San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-08-11
A Romantic Young Lady
By GEORGE GRANT.

Mr.. Spence Hlrted with you. ! never
heard such nonsense in my life, and
| wicked nonsense too; for you are doing
your best to injure the character of a
young woman who is in every way your
superior, and has had none of your ad-
vantages, AS said, presume you will
| claim that Mr.. Spence fiirted with you,
and that he wrote to you first"
Wrote to me? He has never written
to me, nor | to him, except to ask his
| advice about teacher"
"You admit SO much%
"Why shouldn't |? / was interested
in his theories, and applied to him as
| the most natural person to consult"
1T is very easy to explain it away in
that manner, but unfortunately for you
my informant adopted"-
why don't you say Miss Kingsley,
and have done with it, Aunt Agnes"
Every well then. if you prefer, Miss
Kingsley adopted very different style
in speaking of you than you employ in
| speaking of her. She tried to spare you
as much as possible, and said what she
| did only with great reluctance could
see that she was holding back, and was
| resolved not to tell the whole. of
course, she said, 1 know Miss Virginia
| did not mean to offend, and very likely
| in general society her little indiscretions
| would have been quite proper; but at
purely intellectual gathering like ours,
| from which as you know all vanities are
| vigorously excluded, it did seem to me
unsympathetic of a new conner to intro
duce an element of coquetry When /
say that since then she has written notes
| to Mr.. Spence, whose time is precious as
| gold, asking him to call upon her IN
social way, you will am sure, my dear
| Miss Harlan, excuse my speaking. 1t is
for her own good that / have ventured to
do so, as word from you would convince
her of her thoughtlessness.'
| 1.-THE hypocrite!" murmured, too in
| dignant to restrain myself.
| "There you go again, villifying her
with abusive epitsets when she has sim
| ply done her duty as friend. Contrast,
for instance, your various expressions
4 with hers. jealous invited you to
her house because you were fashionable
| Ia most unwarranted assumption); "a
hypocrite;' and, worst, of all, you accuse
her of trying to win the affections of
man whom she venerates as a master,
and who, though he has never taken the
VOW of celibacy, is too much absorbed
in the life work he is pursuing to give
| thought to marriage. And what does
she say of you? She merely calls it 'un-
| sympathetic of new conner to disturb
the harmony of sober minded people by
the introduction of coquetry. 'Unsym-
| patheticr If were to stigmatize such
behavior should call it disgraceful. |
was mortified, Virginia, thoroughly NOR
titled; and especially as Mr.. Spence had
been here the day before and spoken of
you in terms that made me feel really
| proud. AS Miss Kingsley said, however,
| he is the last man in the world to notice
| such thing as coquetry."
made mental interrogation point,
but did not dare to give utterance to
the heresy lest should seem to be car
| rying out Aunt Agnes insinuation that
| would next accuse Mr.. Spence of fiirt-
ing with me. replied with as much
| quietness as | could at the moment COM
| mand:
II can only repeat what | have al
ready said. Miss Kingsley has slandered
me, whether Intentionally or not / do
not know. But her charge of coquetry
is utterly without foundation"
did you not make eyes at Mr.. Barr,
L I.
"You see know all"
mo, did not" answered, flushing
"On the contrary, Mr.. Barr made me
feel excessively uncomfortable during
most of the evening by the absurd COM
| pliments he paid me, and by the way in
which he stared at me. AS for the rose,
dropped it accidentally as | was get
ting into my carriage, and believe he
| picked it up"
"Accidentallyr' said Aunt Agnes, with
a sniff LAS my informant said, when
young woman filings herself at the
head of hot souled poet, what is she to
expectY Human nature is human nat
ure, and there are not many men with
the self control of Mr.. Spence"
Miss Kingsley seems to have given
you a great deal of information, Aunt
Agnes"
"You are mistaken again, as usual.
The person who told me this is sober
minded woman of middle age, who could
not have been influenced by jealousy"
Mrs Marsh, suppose. Knight have
known it from her choice vocabulary.
Talk of gossips, Aunt Agnes; never
heard a worse one in any drawing room
in the city Who is Mrs. Marsh?'
was glowing with indignation again,
and justly so as it seemed to me. | had