan,
and tear great holes in her dresses and come
home with her face and hands as black as
IGypsy's.