News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-12-27

"To make his Proposal?" quaveret
Nine. Tarvenue. You knew then ?"
SIT is to be hoped that I did know,
remarked M. Tarvenue with importance
''He said to me only this morning: i
is time We came to an understanding
Eusebe is fairly wasting away, he is 81
much in love with Solap5e.'"
''Eusebe Of whom are you talk
ingr
"Of ny frier>i Ramillat, who is mos
! anxious that Solange should marry hi
son."
IN. Ramillat did not call. But th,
Comte de Prevaret rang the doorbeI
while you were away" And Solange
having pronounced these words, majest
icnlly left the room.
"M. de Prevaret!" exclaimed NJ. Tar
venue.
"Why, yes," said madame, initiating
her daughters self-possessed and indif
ferent mien. ''Solange is not astonished.
He has been noticing her great deal
of late. And if he should want to marry
her there would be nothing surprising
in that either. She is handsome enough
to mako q messalliance possible.
A discussion then arose between Nine.
anu ueE hS u
whether they should call, in their turn,
on the dowager countess-a discussion
which was thus concluded by the young
lady:
''On general principles it should be
papa who returned the call. But he
would net know how to appear in a way
that would do us justice. Now, if it were
I, having the habit of the world, I
should know how to manage perfectly.
So, it is best that mamma and should go
to call on the countess. By doing so
we will make her understand that we
are very willing to know her, but not
willing to accept the attentions of her
son against her wishes"
The plan was cleyerly conceived, and
week later was carried out.
On the same day the dowager countess
de Prevaret was chatting with her son
in large salon filled with fine old fur
niture. He, who was the most touch
ingly devoted of sons, had been asking
his mother how she had passed the after
noon. She had been too tired to re-
ceive, sho said. But there had been
several callers. "Among others these
and she took up card. mime. lar
venue" and mademoisellc.
=" DO you know these people?" asked
the countess. Sc was surprised to get
their card"
- know them and I don't. He used
to be a linen draper, think. He is
out of business now. They sit near you
in chIIrch-the father is little man
with spectacles the mother very stout
and rubicund the daughter n superb
creature, q blonde, who dresses very
well. You must have seen them I"
"Oh, yes, / remember now. I be-
lieve they bow to me. They are good
souls, should think--they go to church
very regularly.
"Good souls, perhaps" laughed her
son, "but frightfully ordinary. The
mother is impossible. As for the daugh-
ter, we call her the empress. assure
you the name suits her. She is tre-
mendous poseuse.
But why should they come TO see
me asked the countess.
Perhaps to solicit subscriptions for
some charity. The mother and daughter
belong to different church organizations,
/ think"
.. Perhaps. I don't care TO know
tffefn, Dit want to be polte. might
leave my card some day at their house.
That would not commit me to any
thing"
"Of course not-especially with the
Tarvenues.
The lady little dreamed what a com
motiol the square of pasteboard her
footman deposited at the Tarvenue door
one afternoon would cause in that
household. When Solange, who was at
the window, recognized the Prevnret
livery, she forgot all her assumption OF
and rushed down to the
kitchen to tell the servant that the
ladies would receive. Then she threw a
hasty glance into the drawing room to
assnre herself that all things were in
order there, and, still running, returned
to her room and began to make an ap
propriate toilet. What was not her dis
when she heard the car
riage drive away again.
sIdiot she cried to the servant
over the bannister. "Why didn't you
say We were at homo, as 1 told you3"
4" But, mademoiselle, the footman
didn't ask. He gave me the card and 1
said, Madame is at home Then he
said, We'll, give her that then. >"
every WE'LL" said SOlnnge with acer-
bity. "But you might at least have re-
Trained from saying that We were at
home, since you hadn't been asked"
Nevertheless the sight of the countess
card somewhat appeased her. That
grande dame, of the countess age, too,
should have taken the trouble TO drive
out in the cold in order to leave card
at their house proved conclusively that
IL, al %r hor %
Thus did Nine. Tarvenue think likewise,
and the two ladies resolved that the lesst
they could do would do would be to call
once more upon the countess without
delay.
This had been arranged when NJ. Tar
venue, who spent an hour at his club
every day, came in with very clouded
brow.
Something very serious has hap
pened," said the retired linen draper.
Then--"We have no secrets from you,
my daughter, and you know already
that my friend Rnmillat has spoken to
me Of his desire of making a match be-
tween you and his son. l expected an
official proposal from him three weeks
ago. / did not receive it, and since
then he had seemed to avoid me. l did
not like to call upon him because that
would have been undiguifed under the
circumstances. Finally met him to-
day on the street. aud, although he pre-
tended not to see me, | accosted him:
Whats the reason one never sees you
any more, Ramilat?' TT seems to me
sir he answered stiff1y, that it is
scarcely my place to call upon you again
after the step / took three weeks ago,
and which you failed to recognize in any
way" 'And now it turns out that he
came here, left his card, as l WAS not
at home, and thought of course, as we
had had n conversation on the subject
the previous Gay, that would under
stand the visit as formal demand on
his and his sons part for Solange's
hand. Here We are at loggerheads, and
all because you did not give me his
card"
"But he never came, he never left
card, cried Nine. Tarvenue."
"In any case, there's q good match
off" grumbled NJ. Tarvenue.
"Do not deplore it, / beg" remarked
Solange, with her most suberb mien. 81
should not have accepted NJ. Usebe
Ramillat in any event. l hope before
long to present to yon son-in-Iaw OF
quite another stamp"
In less than eight days Nine. Tarve-
nue. and her daughter repaired anew to
the dowager countess. Solange was en-
handsome in a suit of dark
blue with astrakhan trimmings, and
toque of the same on her golden hair.
Mime. Tarvenue, in plush and jets,
had assumed an Indifferent and con-
air which she thought in the
best possible form.
When the COUNTIES saw the two ladies