The Opelousas courier., 1891-10-17

eloquent sentence-Bessie laid her hand
on his with a frightened little move
ment, saying
"Mr. May, please, sir, please do stopl
Surely you know that | have been en-
gagged ever since I was eighteen to Pro-
iessoF Mark Tyler. Everybody knows it
we had a betrothal-party-he is just
gone to Europe for six months, that is
what / was crying about, why, all our
set knew about it, though he has been
away for nearly two years in the Rory
Mountains and California. Mamma said
we were to wait until / was twenty-one,
but I love him just the same-and [ am
quite sure I never did anything to make
sou think l could care for you in this
way, MIR. May and Bessie looked just
q little bit indignant.
81 have had the honor, Miss Bell, of
being your escort all winter
ooh, dear! Did you think | was 60
ing to marry you for that9 In all our
pleasant little dinners and drives and
dances, is there matrimonial speculations2
That would indeed be dreadful"
She loved the professor too truly; she
had been simply pleasant and friendly to
him as she had been to all her other gen.
tlemen friends, who, however, had had
too much sense and modesty to miscon-
strue her kindness. TheR she walked to
her pretty little aviary and began cooling
to her birds. Julius hardly remembered
what passed afterward, except that he
received a cool courteous 1tGood- night,
sir" in answer to his "Farewell," and
that he found himself walking round
Madison Square i'll a very unenviable
| state of mind.
To this speedily succeeded the thought
OF Nora; he must see her tonight; TO-
morrow Bessie would give her own ver-
sion of his conduct, and then-well, he
would not acknowledge that that could
make any difference in Nora's liking for
him. "And yet" he murmured, two
men are such UNCERTAIN creatures"
Where his own interests were concerned,
Julius was not wanting in a certain
strength and decision of character, and
in less than an hour after his rejection
by Bessie Bell he had so far composed
and encouraged himself as to determine
upon a visit to Nora, though whether he
should offer himself to her or not was a
point he left to the development of cir
cumstances.
He found Nora at home, and, more
over, she seemed disposed to welcome
him win extra cordially. He noted
with a admiration the refined and cul-
tured aspect of the room-the luxurious
copies of her fayorite authors-the
artists proofs of rare engravings-the
blooming ferneries and flowers - the
cosey students chairs-the sofa, warm
rugs and carpet the dancing freight
the rich silk and lace that robed the
1.-THE, graceful figure of Nora-all these
things had a fresh ana delightful charm
in them. In a little while he managed
to make the conversation drift toward
Bessie.
Would she be married when the pro-
fessor returned from Europea
.s0h, dear, no; not till she is twenty
one.n
@@ FL ~ ~ " VA q bANS1tAAtbAAAGf
Nora's eyes grew dangerously bright.
Certainly not. Professor Mark
Tyler is a wonderful chemist and geo.
logist-a man of worldwide fame. It
is q great honor for Bessie to be loved By
such a great Soul"
.aAh, indeedl I had not thought of
it in that light. People usually spoke
of a mesalliances with regard to money
affairs
Eyes, I know" replied Nora, ssand
just there they are frightfully wrong
there are worse mesalliances than dis |
PARTIES in fortune-but, however, here
there is none of any kind; the professor
has found chemistry a sufficiently rich
alembic with a residum admitting of no
kind of doubt
Twill you be glad when she marriesa"
Very
aYet you will lose your friend2n
ssBy no means. She will remain al
home, and the professor and / are very
old friends he knew me when | was a
little girl
eIndeedl Perhaps you may marry
before Miss Bell.n
81 may do so. I have no specific
doing such q thing eventually
but / am quite sure ] shall not do so i'm
aWhy not2'
uBecause I cannot afford it. ] nm
just n OF those who would be
likely to make q mesalliance-in money
matters-and ! repeat, ] cannot afford it
just yet. ] have at present another ex-
before me, a great deal nicer
than q husband
81 should like to know what it Isl
"a long European tour, with, per-
haps, q peep at the Pyramids and a RAM
BILE about old Jerusalem
HOh, dearI" said Julius, in q tone half
and half hooking. 81 should
have nc chance, I suppose, against such
q ~temptation2n
aNone at ALL she said, positively
and though she kept up the bantering
tons, il wss quite evident to Julius that
If be asked her in sober earnest she would
answer just the same with q slightly diff
accent.
But Nora, with q woinan's ready tact,
the conversation, and gradually
led It into a very unusual and practical!
channel-the nobility and the necessity
labor, The glowing thoughts, the
plain yet hopeful truths that fair young
syoman uttered, Julius heard for the first
in his life that night. Never be-
fore had be realized Me profit and the
deep delight which might spring-and