San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-03

tent speech.
Like himp" she said to her uncle, in
reply to a question that he put to her.
You might as soon ask me If | liked a
water-pump or a galvanic batteryl l
never knew a man before whose whole
soul seemed so to have turned into ma
c~hinery."
His wnole soul has no more turned
into machinery than yours has. You
are a foolish child! The young fellow
has more stuff in him than-youm ever
be able to comprehend" Mr.. Dunstan
answered to this s%cornfully.
And then Gabrielle laughed, in her
vain, feminine way, and
II shall never try to comprehend him,
you may be very sure of that, Uncle
Guy. If he has to wait for me to un-
derstand him he will wait a very long
time indeed" she said.
Mr.. Gilbert had bowed very formally
to her when he was about to take his
leave, and would have gone away with
no other greeting than that if she had
not held out her hand to him,-a little
act of g~raciousneSs that she had per-
formed. not perhaps wholly without an
air of conscious cOndescensiOn. "FOr,
after all, whether he is a genius or not,
it Is IN odd thing to find ones self Shak-
ing hands with old Gilbert's son." was
the thought that was in her mind as
their palms met. That thought,-and
also this other (which indeed had been
in her mind for the greater part of the
EVENING". that On the whole it was bet
ter-more pleasant and simple and COM
fOrtable-to be born a gentleman than
a genius. 1t was best to be born both,
of course; but, if you had to choose n
lot or the other, it would decidedly be
wisest, Gabrielle thought, to choose to
be a gentleman.
"FOr when it is the other way it
makes one so uncomfortable, you see,"
the girl said to Helen presently, as she
was wishing her good night. ut wouldn't
be natural that George Gilbert could
ever be at ease with us, and yet it isn't
nice to have him coming here and feel
ing that he can't be at ease. OF course
it would be quite different any where
else, but 1 can't think how it is ever to
be anything but awkward to have to do
with him here, with his father and
mother in the place."
II think it was foolish of him to come
here at ALL" Helen answered. HE
ought to have understood what the diff
ficulty would be quite well. But his
head is far too full of his engines, /
suppose, for him to think about such a
thing"
"Oh!-well-I don't know that. 1
rather think he understands it," Ga
brielle said.
There was no doubt that George Gill
bert understood it: he understood that
and a good many other things, rather
better than Helen Lynn thought. AS
ha u,olEal hnna RI hic fathoric anttana
tonight he was thinking over the even
ing with a little vexation.
II should have been wiser if l had
stuck to my refusal, "he said to himself.
This sort of thing is a mistake here.
1t might do if were ten years younger,
and Just beginning to make my way,
but, as it is, [ can't either take my own
position amongst them, nor the one
that they think l should take. l should
have to steer an artificial middle course
that would be natural or comfortable to
no one. So / will have nothing to do
with it all-that will be the only honest
course" And then after a little while
-"She was a pretty butterfly of a thing
that girl in the white DRESS" he
thought; but she made a mistake just
now in giving me her proud white hand"
And the young man laughed to him
self as he said this, with rather a scorn-
full little sudden laugh.
The fire was burning in the cottage
kitchen. and the old blacksmith and his
wife were sitting up until their son
should come back. He had to tell them
how he had passed the evening when he
came in, and to describe this thing and
that to them.
There's not a better man than MI.
Dunstan for ten miles round,-n0t Q
better man, nor a truer gentleman, the
old blacksmith said. He was proud
enough of his son, and yet he felt as ii
it was a sort of honor to him that he
had been to dine at WreXham.
"And the young misses-did you see
them too, George?-and were they nice
to your" his mother asked.
"Well-what do you call nicep" he an
swered with a laugh. lone of them
told me that it was very cold for June,
and the other asked me if l had ever
seen Mrs. Hill. They said n or two
other things to me besides, L dare say,
-so-well, l suppose, they sOere nice,
mother"
The sick one was very pretty once.
You'd hardly think it, but she was al
most as pretty when they first came
here as Miss Gabrielle"
"Miss Gabrielle's a bright young slip
of a thing" the blacksmith said. "She
would talk to you now-didn't she?n
\"Yes, she said a few words to me-"
81 thought she'd have done more than
that. / always think there's not a bit
of pride about Miss Gabrielle" said
Mrs. Gilbert.
"They say she's going to marry whip
persnapper,n said the blacksmith, toss
ing his thumb over his shoulder as he
rose up to go to bed.