The Newtown bee., 1889-12-27
THROUGH THE BLOCKADE.

Io0J. MT sydney Van DeuSen, as ne toiled up pleasant stretch of Galveston beach, concluded that it must be mis- take in the calendar.
 Fourth of July,'' he mentally ejacu- asm, however, was a thing not easily dampened, or broiled out of him either, for that matter.
 He had left an old established business in New York and an anxious, adoring family for the purpose of coming to Tex as and proposing to Miss Mabel Rogers. It was not likely that any mere accident of weather was going to prevent him.
 He had made the acquaintance of the young lady at Saratoga, whither she went every Summer with her father. He was widower and the fashionable soci- ety papers told the truth for once when they described parent and child as equal ly handsome and accomplished.
 Mir Van Deusen's heart Ca very well regulated piece of machinery by the way) yielded to Miss Rogers attractions, after what seemed to him stout resistance.
 Her great dark eyes, not sharp and black, but brown with rich depth and the southern modulations of her voice began to cause him great unrest. He danced with her, walked with her, sat by her on the long piazzas, even made desperate attempt to read poetry to her. He did not recognize the symptoms of his dis ease and vainly sought to cure love with Congress water.
 Miss Rogers left in August and her de- parture taught him the truth.
 All through the Winter he contributed | to swell the Texas mails, writing letters which, although they were not actual declarations, gave the young lady to un- derstand what would be the end and aim of his Spring visit.
 The Spring was here and his visit with it. The burning sun was overhead and MT Rogers house just before him, long, low and painted white. He went up the stairs and knocked at the first pair of shutters he reached. ''It was too hot, really too hot for doors-nothing but windows he thought. As he waited, he wondered what had happened to the sky {; it was never so blue before.
 A sleek colored boy opened. an aper- ture behind the blinds, which proved on examination to be door, and let him in. sYes, Miss Rogers was at home, and would see him. She came presently, a vision of beauty, | into the cool room, which was darkened to keep out the heated air. She was tall and stately. Her dress was white, and she carried d large feather fan.
 She greeted him with composed and friendly manner, but she did not seem impressed with the momentous nature of the occasion. His cousin Mary, who had only left school that Winter, was always 1 so overpowered with his attentions that | it might have spoiled him; still the Van Deusens did not travel over land and sea every day and some recognition would not be amiss. ... | It struck him as remarkable, too, that she consistently misunderstood him and spoke of his visit as being made to the country. 'sYou will find it all so inter- esting here," she said, ''that is, if it is not too warm. I am glad for sensible northern people to study our political systems. There is so much cant about abolition, etc., that I like them to see our happy slaves, taste the sweetness of our sugar and watch the cotton whitening in our fields.'
 Now MT Van Deusen was intensely in- terested in politics, but he had not come to Galveston to discuss them.
 He proposed then and there and her re- ply rather astonished him.
 Forgive me-" she said, 1T never thought you loved me. In the South, if they love a woman, the men do not wait year to tell her so. I have promised to marry Philip Garnet, who is my child ish sweetheart, grown to mans estate and faithful still. I never meant to be a coauette. Southern women are different from northern and you may have mistak- en my real friendship for another feeling. Don't you know we show our friendships J me in anger, it will be pain to me al- ways. Believe me, it is more admiration l than love that you feel for me-
 It began to dawn upon him that she was right; the glamor of her southern charm had won him in his own cool cline; she had dazzled him with the I power of the new, the unusual, but it was fascination more than affection.
 Her refusal caused him pang, but it
 was his vanity that bled, not his heart l He was man that never lost his dignity T even the rejection of his hand could not overpower him. He rose to go.
 ssI hope we shall remain friends al least," he said.
 'I She laughed with the clear musical in
 donation which he remembered so we'll
 .sOh, Mir Van Deusen, : she cried. sDeal q Mr Van Deusen, we will be good friends always-the very best. You have giver \ positive proof that my version of oul
 story is the true one; if you ever loved me, you could not be my friend. Do you know. imagine there is some one else 4 There was some one else with-PhiliI .| Garnet. Sit down. Your pride need not
 be hurt in this, for I was engaged te
 Philip before knew you. Had this moi been so, who knows that 1 could have re. I sisted your suitg We might have beer lovers, but we are not. We can Dc friends for life time. Let us be SOL Mr Van Deusen thought of his pretty
 cousin Mary with her dove-like eyes. H. ;, was free to go back to her now cnd bring
 the tremulous joy into her gentle face.
 Moreover, here was sympathetic lis tener who had understood him bette than he understood himself.
 Upon second thought, therefore, he sa