Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1894-01-14
ONLY A RED PLUME.

Gustave), Is the way the Loan exhibition
catalogue has it. 1t hangs in one corner
of the east gallery in the Academy of De-
sign. 1t is a picture Of n feather, of furs,
of bodice of black. aud incidentally a
portrait Of woman's face, oval, dark,
large eyed, red Tipped.
Smith, the artist, passes 1t by. He
knows it we'll SO do Mrs Jones, the
critic, and portly Brown, the collector. Its
only admirers are three chattering misses
These make way presently for thevery old
gentleman and madame, his wife, and go
into another gallery to chatter some more.
He is tall and spare. His checks are
pink, and his hair is silver white. Ma
dame wears her hnir in three little curls
on each side of her face, like the other
lady-she Of the court Of King George
framed in the next gallery. And both
pause before the lady OF the scarlet plume
whose face turns back the years for each.
"Her very face tho old gentleman
muses., and as he muses. he secs "A young
ster in his school days and beautiful girl
whose glorious hair is crowned by n red
plume. 1t is near an old stone house by
the sea, and the youth is himself. lie was
home from school for his summer holi-
days when he first met Cousin May Her
mother had died and she had come to
make his home her own. lie learned TINS
after he reached the house He didn't
know it when he jumped from tho wagon
Mt the gate and started mp the path that
led through the grove 70 give bis mothera
surprise He was therefore mystiiied when
little maiden stepped from the ArbUr
and held ont her hand.
YOU'RE IHclinrd, aren't your"
"Nes, he said.
I'm Cousin May. I've heard grent
deal about you, and want you TO like
me, because | am going to live with Uncle
Richard and you.n
And he did like her from that moment.
They walked % the house hand in hand,
and from that day Cousin Richard and
Cousin May shurfd their sports. They
rowod together on the bay, and Richard
taught her how to swim. She rode lis
pony and spoiled his dog with kindness.
They built little bonts and set them adriit,
thin paper sails spread out TO the wind
and their sharD prows pointed toward the
reef beyond which rolled the surf They
trumped over the hills hunting for birds
nests, looking for rabbits burrows and
following the idle squirrel along the old
stone wall. They gathered wild flowers
and four leafed clover. That IL the way
the summer passed He was Il. Cousin
May was three years younger
But the red plume!
At the thought OF it the old gentleman
smiles, and in the painted face he almost
sees an answer.
The red plume! II was the last night
of his holiday. He left for school early
the next morning John had carried his
trunk down stairs. aud it stood open in
the hall whiting for the treasures that his
mother would stow AWAY after ho had
gone TO sleep-frosted cakes and apples
and a little purse, u round, fat little purse
that jinGled when it was shaken.
Cousin May had slipped away in the
afternoon, and he had spent an hour or
more in searching FOR her. He found her in
| the arbor near the gitc, where he had met
her first. Her eyes were red, and when
he called she hid her face and pretended
that she did not hear him. When he came
behind her and put his arm around her
waist, she boxed his ears, laughed and ran
away When she was out of reach, she
stopped md pat on the scarlet plume.
1t WAS of maple leaves, red with tho
early autumn frost, and it trailed from
the crown over the side of her hat and fell
on her shoulder, half hidden in her black,
tangled hair.
Not the same plume the painted woman
wears, but like it in color and grace, very
like it, only prettier,
Then she laughed again, and permitting
herself to be caught the cousins walked
| back to the house, and she was gayer than
he had ever seen her before
Zone would think, little May, that you
were glad to see me go away, " he said az
they stood at the door
81 am, IL you are glad to CO."
"You know I'm not. You know r.,
and he caught Mt her hand. But she dart
ed away with another laugh and ran up
stairs, blowing him kiss from the tips
of her fingers.
Unhappy Cousin Richardi And again
the old gentleman sighs'
After tea they sat by themselves in the
corner of the library under che big lamp,
and May was strangely good TO him. She
talked about his pony aud made rash prom
ises as to his dog-the spoiled dog. She
said that she would write to him and even
promised TO send her picture by and by,
40 you read hands, Cousin RichardY'
could read your hnnd' '' he said.
:, As ven as the 9 g gypsy doesf
Suse as we'll lry me
lNAe ~ -, mhu oebure that you read nice
4 u