Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1888-03-02


he fell victim to the charms Of his SIS
ter's seamstress, Loretta Hurlett.
One of Dicks few literary accomplish
ments was an ability to read Spanish
with considerable skill and to speak 1t
with the fluency of native. When he
was youth of seventeen, and full OF the
| love for a wild life on the frontier incl
dent to that age, his father sent him TO
ranch which he owned in Sothern Cali
fornia and gave the establishment into
! his charge.
Although his management of the con-
| Germ was by no means so successful In
| the way of financial results as tie elder
Harris desired, Dick, by cons taDt asso-
citation with the men about the place, all
| of whom were Spaniards, became almost
as proficient in their language as If he
had never known any other. DE was
! charmed with the smooth cadence of the
tongue, and when he subsequently went
to college he devoted some time and at
tention to the study of its grammatical
construction Upon his return to
Atchison he discovered an old Spanish
gunsmith named Zanthes, and used
to make almost daily visits to the
old mans shop and spend hours in talk
ing to him. 1t was but a short time at
ter the dark-eyed Loretta had been en-
ployed at Dr. Chalice's house until he
discovered that she, too, could talk
Spanish, and his visits to the old gun
smith suddenly ceased. AS reticent with
him as she was with every one else IN
regard to her past history, he was left
in ignorance as to how or where she had
acquired it. He manifested no undue
curiosity on this point, however, and
contented himself with the fact that
she could speak it f1uently.
At first he conversed with her merely
as an amusement. He used to spend an
hour, sometimes more, in the sitting
room where she worked almost every day
before going back to the Office after
meals, or while waiting for them when he
came home too early. Their converse
ton for the most part was made up of
ordinary small talk about people and
events in the city with which both hap
pened to be familiar. Neither made any
attempt at concealment, because neither
felt that there was anything to conceal.
Dicks mother and the Chal ces frequent
ly found them chatting together, but
paid no attention to it, and in fact was
rather pleased that Dick seemed to prefer
this to some other occupations in which
he had been accustomed to find amuse
ment and entertainment. 1t was not
long, however. before these conversa-
tions began to last two, even three hours.
Not infrequently Dick failed to go
down to the office at all in the afternoon
and spent the time talking to ''the girl"
as she was designated in the household,
and watching her nimble fingers while
she sewed. He found himself thinking
of her a great deal, although he would
hardly confess it even to himself. The
az 4 10 Of haro fhoy
ever, and he counted the hours from the
tine he left the sitting room until he was
back again. His mother noticed this
and remarked to him that he seemed to
stay at home much more than he
used to.
In the evening he played cards with
Loretta. He had learned to be quite an
expert at this while at college, and
prided himself on the accomplishment.
But the ''little Spaniard, % as he play
fully named the girl, won at least as
often as de did, if indeed she did not
have the odds in her favor. This, too,
won his admiration. Then he thought
of her nearly all the time when he was
awake and dreamed of her when he was
asleep. An unaccountable timidity
seemed to come over him whenever the |
other members of the family were in the
room with them. In short, he was in |
love with her and afraid he might betray !
himself to his mother or sister. He knew |
the views of both we'll enough to under
stand that their anger would be some |
thing dreadful should they discover the
real state of affairs.
In the fall of 1853, late in September
or early in October, Loretta said an aunt |
of hers in Georgia was very i'll and she
should like to 60 and see her. She left
and returned about the middle of the |
November following. A few days after
she had gone Dick said he wanted to pay |
a visit to one of his college chums in |
Ohio, got the necessary funds from his |
mother and left. He returned about the |
1st of December. About two weeks !
after his arrival his sister came into the !
sitting room one day and found Loretta
in his arms. She demanded an explain
alton. Dick got very red in the face,
and stammered out something about |
''my wife,
This is my husband" said Loretta
calmly, putting her arm around his neck. !
''Your husbands" said Mrs. Chalice /
"When were you mar
ried?''
when went to see my aunt, replied |
Loretta, with a touch of irony in her |
face.
When Dicks mother was informed of |
the marriage she was completely pros