The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1892-05-27

head and said to Lulu, from the cheap
mannerisms of these sIloddy days. How
kind and courteous to spend so much
time with lonely old lady on the gal
lery, when the bellies are longing for a
glimpse of him in the salons!"
His blooded bays were always at her
disposal, and many pleasant drive did
she take behind them. He and Lulu to-
gether would help her down the gallery
aud into the cart AS he spun away he
always looked back to see if Lulu was
watching, and was always rewarded with
smile, for Lulu was always watching!
AS for Norman's enjoyment of these
lrives-Mrs. Tressylin was far from stu
pid, yet she might have been mute or a
machine SO far as her company counted
with him. He managed to listen enough
TO make sensible answers when ques-
toned, and to throw into the midst of
his own remarks some sensible generali-
ties that were of standard value in con-
versation. But his thoughts were not in
the carriage with Mrs. Tressylin; they
were always ahead of his team, no mat
ter how fast he drove-back at the stie
where Lulu would come to help him with
sls charge. TO be sure he needed no
| lelp, for what was Mrs. Tressylin's
weight on his arm? But she would bc
there, with her interest, her solicitude.
her smiles-she would be there and at his
side; that was enough.
Once, when he was lifting Mrs Tressy.
lin from the step, she tottered, and Lulu
in her fright caught his arm and held it
with all the strength in her snowy dig.
its. What bliss! 1t was worth hun.
dred long, stupid drives.
That nights ball was the grandest Of
the season, but Norman did not attend
lie gave instead his company to Mrs.
Tressylin. Useless thoughtfulness, for
Mrs. Tressyln was not alone-Lulu was
with heri
Sitting with them on the gallery, he
could see the festivities scarcely stones
throw off-the lighted ballroom, tho
flower -draped windows, and the whirling
throng within. He was not vain man,
but he felt sure he was missed in there !;
but what was it all, Miss Dressell's dia-
monds and everything else in the world,
to this? No glimpse he had of the mer-
makers, no strains he caught OF the
rich music that fioated to him across the
rloonlit space, made him once regret that
tie was an absentee.
And what change had come over
Lulu? Save her dress, there was not
about her single trace of the lady's
maid; and when Mrs Tressylin retired
she did not obsequiously follow, but re-
mained on the gallery talking to Nor
man.
And how we'll she talked. If Norman
had thought her clever and witty from
the little snatches he had heard fall from
her lips, what did he think now, when,
all restraint gone (for the present Lulu
had actually forgotten her role, and was
her untrammeled self, he heard her dis
cuss with ease and wit not only the top
les of the day, but some that reached
further back in history than he could
safely go himself. 1t would have been
poem-a dream-a symphony to have
Eat by her side looking into her lustrous
eyes and listening to her sweet voice had
she been talking Choctaw but this was
pleasure he had not once imagined.
At last there was lull in the distant
murmur, the music ceased, and the
dancers no longer "danced in tune.
The ball was over.
II must leave here, +" thought Norman,
"before the tenants of these suits come
along and see US; it will be compromis
ing to Lulu"
But she was in the midst of something
he wanted to hear, and his resolution
drifted away from him.
"Here come the old gossips now," he
said to himself as several matronly
ladies walked down the gallery. Now
they have turned into their stalls, !" he
continued, watching them disappear
behind the doors, "Lulu will get it,
poor girli"
But Lulu's common sense came to the
rescue; she saw the helplessness of her
victim. and that nothing initiative in
their parting was to be expected of ihim,
80 arose and bade him good night.
The moon that had sifted them with
light on the gallery had gone the circuit
of the housetop and was looking in at his
western window. before Norman thought
of retiring. He had sat all that time on
his bed, deeply absorbed in thought,
1t was a long time, to be sure, but
short, very short when one considers the
magnitude of the question he was pond
cring-a question to which deeper phil
osophers than he had given forty times
the study-the question of caste. These
| philosophers may never have arrivel at
q satisfactory conclusion, but he did.
Bang! went one boot into the corner
of the room as he began preparations
for slumber.
"Pll marry her, that's certain-if
can get her. l never heard that the Nor
mans were especially democratic; on
the contrary, sticklers for aristocracy,
but I'll not be tied by lot of old musty,
mouldy notions. She's mine!" Bang!
went the other boot into another cor.
ner-"mine. just as sure as she says yes!"
The following day there was a grand
excursion from the Springs, but Norman
eluded his pursuers and spent the day
with Mrs. Tressylin-with Mrs. Tressylin
literally, for, save the times when she
performed two or three hasty errands,
Lulu was not to be seen on the gallery.
Once she answered Mrs. Tressylin's sum.
mons with some knitting=needles. and a
little later with her glasses; but in the tell
tale mirror, revealed through the door
ajar, Norman caught glimpses that re-
paid his waiting, glimpses of Lulu at
| work Winding a SkAin 0f silk She vound