Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1888-03-23

led the painting on her fan.
| bolted. DE trop, de trop, | said
TO myself. There seemed TO be no
place for me in this gay assemblage.
| left the.conservatOry and made my
way back to my hostess. There was
old Jim Randolph, a widower and
man Of fifty or more, talking TO her
"a if his life depended upon it, and |
flattered myself that here at least |
would be welcome, but it gave me the
uncomfortable feeling of having in
truded when l heard him say in an
undertone. as he rose: May ! come
tomorrow and see you aloney
Never had found the widow so
hard 10 talk TO as now, she was pre-
occupied and absent.
"Old jim Randolph wears pretty
well, :" | said, after having started half
a dozen general topics, only to have
them dropped in a most summary
manner.
Almost as well as you do, ." she re
piled, and rising from her seat, she
added: Come, | will present you to
his daughter; she has just returned
from travelling abroad, and has been
out very little, so you must try TO be
nice to her"
And before | had time TO object,
she had marched me off and presented
NE.
AN old friend OF your fathers,
Alice" she added, after the formal in
PRODUCTION had been gone through.
Now that was really spiteful, and |
was so occupied in trying to discover
how | had deserved such treatment
at her hands that | stood there like "A
dummy until | heard voice saying:
Were you really friend Of papa ;
at college,
NO. my dear young lady, | was
not" | answered, with much irrita-
ton. Your father graduated years
before was old enough to enter col
lege; but it pleases our friend Mrs.
A to make me out a regular old
fossil tonight.
but papa is not so very old, said
my companion. in surprise. And now
for the first time ! noticed how very
lovely she was, and wished myself in
Guinea for having given such an an
swer. She would be sure TO put me
down as crusty old bachelor after
that. and it was all the widows fault
| would get even with her for it.
Never before did | remember TO
have met so interesting a girl, and
vet one who seemed so totally uncon-
sciouS Of her charms. | went 10 work
in good earnest TO try and obliterate
the unpleasant impression my first
speech must have made Finding she
bore me no ill-will for it we were soon
deeply engaged in comparing notes
on our travels, and for the first time
that evening | felt that | was appre-
ciated.
All too soon it came TO an end, for n
miserable young whipper-snapper ap-
peared, and bore her away for a
waltz. She was too sensible n girl TO
care for such senseless amusement, /
thought; but as ! watched her gliding
gracefully about with her partner,
there was no mistaking her expression
for ANYTHING but one of thorough en-
iovment. Why had | never waltzedf
Was it too late TO begin now? But
what was ! coming to-, John Gra-
ham, who had always rallied at dane
ing in general as pastime fit idiots,
to think of taking it up at this late
day, and all because n pretty girl,
whom ] had known but half an hour,
looked happy as she whtrled away,
and made me jealous Of the young
idiot who had carried her off. must
be drifting into my second childhood.
had started out that evening per
fectly self-satisfied, and feeling that
my presence was something most de
sirable: yet as | walked home two
words kept ringing in my ears-de trop,
de trop. For the first time | had felt
out of place. When | reached my
apartments ! walked straight 10 the
mirror. Aging? yes, there were lines
in my face | had never seen before;
and the longer / looked the lower fell
the mercury in my spirits. dropped
into my arm chair in front Of the dying
embers. Long / sat there thinking.
My cosy apartment struck Inc a cold
and cheerless, it needed something
the woman's hand, probably, and yet
| had never missed it before. When
at last rose and went into my bed
room, it was a. another man; my self
conceit was falling away, and / was
learning to know John Graham as he
really was, not the man my fancy had
pictured to me for so many years.
The fulfillment of my father wish did
not seem so easy, and instead of writ
ing to him Immediately, as | had in
tended, put it off from day TO day,
not because had given up the inten-
tion of gratifying him-far from it
Marriage had never seemed so desira.
BILE to me: but as the desirabilitv ad-
vanced, my qualifications for it dimin-
ished in my own eyes.
There is no fool like an old fool.
How often had quoted the old say
ingl but had never thought Of ap-.
plying it to myself. 1t came home to
me now, and rang in my ears as if l
could never get rid OF il. / suppose
| was an old fool TO all outward ap-
pearance, for ! never had found Jim