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

Fiona n. CANpEE in Once IVee4,
A VISITING CARD.
II was a rainy day in January. Large
dropswere beating mOnotonously against
the windows of red brick house whose
white stone trimmings and other heavy
architectural ornamentations wore that
air of having been manufactured by the
thousand which clnracterizcs the dwell
ings of those good people who have
gained wealth without gaining taste.
Behind the guipure curtains on the
first floor stood handsome blonde look
ing out with bored expression in her
cold blue eyes. This was SOlange Tar
venue, the only daughtor of a respect
able bourgeois who, having made his
money in trade, now lived gentleman
of leisure in this fine new house.
-ss Heaven T. exclaimed Milo. Tar
venue, ehow tiresome this rain is
One can't go out to make any calls and
no one comes TO see one. It's enough
to give one thehspleen !"
''Thc spleen& What's thatl" asked
NJ. Tarvenue from the depths of his
paper.
Something you don't understand,
papa" said the yotng-iady, inpatient
1y. ~
Suppose you practice little, my
daughter" suggested Nine. Tarvenue,
putting up some stockings she had been
darning. "That piece, you know, you
are to play at the Paulpiur tonight"
'' Yes, it would be worth while, would
it not2" sneered Solange. "People
who don't know one note from another
As though there WAS any one in the
Ville-Abbe, any way, who did. v hat
is the use of having any talent for any
thing when one lives III the provinces?"
"Oh, the provinces again ! Solange
is in bad humor. I'll get out of the
way" remarked NJ. Tarvenue.
"Leave the child alone. The tenn
perature affects her. It is psychologi
cal, said Nine. Tarvenue, who fattered
herself that she understood her daugh-
ter, and was upon tile same intellectual
ie ievei, albeit the latter had aasen educated
lg>,#erf down stairs with the gir1,
and there Solange with-one must be
just-a good deal of L1ere digital bril- |
liancy, began to practice one of those
snowy and utterly hollow musical pro-
ductions in which there nre technical
difficulties i'll profusion, but absolutely
not one note that can speak TO the heart
or the mind.
In the midst of these trills and chro-
matte scales the bell rang.
"Therel" cried Solange, stopping
short. "rm sure that is a call. You
see, mamma, you were very wrong to
say that you were not at home to
visitors. Every one is not as much
afraid of bad weather as you are.
my dear child, what are you think
ing of Such day as this Why tho
parlor furniture would have been ruined
BY peoples wet clothes ~
peoples wet clothes It is to be
hoped the people we know would wear
waterproofs-as long MS they come on
foot. added the young lady bitterly.
She rang the bell. A young servant
girl came in.
"Bring the cards that were left just
nnw..'
The servant returned. Solnnge threw
an Indifferent glance on the bit of paste
board. Suddenly her face lighted up,
she exclaimed quickly.
Mamma 1t was NJ. de Prevaret
And you didn't receive him 70
''M. dc Prevaret :" walled Madame
Tarvenue, 'Dear me What a pity,
nowl" cried Solange sourly.
NJ. de Prevaret was considered the
very best catch in Vile Abbe Young
and handsome and clever, and the pos
SCISSOR of large fortune, he lived with
his mother the Dowager Countess, in
ona=af the most sumptuous residences in
the town. And this young man, ON
whom every woman of rank with a mar
riageable daughter smiled, had rung the
doorbell of the Tarvenues and left his
cards for theml He bowed to them,
because they bowed to his mother, but
he had never been introduced to the la
dies.
"What can it mean2 ?" asked Nine
Tarvenue, anxiously.
Solange was standing before the glass.
"Why, it seems to me that it is very
clear!" she replied, with deep complacen-
cy. "Haven't you noticed, my dear
mamma, that every time we go to hear
the band play NJ. de Prevaret is there
too 2"
"What l-why-do you think-2"
Nine. Tarvenue did not dare finish, SO
audacious did her thought seem to her"
"And why not ?" demanded SoIange,
throwing up her blonde head with
triumphant mir that made her really
immensely handsome.
You are right" murmured poor
Nine. Taryenue you are pretty
enough"
1t was quite true that Solange Tar
venue was handsome enough to inspire
o passion, but she would never have had
any attraction for a fastidious man.
This young person, with her sculp-
turesque form, her Opulent contours
and her dazzling cOloring, was abso-
lutely lacking i'll innate refinement or
distinction. No reflection of gentle
nature, an elevated soul, ever gave that
indescribable charm to her regular fea-
lures that such attributes only can con-
vey. She wns clever enough, but it
was thoroughly material sort of clever
ness, and it was joined TO most extra
ordinary amount of egotism and vanity.
She had played, in childhood, behind
the paternal counter; but she had been
educated in a fashionable Partisan
school, from which she had brought
away all manner of ambitions. In her
dreams for the future she saw noblemen
at her feet, and she would not have
Thought CROWN ulSplaceu uau IL
been made to rest on her magnificent
yellow hair. 1t was therefore no won
der that the Coplte de Prevaret's visit
had not much surprised her. She saw
in it simply the natural result of her
beauty She received her father when
he returned with a superior smile of
calm fatuousness, while Mme. Tarvenue,
who was more unsophisticated in her
new grandeur, exclaimed a2itatedly
elf you only knew whom We have just
missed :"
"Ohl You think 1 don't know" re-
piled the good man, trying to look very
subtle. 8. So he has come to make his
proposal, has he 70