Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-07-05

singing my praises, and the young ont
did not fancy the tune.
lido not know what cord thrilled in
my heart at these words. in that soft
minor voice, capable of all melody. o.
terse expression. nor how ! got myself
out of the room. A man who has re-
ceived fatal bullet in the breast does
not recognize the sensation. for the
reason that he has never experien ced
it before: he does not know it.
import We met often after this,
always by accident. it would seem.
on the staircase. in the hall, and
finally one night made SO bold as te
knock at the door of her music-ro ON.
She welcomed me with her naughty
cordially, if haughtiness can be cor
dial There were three or four young
men slseady in possession. but she
placed her seat near my own. and
while she anon threw out javelins Of
wit for the general benefit. l received
the lions share of attention. This was
iattering to my ormour-propre. But
STILL whenever I repeated my call
had always to wrestle with handful
of younger men for the supremacy.
must confess that before l reached this
point l had been obliged to wrestle
with myself to overcome prejudice.
A Van Huysam in love with his land.
lady's daughter was an anomaly.
What would my family and friends say
to such an affair! with what eyes
would they regard it? What would
Miss Douglass think, for whom l had
been destined, but who had been a
hobbedehoy girl of thirteen when had
last seen her? OF course she could
care nothing for me; it would be a
wound to her vanity at the most;
had never intended to marry her; Ihad
never consented, in fact; that bony,
shy schoolgirl, with the big eyes and
lank figure. had never appealed to me;
had never been able to forgive her
for stammering and blushing. Besides,
there had been some rumor that the
Golfers of the family had suffered dur
ing their sojurn abroad, and l had lost
sight of them through their own neg
ligence. But landlady's daughter!
The idea would wither all my &C
quaintances.
However. love not only laughs at
locksmiths. but at ones relations.
When Isunned myself in Estelle' pres
ence l cared no more for the world 8
opinion. or for that of any Van Huy-
sam but myself, than for the inhabit-
ants of falkland; but once away from
that subtle magnetism, then my poles
changed. l saw thousand reasons
for giving her up-if one can be said
to give up what one does not possess
Such thing as a Van Huysam marry
ing out of his sphere had never been
known in the family annals. But how
did l know that Estelle would marry
me? To be sure, if l had been quite
certain of that, perhaps should have
hesitated to proceed further. The far
of, unattainable. and dim is dear to
the soul of man-at least till it is to
take Or leave.
One day. when we were reading Il
new poem together. card was brought
in. Tell Mr.. Chester that l am en-
gagged. and can not see him tonight, :"
l overheard her say to the servant
mir. Chester does not appreciate our
author" she apologized to me. "and
l am not self-sacrificing enough to ac-
cept him in exchange for Browning"
1t occurred to me at that time that
there were other young men belonging
to ar:stocratic families who had no fear
of mesalliance with landlady's
daughter. although, to be sure. they
might be simply amusing themselves.
rs gilded youth were wont to do. Es-
telle would never 60 out with me; she
had no chaperun. she said, wondered
what my sister-in-law would answer
should Iwrite her to chapcron my land
lady's daughter to ''Lohengrin." she
who chaperoned only the very elect, so
to speak.
One evening the conversation drifted
into the subject of marriage. Mr..
Chester and some others were present,
and led the theme. Il would marry
the woman l loved" said Mr.. Chester,
"if she were beggar. and my father
disinheritei me on the spot.
"Beggary signifies nothing" re-
turned another. lone would not ask
has she a dot, but has she blue blood"
can ancestral tree. in short, with
more roots than branches" spoke a
third. LAS for myself. l confess l
should prefer my wife to belong to the
impecunious old families rather than
to the moureau richie. Poor Bishop.
how his world came down upon him
when he fell in love with shop-girl.
with neither blood nor bullion. his
mother especially! but Bishop stood to
his guns: it must have taken a lot of
pluck to weather all he did from friend
and foe"
"You call that pluck?' said Ches-
ter. Il call it obstinacy. in his case.
1t was such an easy thing for Bishop
to fall in love that he might have