Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-06-20


special line. one for cricket. one for mu-
sic. one for following his religion with the
help of the highest and most complicated
form of Ritualism Added TO all this,
Gerarl De Isle was incidentally the hand
soonest man in Blankhamptou-
do not think. seeing him in London,
in the Park or "A theatre, that you would
have picked him out rs being man
out Of the common looks. lie was tall,
he was fairly broad but like his father he
had certain air of carrying very shor
rubbish kind Of body on particularly long
and loose jointed spindle-like legs, which
somehow always made me wonder that
the pretty Blankhampton girls were so
utterly "gone" upon him. as thew one and
all undoubtedly were. For the rest ne
was rather light in coloring without be-
ing what you would describe as fair
man. had straight nose, pair Of blueish
bad-tempered eyes and a tightly com
pressed mouth which precluded the idea
of his disposition being Il genial one.
Add to all this an eXtra-superfine man.
ner. manner which took the middle Of
the pavement and paused for an instant
at the street corners while the quick hard
eyes glanced around as if to see what new
worlds Lttfe were IDE AHOIllS u tJill Atis
a manner which was always squaring its
shoulders and fiourishing its walking
stick and made a little more display of its
very white and shining linen than was
exactly pretty, and there you have Mr..
Gerard De Lisle, whom everybody in
BlankhamptOn called "Adonis," except
the pretty girls, who had such a variety
of gushing names for him that ! will
spare their feelings by not repeating
them.
! am afraid that this description gives
you but a poor idea of my "Adonis."
Well will be little more explicit. II
is true that he was handsome and as vain
as a peacock, yes, / admit it; but he was
not bad sort of fellow by any means.
On the contrary, he was scrupulously
honorable and | know that he could be
kind-and if | have seen him pay up his
shilling for rattle he did not wish to go
in for, and say with an air of unutterable
surprise when his tormentor asked for his
name Mr.. De Lisle," in an accent which
conveyed clearly that she must either be
a knaye or n fool, | have also seen him
speak very kindly and without any imam
ner" Mt all to n little woman whom knew
to be In dire trouble, have seen him take
hold Of her arm for moment in a mans
protecting way. and then pat her shoulder
with a kindly, There, there-yes, | un-
derstand, I'll let you know directly find
out about it" Oh, yes, with all his little
vanities AdOnis was Il good fellow down
at the bottom, and in spite OF their sancti-
mOniousness, most people in Blankhamp-
ton would take the word of a De Lisle
sooner than of most of the townsfolk
Besides AdOnis there was-weIl, really,
II was wonderful how very few young
men there werel There was the Reverend
Evelyn Gabrielli, the youngest of the
m!nor-canons at the Parish. He was
rich (or at least certainly well Off, he was
Young, he was good size and fairly good
looking, and for little vanities AdOnis
was not in it with him. He had three
valuable rings for every finger aud thumb
Of his two hands, and with regard to his
rings he did not hide his light under
bushel.
But Evelyn Gabrielle was, as Mrs. Traf-
ford knew from past experience, no good
in matrimonial sense. Indeed he entire.
ly believed III the ceIIbaCy Of the clergy
the Priesthood | believe he called it-and
was particularly careful to keep ut a safe
distance from The meshes of the matri-
monial net. Perhaps it was for this rea-
son that he especially attached himself to
Mrs Colonel Browne and, as II set-On
against his vow Of Celibacy. very soon be.
came the scandal of the town.
Then there was Mr.. Hooper, another
miuor-cauon, also in comfortable circum.
stances and one Of those intensely aggra-
waiting men who always are wanting TO get
married and never do. lie was no good
either.
Then-well, r,ally, there were the Off
GERS quartered in the garrison and that
was all Somehow, although Mrs. Traf-
ford did not mean to neglect the red
coats, she had not much faith in any of
them being attracted 10y Julia; 50 by the
time she had thoroughly thought out the
situation, she had come to the conclusion
that If she ever saw Julia settled in
home Of her own at BlankhamptOn 1t
would most likely be in the large and
CommOdiOus old house so difficult for a
stranger to find, because it was tucked
away down a narrow archway just wide
enough to allow n carriage to pass under
it into the wider space OF the court with
in
or course it would not be a brilliant
marriage. the little widow told herself,
but it would be a nice comfortable posi-
ton for Julia. who would naturally be
made yer, much of by the De Lisle fami-
ly, who in spite of their uudeniable weight
in the town, We're of course, at best
but professional people and rs such not
by any means the equal of the Traf-
fords mere especially since they had be-
come allied to the houses of Cecspring
aud Staunton.
But not one word did Mrs TrafTord say
ON the subject 10 her Julia, she was, in
fact. far too skjlllul a tacticiau to do that.
However, one morning at breakfast she
suggested in a casual sort of way to her
daughter that Bankhamptou seemed
very dun since Laura and Madgo had
gone.
"Ohl aWfully dull" answered Julia,
who had. rs think have already said,
very high pitched voice.
Really, | think we had better give
little dinner party" suggested Mrs Traf-
ford, as il the idea had but that instant
occurred TO her-"What do YOU say?"
"Ies-or dance. " said Julia, who liked
having dances in her own house because
She was sure Of having good number of
PARTNERS
"Ohl think not dance, dear" OBJ
icctcd the little widow, who did not see
spending a lot of money just to entertain
a crowd of people to whom she was en-
tireIy indifferent and who would probably
rather retard than in any way further her
schemes.
"Why uot|' exclaimed Julia
"WoN, because Laura and Madge would
both think it most uukiud to have dance
immediately after they have left Blank.
hampton, and when they could none Of
thcm possibly come back for it. But to
have u little dinuer-par;v is quite another
thing, don't you seef"
Yes, | think YOU are right, Mother"
Julia replied-she was really very seusi-
bile person. Then what people are you
thinking of aSkings'
why, my dear. haven't thought about
IL at all, Mrs. TratIort said-which, by,
the-by, was neither more nor less than
story-"but think we ought to ask the
Canon aud Mrs. Berkeley-we have not
asked them since they have been in resi-.
deuce. And there are the Lovelaces. ]
don't care much about her-she is 50
friendly with those very unpleasant Maui
everrrS, but ut the same time | think we
ought to ask them occasionally. it is so
ElUch more agreeable to be friendly with
all ones neighhorS. and she is pretty COf q
bold kiadl, and wears charming dresses
and diamonds.
Yes, she does. And be sure YOU ask
Captain LeCarl or she Will be as glum as
1,1l !.