Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-02-21
A VISITING CARD.
Embarrassing Results Of Slight
Mistake.


Mistake.
It was a rainy day in January Large
drops were 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 thou
sand which characterizes the dwellings OF
those good people who have gained wealth
without gaining taste.
Behind the guipure curtains on the first
floor stood handsome blonde looking out,
with bored expression in her cold blue
eyes. This was Solange Tarvenue, the only
daughter of a respectable bourgeois, who,
having made his money in trade, now lived
a gentleman of leisure in this fine new
house.
"Heavenr' exclaimed Mile Tarvenue,
show 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 the
sploenW
"The spleeni What's that!n asked NJ
Tarvenue from the depths of his paper.
"Something you don't understand, papa"
s1id the young lady, impatiently.
Suppose you practice little, my daugh-
ter" suggested Nine. Tarvenue, putting up
some stockings she had been darning. ''That
piece, you know, you are to play at the
Paulpiur tonight"
Eyes, it would be worth while, would it
not!" 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 What is the use of having
any talent for any thing when one lives in
the provinccsm
30, the provinces againl Solange is in a
bad humor. I'll get out of the way" re-
marked NJ Taryenue.
leave the child alone. The temperature
affects her. 1t is psychological" said Nine
Tarvenue, who flattered herself that she
understood her daughter, and was upon the
same intellectual level, albeit the latter had
been educated in Paris.
She went down stairs with the girl, and
there Solange, with-one must be just-a
good deal of mere digital brilliancy, began
to practice one Of those snowy and utterly
hollow musical productions in which there
are technical difficulties in profusion, but
absolutely not one note that can speak to
the heart or the mind.
In the midst of these trills and chromatic
scales the bell rang.
''Therep' cried Solange, stopping short
'I'm 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 thinking of |!
Such 4 day as this! Why, the parlor furni-
ture would have been ruined by peoples
wet clothesw
peoples wet clothes! 1t is to be hoped
the people we know would wear water
proofs, as long as 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 now"
The servant returned. Solange threw an
Indifferent glance on the bit of pasteboard.
Suddenly her face lighted up; she exclaimed
quickly:
Mamma! 1t was NJ de Prevaret! And
you didn't receive himr"
m de Prevaretr' walled Madame Tar
venue.
"Dear mel What pity, now!'' cried So
iauge, sourly.
nj. de Prevaret was considered the very
best catch in Vile Abbei Younga and hand
some and clever, and the possessor of large
fortune he lived with his mother, the dowa-
ger countess, in one of the most sumptuous
residences in the town. And this Young
man, on whom every woman of rank with a
manageable daughter smiled, had rung the
doorbel Of the Tarvenues and left his cards
for themi He bowed to them, because they
bowed to his mother, but he had never been
introduced to the ladies.
''What can it mean!n asked Nine. Tar
venue, anxiously.
Solange was standing before the glass.
''Why, it seems to me that it is very
clear" she replied, with deep complacency.
Haven't you noticed, my dear mamma. that
every time we go to hear the band play M.
de Prevsret is there, too!''
"Whati-why-do you think-2n Mime.
Tarvenue did not dare finish, so audacious
did her thought seem to her.
And why not!" demanded Solanpe
throwing up her blonde head with a trinm.
plant air that made her really immensely
handsome
'You are right" mJrmured poor Nine.
Tarvenue; ''you are pretty enough
It was quite true that Solange Taryenue
was handsome enough to inspire passion.
but she would never have had any sttrac
ton for fastidious man. This young per-
son, with her sculpturesque form, her opu-
lent contours and her dazzling coloring. was
absolutely lacking in innate refinement or
distinction. No reflection of a gentle ma
ture. an elevated soul, ever gave that in
describable charm to her regular features
that such attributes only can convey. She
was clever enough, but it was a thoroughly
material sort of cleverness, and it was
joined TO most extraordinary amount of
egotisn 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 ali manner of ambitions. In her
dreams for the future she saw noblemen at
her feet. and she would not have thought
Grove misplaced had it been made to rest
on her magnificent yellow hair. 1t was.
therefore, no wonder, that the Comte de
Prevarets visit had not much surprised
her. She saw in it simply thenatural result
OF her beauty. She received her father.
when he returned, with a superior smile OF
calm fstuousness, while Nine. Taryenue.
who was most unsophisticated in her new