The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-08-27
THE WIT Or MAN.

met her at u garden party, not joyous
gathering of tennis players and girls
laughing to the sun, but the gloomy affair
of the morbidly select. In bright red she
blossomed with all the sweets of q woman
magically feminine. Her crisp, black hair
seemed ready to fly out against conyen-
tionalitics, against hats particularly, and
her brown eyes were golden with the joy of
life. Wit had chiscled her features, so excel
lently irregular in the roundness of their
curves, to pointed nose and chin. / could
not but enjoy, as relief from all the elab-
crate angles of her stiff surroundings, the
rapid undulations of her 1.-the figure, her
expressive arms, dancing little feet, as she
sat there, n wild gypsy, fashionable and
polished, but still untamed by society.
Pouting like some playful child over les
sons, her mouth rigidly set against the
Pickering dimp1es of irrepressible laugh
ter, she listened to the pompous old Duo
de Retz or answered his wise sentences at
random, with wave of her hand.
'Who is she?' inquired of M. Pimo-
dan de ST. Ouen, a walking edition Of LIS
Tout Paris, tightly bound in frock coat
why, that is la belle Comtesse de
Crequy de Canaples. A widow, mon cher,
young, rich. +"
And he retired, as Mime. dc Canaples
smiled up at mo with her humorous eyes.
ly said, 1--WE are not quite strangers, for l
have met your charming sister at the Plot
Chadieus" Before I could frame COM
pliment she suddenly added, do you
love her?'
''Who'"
'.Your sister, of course. Hike every man
to love his sister"
"Well, hope do"
"You only hope Arc you an English
mani"
More or less. -
LESS decidedly less. An English
man with blue eyes like yours should nou
| only be honest and brave, but sure, sure
Of every thing"
When called next day, Nine. dc Can
aples was in her boudoir. She listened to
| my reading, silently, attentively, almost,
| 1t seemed, reverently and when left the
house after dinner felt very great The
next morning we met in the Bois and rode
| together. Tho same night we danced a
cotillon at Mime. dc Plot Chandieu's. Fate
seemed determined to make us meet, and
| perhaps we helped her.
If q man and woman see much Of each
other, they invariably talk of themselves,
wax sentimental by waltz music and I'M
aginc themselves in love after supper But
/ am tired Of flirtations sick of tolling q
woman, whom only admire, that love
| ner. 90 ono evening" tis We uisousSeu ouh
timent over pate dc foie gras, l told hei
how much 1 regretted that two great
minds should slayishly follow the exam
Pile OF the stupid. She agreed If VIZ
remain on our present footing, one of us
may fall In love-" She opened her limo
cent eyes, smiling. Yes" / continued
"in love. What else can happena Where
as If We go off somewhere together and
live naturally, uneonstraincd by the
world, we shall know ourselves truly anc
enjoy a few days of rest."
.Oh, the wit of mani" she cried, gayly
clapping her hands, her whole face beam
ing with delight.
The next evening we started by rail- fol
Fontainebleau. Soon we were both fasl
asleep, only to wake at our destination
She took q room at one hotel, at another
The next day we drove in the forest, 81
lently watching the royal trees till oul
eyes grew tired and we fell asleep. WI
staid there fortnight, driving, sleeping
barely saying a word and yet quito happy
When we were back in Paris, she asked
"And why did we go to Fontaineblenu TO
thatf'
Because" I replied, "at Fontaine
bleau we kept regular hours, allowed our
selves no cerebral excitement, drank M
champagne, heard no one whisper, 'Littl
Castlehigh is awfully in love with Mime
de Canaplcs, or The countess Is decided
ly sweet on CO cher garcon.' l have sim
ply proved, dear lady, that society wa
forcing us, with It's champagne and talk
to think of each other, whereas nature lief
us to follow our own Individual and sep
arate thoughts. Oh, that fortnight il
Fontainebleaul We scarcely spoke twic
day. Silence is repose, and repose
bliss. To think that we might have bee
vulgar lovers A few more days of Paris
and my fate at least was sealed. But
understood the dangers of our situation
Could anything be more paradoxical an
modern than our elopement to Fontaine
bleau2 Carry off awonan 1nysteriously q
night, two hours by rail, to strang
town, remain there a fortnight en- tete-a
tetel And all that not to become lovers
but, on the contrary, to escape the neces
sary the historical development of u stu
alton without issue. Don't you think ou
late adventure gives us incontestible su
periority over the greatest wits of our ages
She seized both my hands and fixed m
eyes. 1t was a rapid, searching, wondrou
look. Only her irregular and mobile fac
could have such expression, and for half
second she seemed to tear open my sou
take a peep, see 1t all and shut it NJ
Then she sat down OH the sofa and gaze
meditaiycly at me. Humor and disaI
pointmunt We're blended in her dimple
smile. She crossed her arms, nodded he
head, examined her little feet ilowly on
after the other and sighed. The wit :