Middletown transcript., 1892-03-10
THE FATE OF A FLIRT.

REaCclul ASui0t
very telling smile. He was between
eight and-thirty and forty. and would
probably, so far as appearance go, re-
main at that age until he could not
possibly keep up any longer, He had
sufficient means to support him in a
style of quiet elegance, high social
standing, and the usual accomplish
ments Of men Of his calibre.
He could sing with great expires.
sion, pointing the song, with tender
glances, at the present victim of his
wiles; he could draw gracefully, and
was well up on all fashionable topics
Of the hour. As dancer he was un-
rivaled but, with all these attrac-
tions, he awoke one morning to find
himself labelled dangarous!"
His last Irritation had been pro-
nounced ga great deal too bad ]" by
the leaders Of his set and, with in
finite wisdom, he resolved on "rusti-
eating until the affair should have
blown over.
You see, poor little Fay Maybrooke
had been such an innocent, simple
child, and such a happy favorite dur
ing her first season, that, when he
turned from her, after winning her
fresh little heart, and left her to fade
into quiet, green bed in a fashion
able cemetery close by. mothers and
fathers waxed wrathful and alarmed,
and the most popular man ofthe day
found himself tabooed in society.
Under these circumstances, Mr..
Vance Vanceleigh looked abroad into
the world, in order to find some un-
hackneyed spot in which to remain
until the social atmosphere cleared
again.
To man of means, this was an
easy task; and in the month when the
white roses were budding over Fay
Maybrooke, Mr.. Vanceleigh found
himself domesticated In the cottage OF
fisherman, many miles fro "a the
CITY, and in a spot remote from the
scream off locomotive, or the posi-
bility of receiving or sending a tele-
gram.
Old Pete Carne was no common
toiler of the sea, for, though his nsh'
ing smack was seldom moored in the
little bay, four gigantic sons managed
the broad acres of the old homestead
farm, while two accompanied him on
his fishing excursions, which were un-
dertaken as much for pleasure as for
profit.
Six tall sons had Pete earn, and
three daughters-the boys, clean
limbed, bronzed young athletes, honest
of heart and rough of speech, with q
strong love for three things beneath
the sun-the homestead, the wide sea,
and their three sisters and the girls.
such women as men see once or twice
| in lifetime-large, statuesque, with
an exuberance of life and beauty, and
goodness of an unconventional kind
that resembled the wild yet healthful
breezes which came dashiDg into the
fervid Summer across the broad
Atlantic. They, in common with
their brothers, possessed that wide
honesty Of soul which throws abroad
50 genial glow that it blinds them tc
the want of it IN others. If unin-
formed. they were intelligent if lack
ing the polish given by society, they
possessed the untrammeled grace i'm
parted by Nature.
Morally and physically, they were
fne young people, and it was little
wonder that old Pete Carne, stately
simple. boary-headed man, should, as
he took his place at the wsll.alled
supper-table, look round the wide
circle of blooming faces with pride
which was indeed pardonable. Al
his right hand, in the seat Of honor
was Mr.. Vanceleigh-rather more
bronzed than when he left town, buI
as imperturbably elegant as ever
And opposite him, Margaret, the
youngest OF Pete's nine children.
At glance you could see thai
Judith and Grace were more hand
some women than the slight, pale girl
sitting SO quietly between them; ! ut
she was to them what the tender green
foliage is to the richly colored blossom
her milder beauty toned down the
vivid coloring Of theirs, and both were
gamers by the contrast. Margaret
was just eighteen; Grace, blooming
merry Grace, was twenty and state
ly, dark-browed Judith would soon
number twenty-seven years.
1t was plainly to be seen that Mr.
Vanceleigh was general favorite, as
we'll with the men as with the girls,
and, indeed, he spared no pains to
make and keep up a favorable i'm
preston.
Through the open doors of the red
tiled keeping-room, on one side q
picture of Arcadian fields, with swaths
Of newly cut grass lying along them
was visible !; on the other, the glitter
I