San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1893-03-30

morning at the breakfast table at
BrOthertOft manor.
Major Kerr carried an enormous ache
in his thick skull. His was the crapu-
lous headache. He knew it well. Every
manner of cure. except prevention, he
had experimental upon. The soda water
cure did not reach his malady. The
water cure, whether applied in the form
of pump or wet urban. was equally
futile.
1T couldn't have been t'other bottle
that has made me feel so queer" Kerr
soliloquized. Must have been Jack
Andres mawkish songs. Inever could
stand poetry"
So he marched down to breakfast,
more Rubens in complexion than ever,
and twice as surly.
Spending tears had given Lucy her
headache. She had wept enough to fill
brace of lachrymatories. The pangs
sharpened when she saw AdOnis. appear,
very red and very gruff. He seemed
fairly loathsome to her now.
Must such beast-yes, will say
beaSt-as that come near me-" thought
she.
Strong language for young lady,
but appropriate. 1t is well to have a
few ugly epithetS in ones vocabulary.
Hard words have their virtue and their
place as we'll as soft ones.
Mrs. Brothertoft also had Il headache.
She looked pale and i'll this morning.
This will never do, madam. Consider
your beauty! 1t will consume away if
you allow so much fever in your brain.
Breakfast was more silent even than
yesterdays. No headache cared to ask
sympathy Of either of the others.
Lucy said not a word. She compelled
herself to be at table. She dreaded her
mothers presence, but she dreaded her
absence still more. Lucy suffered I'M
der the Uneasiness of a Young plotter.
She knew that her plot was visible il
her face. She trembled at every look,
and yet she felt safer while she was
facing her foes. Poor child. If she
could have wept, as she wished. freely
and alone, dozen Of lachrymatOries-
magnumS-w0uld not have held her
tears.
Moody Mrs. Brothertoft is also silent.
She does not think it good policy to
draw out her sOn-in-law this morning.
Only wretchedly low card and no
trump will respond to the attempt
T'other bottle rather browns the power
of repartee. Major Kerr was too mar
finnlotn lost y,i,rbt p, la
this morning. A courtly bow and fine
manner are hardly to be expected at
levee from hero lugged to his cOuchee
by Plato and two clodhoppers, them
selves little out of line and step with
too many heeltaps. The hostess does
not choose by solicitous questions to get
growls from the future bridegroom,
such as
Kerr loquitur. Yes, thank YOU; nv
tea is mere milksop; my egg an addle;
my toast a chip; my butter lard; my
buckwheat cakes dem'd fabby. Every
thing has tipsy taste and smells of
corked Madeira. Oh, my head"
Such talk would not make the lover
more captivating. He had better be
left to himself, to take his breakfast
with what stomach he may.
Nor does Mrs. Brothertoft think il
wise to remark upon yesterdays dinner
and its distinguished guests to her
daughter. Remark brings reioinder
This morning, again, Lucy had no kiss
for her mother. Instead of the warm
tender caress of other days, with warmth
and tenderness for two, Lucy's manner
was grave and distant.
Mrs. BrOthertOft divines incipient re
bellion in her daughter.
This of course must not be.
The mother did not know that Lucy
had hoisted signal of distress, and thai
she was almost ready to haul her flaa
up from half mast and fly it at tn,
masthead of defiance. This Mrs. Broth
ertoft did not suspect of her submissiv,
and meek child. She knew nothing o.
Voltaire's errand. But she had grown
suddenly apprehensive and timorous
and hardly recognized her old intrepiC
self this morning. She began to quai
little more and more before her daugh
ter's innocence. For all reasons she die
not desire to provoke discussion.
A grim, mute breakfast, therefore, a
Brothertoft manor.
Each headache looked into its teacu
in silence. Major Kerr crunched a hi
of dry toast instead Of feeding omnivo1
Ously.
There is no conversation of this part
to report, gay or glum.
But tableau is sometimes more dra
matte than talk.
A newcomer at the door glanced a
this unsociable trio and deciphered tn
picture pretty accurately.
Il was old Nnltaire linnr,ir,cr f.,.....,. ;.