The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-05-15
HIS FATHER WAS NOT SO.
! An impeachment That Freed Me
From O Predicament.

ri really think that I, Eva Hamilton,
nm the unhappiest girl in existence. l
am engaged to marry great stupid
-awk wafd=eHeatHFe, =wbomI- have known
for less than month, and detest as II /
had known him all my life; while Fred
z-you know you met Fred last summer
is staying in the same house, and can
-hardl y speak n word to mo, such is the
devotion OF my odious fdnce.
The foregoing extract from letter to
girl-friend represents tho condition In
which found myself not very long after
my nineteenth birthday. As now look
back on what happened long ago, i won
der how it was that Gilbert Darien,- my
odions tfdnce,' managed to put up with
my ill-tempef and evident dislike for
his company, not to mention my inces-
SAINT fiirtati on-for I'm afraid did flirt
with Fred.
Poor Gilbert.s He certainly was awk-
ward-onc Of those big men who can not
move without Zsupsetting something,
whether it be valuable china vase or
: your equanimity; with heavy, color
less face, and nothing characteristic
nbodtrtfin save the difficulty he always
experienced in disposing OF his hands,
which is not, however, uncommon
amongst men. To These shortcomings
must be added his method OF breathing;
1T 'as stertorous, and could be heard at
~ distance OF twenty yards. But
onghtn't to abuse 1t, seeing that it often
gave us warning In our stolen interviews
of his approach, and became ultimately
fbn y,,ooY,e ~ ~, W on from, hin,
/ was not much over nineteen when
one day my father addressed me at
breakfast. EVA, Mrs. Darien wants us
to go there on the 5th." This apparent
ly innocent remark nearly annihilated
me- The long-expected blow had fallen
at last. Shortly after his return from
India, my father, who was little better
than stranger to me, had thrown out
certain ominous hints as to the expedi-
ency of my getting married; and then
one fine dav informed me outright that
1t was his one wish to see me happily
welded to the SOP Of his old friend
Darien.. / was not unnaturally aghast.
Not to mention .sprior attachment"
had never seen Gilbert How could ]
marry an utter stranger? How could l
!, throw over Fred because he had only
four hundred pounds a year. while his
unknown rival had four thousand? ]
had no mother to confide in, and had
not the courage to confess all to my re-
spected parent who had returned from
India q ,broken-down invalid, whose one
! object in life was, as he informed me
some twenty times day, to see pe hap
PLY married to the son of his old friend.
'.Happily married. forsooth, to a man
one detests," bitterly exclaimed, per-
haps rather unfairly, as I had never
seen Gilbert who, forv aught ! knew,
might have been an Adonis as we'll as
future Crnsus, though, from my fathers
significant silence as to his personal APP
pearance, had my doubts
Atall events, one thing was certain,
and that was that was not going to
give UP Fred; and with this resolution
] sat down and wrote a long letter to
him. which L set forth my-wees.
When l received Fred's answer, I was
agreeably surprised to find that the
Dariens wore not strangers to him, as
he had stayed with. them as friend of a
younger brother of Gilberts. There is
6OnctHliB, Hc WTotcs ASuy duUub Vii
bert The fellow never leaves home,
and is about as i'll. bred hippopotamus
as | have ever met. The idea of your
marrying him." And here followed a
long diatribe on my father and on what
he called the 'cussedness" of things in
general, and his financial affairs in par
ticular. However, there was a cramb Of
& mfort at the end of his letter, and
that was contained in the information
that he would fish for an invitation to
Darien Hall while we We're there,
Ny curiosity was excited by the mys-
terry, the something fishy" about the
man whom my father had chosen to be
my future husband. Was he subject to
fits OF madness? Was he klepto- or
dipso- or any thing else horrid ending in
c.manlac? l determined to cross-ques-
ton my father, and that evening set
about the task.
j ultimately succeeded in eliciting the
following information. THAT Gilbert
was-the image OF his poor father
("The Fright" ! mentally calculated.
for had seen . photo Of the poor father
in big baggy white trousers. the legs
crosseds and regarding with awondering
smile-as we'll he might-an enormous,
misshapen silk hat); that he very rarely
loft his home, having been educated
there BY private tutors ('skeepers, /