Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-05-01
A WIDOW BEWITCIIED.

OuNer BeauCnamp had been dead fOi
rather more than a year. Why Mary
Vane had married him nobody could
ever make out He was such n thor.
oughly uncomfortable person that even
his money could scarcely have been a
sufficient inducement 10 the most mer-
cenary girl in England to consent TO pass
her life with him. Mr. Beauchamp had
been in the habit of spending the greater
part of his time in the pleasing occupa-
ton of coquetting with one fashionable
physician after another, for, truth to tell,
he was malade imaginaire. The doc
tors found Mr.. Beauchamp to be any
thing but satisfactory patient. for SO
fond was he of fresh woods and pastures
new that he had the playful habit of de
sorting his medical advisers Just as they
/ had begun TO tlatter themselves that a
really full feathered fool had come into
their professional net. Then Beauchamp
would try quackery and doctor himself
with one well advertised nostrum after
another, so that the only wonder is that
he lived as long as he did
/ Now, it was owing To the advice of Sir
CELSIUS Gorget that Mr., Beauchamp came
to marry Mary Vane. When she came
/ out at the county ball in Loamshire he
| took her down to supper, and half an
! hour afterward proposed to her and was
accepted. Young ladies of Is years of
age have a habit of accepting their first
offer. A good many explanations, more
or less possible, have been given for it,
but the real reason, no doubt, is that the
charming young creatures honestly be-
lieve that they will never be lucky
enough to have a second offer, and that
therefore they viii do well to make hay
while the sun shines.
Now Sir CELSIUS had said to Beau.
champ as he pocketed that gentleman's
consulting room: "Why don't you try
marriage? You seem to have tried every
thing else. Mind, | don't say alto
gether recommend it--still throw out
the suggestion; think it over"
Beauchamp did think it over. Indeed,
during the following week he pondered
on the great mans advice day and night;
| and, just as he would have accepted any
| other panacea, SO he swallowed Sir
/
! The nostrum can scarcely be said to have
been singularly efiicacious; for in less
! that twelve months from the date of his
marriage he died, leaving Mary Beau
/ champ $4,000 year. She was a good
and kind wife to the unhappy man, and
/ think that, after all, what killed him
4 was a too liberal allowance of some
body's electric pills and somebody else 8
African elixir.
Capt. Graham was hero of romance.
lis had not penny in the world, but he
had black curly hair, his teeth were per
| feet and his features admirable. More
! over, Capt. Graham went to a good
tailor, and his boots were undeniable.
For various reasons the captain had ar
rived at a stage of existence when it
struck him as singularly advisable that
he should marry money He went down
to Brighton and he put up al the Bed
ford. lie used to walk up and down the
king road and to stare out of the win
dows of the club like a young lion seeking
whom he might devour. OF course he
came across great many pretty faces.
but to his mind he saw nothing half so
delicious as that charming young widow,
Mrs. Beauchamp; and as within Il week
Of his arrival the young lady thought fit
to cast aside her weeds and blossom forth
in gentle yiolets and delicate mauves. he
became more than ever confirmed in his
opinion
1t is scarcely worth while going into
details as to the captains machinations
in obtaining an Introduction to Young
Mrs. HcaGchamp. Suffice it to say that
they were triumphanty successful lie
was to her as revelation. He came, he
saw, he conquered. He proposed to her
enc moonlight night upon the west pier
Miss jenkins, Mrs Beauchamp's sheep
dog, was sitting within a yard of them,
but then Miss Jenkins was listening to
the soft strains of a selection from "Doi-
othy, which was being played by this
band, and Queen of My Heart To-
night as a cornet solo, distracted her
attention from the subtler rendering of
the same theme which was being poured
into the young widows ear by the en-
amored captain. Mrs, Beauchanp list
Il am poor man, you know, Mary, Vi
said he. II have little else but my good
name and my sword to offer you, and +
hardly know if we should have enough
10 live upon" He almost winked as he
said the words, but they conveyed al
noble idea Of his own disinterestedness,
as he intended they should 1--WE may
have to wait, Mary he continued, land
may even have 10 ask YOU to go to In /
dia with me- for my regiment is one of
the next for fC.eign service" Poor fel. /
low, he evidently had not the slightest
idea Of the three thousand a year II
should not mind doing that for the
man | loved" said the widow softly. |
And then he squeezed her hand, and
then she squeezed his, and then-and .
then it was all settled in the most dig
nItied manner, and Mrs. Bcauchamp be-
came engaged 10 Capt, Graham.
Two days later Capt. Graham went
into one of the fashionable photographers
and sat for his likeness and ordered it to
be finished on porcelain in colors regard
less Of expense. He did not in the least
demur at the five guineas which Mr..
Halftones assistant said it would cost.
He only stipulated that it should be
ready in forty weight hours. At the end
of that period Mr. Tlalftone was in the
best OF tempers as he inspected the gal
liant captains portrait "You have been
very successful, Mrs. Smith," he said
Il