The Opelousas courier., 1892-01-16
MALCOLM'S IDEAL.
by ANNA SHIELDS.


heir like the ravens wing"
Bah, who was stirring cake, looked
up at the deep window-seat that
separated the old-fashioned kitchen from
the garden beyond. SEATED there,
swinging one foot idly, sat Malcolm
Hoyt, describing the future Mrs. Malcolm
as she existed in his youthful magma
ton.
"Well?" Barbara said, presently, after
o glance from the tall boyish figure and
frank, handsome face, to d small mirror
that reflected hair of FURNISHED bronze,
the true auburn. and numerous freckles.
"WeIl Tall, dark, classically featured.
Any other perfections2"
accomplished, OF course. She must
dance like a sylph, sing like a nightin-
gale, eraw, play on the piano
s'Make cake2n suggested Bah, vigor-
ously stirring her batter.
"Wby, no-Mrs. Hoyt Will not need
to make cake, I think. Not but what
It is very jolly 10 know how" he added,
hastily, ''but Mrs. CLARK might resent
any invasion of her especial depart
ment."
Eyes. l see," said Bah, dry!y. .sYou
Cont want your wife to be a Kitchen
maid.
Malcolm blushed furiously; he was
not quite twenty-one, and had not for
gotten how TO blush.
~ don't mean that at ALL" he said,
and then laughing heartily, added,
.sdon,t you think we are talking con-
siderable nonsense, Bab?'
II don't KNOW said Bah, slowly.
"Tou say your father wants you to mar
~, and as you are in quest of a wife,
you might as we'll have some idea of
what you would prefer"
ssJust like choosing a necktie," said
Malcolm, Though / thinkI should feel
more interest in the neektie. By the
way, what is your ideal, Bab2"
81 haven't considered said Bah,
bending her face low over the pan into
which she va pouring the cake.
"Nonsense!!' said Malcolm.
CAS- if a girl ever lived to be eighteen
without an IDEAL
Then Bah violated the truth with a
daring voice, and bright eyes, for she
said:
ttMv ideal doesn't sit on kitchen vim
dow-sills and talk nonsense, at any rate"
ssTou don't know what he might do
under sufficient provocation,n said MAJ
ccim, teasingly. st have seen Steve
Ea!e look loIgingly at my perch within
the last ten minutes"
ssSteIhen Halei' cried Bah, seorn-
fully, and lifted the pan to carry it to the
room beyond, where the fire was lighted
in ilmmer
Her heart was swelling with indigna-
ton. She was only a farmers daugh-.
ter, she told herself, and Malcolm Hoye
was heir to a magnificent estate and for
tune, college bred, and could marry in
aristocrstic circles. But to think she
could LOOK at Esepnen Hale, her fathers
s'heip,o a man who could not read It
ives insulting, little Barbara thought,
and she took an unreasonably long time
to adjust the cakepan on the oven-bars,
and pile on fresh wood in the stove.
"Good-byein shouted q CHEEKY voice,
presently. Sim off to the p~ostofice,
but I'm coming to tea to eat some Of
that cake.
eve a great mind to scorch it,
thought Bah, %spitefully. ST would too,
if it WASH t fathers favorite.v
81 do believe she is fond of Steve
thought Malcolm, as he swung himself
into the saddle. .tShe FLUSHED as red as
q pcony when / mentioned him. Isup-
pose it would be what my father calls a
suitable match, but she's a thousand
times too good for him. Why, she's as
good a Latin scholar as half our col
lege fellows, and she sings SO beauti-
fully, that it is q burning shame she has
had nothing but a concertina to- accom-
pany her voice. Then his reyerie took
another turn, and he thought: 81 won
der if father is ill.,
It was the nineteenth century, and
Malcolm was an only child, denied no
indulgence from his infancy, but he
never thought of his father as the ssgoy-
ernor" OF the tsold man, His mother
was but a memory. for when he was i've
years old, her golden haired beauty was
hidden under the daisies. He liked to
think lis great, blue eyes and crisp,
bond curls were like those IN his
motler's portrait. but imagination was
more potent than actual memory III re-
calling her.
II wonder If father really is illl' be
thought, Jogging along slowly. The
seems So anxious to have me settled.
And that means married. He seems to
think | will weary Of dear old home, il +
have NO family ties TO bind me there
Aud then fancy painted again that
aussite, graeefnl and accomplished be-
ing he had endeavored to describe to
Barbara. II was odd that even with
this mental vision before him he thought
what d home Bah would make of the
stately pile that WAS I'd DO bis inheri-
lance.
ssThere is not much that is home-like
about it now he thinks, afor Mrs.
Clark IS top DID ~ russ miscEa, 4 I'M
Hgsre HE servaets have II all their own
way. But how Bab's little trim figure
md red hair would lfgaten up those big
looms.