The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-01-01

exquisite control She was an accom-
plished but not brilliant musician.
She was somewhat more of an artist
than the average amateur, and kneo
vastly more art than the average
critic.
Now, perhaps, you begin to see &he
sort of girl that Laura was. She knew
her own value, her own capabilities,
her own limitations, perfectly. She
knew that the first thing that most
men looked for in a woman was beau
ty. That being denied her, she en-
deavored TO possess herself o: every at
tribute that would in any measure tend
to compensate for it's absence. Not
that she was vain, or wished to be ad-
mired, or any nonsense of that sort.
But she liked the companionship of
men. and she knew that the compan-
ionship of men worth having about one
was only given to women who were in
some way interesting and attractive.
And she wanted to taste little bit
of the spice of life. And she pre-
sumed that after awhile she should
want to marry, and she meant to be in
|
availed herself of everything that
would help in giving her the whip-hand
even Of the aid of the fashionable mo-
dtste, by whose art some of the ungrace-
full angularities of her figure were dis
creetly yelled.
The thorough grooming that she gave
herself could not fail to tell As soon
as she entered society she became a
popular girl" Bright, sensible, cul-
tivated, she attracted men; and women
forgot to be jealous of her, because she
was not handsome, and, consequently,
not dangerous. That is. at first.
After awhile, they began to open their
eyes. Ned Winfield was the best
catch" in society that winter. He was
In the legislature, and rich enough to
be 'reformer. He had written a
book that the critics were making
much of; and he had handsome face
and handsome form with his hand
some fortune. From the start he be-
gan to be good deal with Laura He
found he could talk with her. She I'M
derstood him, entered intelligently into
the things that interested him, sympa-
thized with his am bitions 1t was the
first time that he had ever met in
woman an intelligence that equaled
his own. He asked her to marry him.
l must do Laura the justice to say
that she had not expected this; at least,
not SO soon. She had been conscious
that she was playing with fire, and the
knowledge gave her tingling, pleas
urable sensation that she would have
been glad to prolong. She knew per-
fectly we'll that she could not marry
Nee; but they had been having such
good times together that she hated ter
ribly to send him away.
"But why can't you marry me?" he
insisted.
1T is not kind nor generous of you
to ask me that" she answered.
Have you been kind or generous to
me?" he retorted. "You have let me
be with you, learn to know you, to ad-
mire you, now you send me away with
out word
But Laura gave him no satisfaction,
and SO the young man had to go away
and get over it as best he could.
This experience set Laura to think
ing, and for time came dangerously
near to upsetting her creed This creed
was, as you have perhaps guessed by
this time, that no matter how much
women might be able to attract men
by their accomplishments or by the
graces of the intellect, they could only
succeed in holding them by physical
loneliness. That is, all other things
being equal. If she had married Ned
Winfield, they would have been upon a
par as far as intellect, training and So
cial standing go, at the start. After
awhile he would have discovered that
he could just as easily have won some
woman who possessed all her advau-
tages and in addition the beauty and
freshness of young womanhood, which
she so sadly lacked. And she knew it
would be very bitter day when her hus-
band began to compare her with other
women whom he might have had "a
day that she had no mind to encounter.
But-she would let herself reason
might she not possibly be mistaken?
Ned had been very much in earnest. If
she had married him, could she not
have held him by the same graces with
which she had won his love? Possibly;
but the risk was too great to be serious
ly considered.
After that she went little more
cautiously for time, but the game of
Irritation was such an enticing one,
there were SO many men always ready
to play it with her, and she saw so
clearly the Limitations to which she
must finally succumb, that she had not
the heart to deny herself any of the
pleasures and trophies that could be
gathered by the way,
And while, as | have said, the wom-
en- began to open their eyes in little
while, and called her roundly a fiirs,
the men never grew to be afraid of her.
She was so hopelessly plain. you know.
But when they sat with her in the dim
twilight, and listened to her exquisite
ly sweet voice singing tender love
songs, from which she would turn in
an instant to piquant French ditty,
an Italian drinking song, plaintive
German melody, and then back again
to the love song as the night grew
deeper and the stars came out, some.
how they would lose their heads and
be saying more TO her than they had
meant to before they knew it
why don't she marry and be done