The National tribune., 1894-11-22

him to 60 aud draw the tooth of rhinoceros
! know that he would have said, Yes, sir; /;
all right, sir" in precisely the same tone.
After this sleep was granted to us till 3
in the morning, at whieh hour the horses
had been ordered. There is no need 10 dwell
upon the long and tedious ride, which, how
ever, went off with far less difficulty than |
had anticipated, nor upon how, Merauiza be-
ing reached, the Don first followed me meekly
into the warehouse, which was also the chief
haunt of civilization in the place, and then
contrived TO give me the slip. / shall not
easily forget what l mentally underwent
when from the door of the warehouse l per-
ceved Don Elviro far ahead in the sunny
street, covering the ground with enormous
strides, and making straight for the plaza.
Seeing me behind him he bolted into the
first door at hand, which happened to be
that Of the guard-room. There found him
planted close beside row of fixed bayonets,
with clenched fists and sort of "Come-on-
if-you- dare look about him.
1 was just beginning to ask myself
whether, in default OF the medical authori-
ties, should be justified in handing over
my charge to the military, when l caught
sight of Mr.. MacNeill riding past. That
was the man for the post.
My dear Mr.. MacNeiH," said, having
given preliminary explanations, =" it is clearly
your duty to look after your daughters re-
jected suitors, especially when they go mad
and become a nuisance to other people, /
have had this one on my hands for "a hours
by the clock; l beg now to hand hlm over
to your fatherly keeping"
The sturdy Scotchman seemed to have
conscience, for, though he looked detected,
he made no demur.
The rest of this comedy came very near
to being a tragedy. Don Elviro was shipped
off to Spain, where he had two sisters liv
ing, but during the journey he almost sue
ceeded, first in destroying himself, and then
in numbering an English cabin-boy. The
last thing l heard Of him was that he had
reached Spain alive, but hopelessly insane,
and had been consigned to his sisters
charge.
There is only one more word to add, and
this touches Jessie MacNeill. Soon after
l reached home announced to Ada my in
tention of making the girls acquaintance.
" have seen the effect l said, and now
/ want to see the cause"
"Oh, really?" said Ada, rather coldly.
Somehow she did not seem very keen about
my visit to the White Flower Of the Pam
pas"; l even caught something about " idle
curiosity"
I" But it is not idle curiosity" / answered,
it is praiseworthy zeal. l mean to address
to the young lady few words of paternal
advice concerning her hirtatiens."
oh, very well, as you like" said Ada.
And so I went.
When I reached MaeNeilI's farm asked
blowsy young woman, who was hemming
an apron on the yeranda, whether / could
see Miss MacNeill. She stared at my ques-
ton. She WAS excessively red-faced, and
had great deal of very Iight-colored hair,
of that peculiar lint-white which can either
be so pretty or so ugly. A horrible sus-
picion dawned in my mind; and yet when,
in broad Scotch, she informed me that she
was Miss MaeNeilI, the shock was, so great
that / remained deprived of speech for a
considerable number of minutes. In Eng
land we might perhaps, by stretch of good
nature, have called her .'comely," or, at any
rate, buxom." Transplanted to climate
where black eyes and olive complications
were the order of the day, she had become
the white flower of the plains"
Yes, her hair was undoubtedly of the
palest Ent-eolor, and looked paler still by
contrast with her peony-red cheeks. And
! had had visions of an alabaster skim
dlu Bob IL MISS SidCSSill
had turned out to be a radiant beauty, there
might possibly have been some glory in the
memory of those many-alasl so many
cups Of tepid tea which 1 had drunk in her
honor. But, having once seen the cause.
the effect became ludierons, and the tea
looked back upou-seemed more than ever
Ike dIteR.Waff5, 5,al Vi une story" laughed
Ada, gayly, when, on my return, I described
Miss MacNeill, "is, that you should not
frt, or, at any rate, not with Spaniards"
L don't believe she could firt if she
tried" l answered dejectedIy "The moral
of the story is that no rejected lover shall
ever again enjoy the hospitality Of my root,
or, at any rate, not until we live little
farther from the equator To the weary
peddler my door shall be open, even to the
wandering gypsy, but to the rejected lover
no."
AS far as we were concerned, the last act
of the comedy closed here. The only effects
which it left behind it were, on my side.
distinct repugnance to afternoon tea, and,
on the side of Monsieur Rosette, still more
distinct repugnance to tuning our piano.
Black and White.