The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1894-03-08
MY WHITE RIVAL.

What she could see in him could
never understand.
+ He was certainly big and presume
bly, strong and muscular, but neither in
beauty nor intelligence was he anything
out Of the ordinary of natures handi-
work. Co..
I have heard her rave about his eyes;
they were the color of coffee berries
and moderately large, but their express
sion, to my mind was eminently sheep
ish: Ue was disgracefully selfish, too,
and was under the impression that his
acQuai.itances could do nothing better
than attend to- his meals and accom-
pany him in his walks. He was also
abominably inquisitive and peculiarly
clumsy.
And in spite Of all this she loved him
the most beautiful girl in the world
loved him lavished caressses upon him
that any man with eyes in his head
would have given q kingdom to re-
ceive.
His accomplishments were few. lie
pretended to catch rabbits and was re-
puted ''ratter'' on the strength OF nav
ing once parked at 4 rat in cage; the
servants had with much dlthculty
taught him stupid trick Of running OH
with paper parcels in order to get at
the sweets Of biscuit hidden inside,
and an infinite amount Of shouting, hal
looing and waving Of arms would occa-
sionally induce him to jump over a
walking stick held two inches above
the ground.
In short, he was a most ordinary
white bull-terrier pup, with pink nose
surmounted by black spot like blot
Of ink from a pen.
Nevertheless, I owe him a debt OF
gratitude for being the cause Of my first
introduction to Ella Darlington.
1t was on an August bank holiday
the one blazing-hot day Of damp and
dismal English summer. All the morn
ing had sought to avoid my kind and
at length by 4 o'clock in the afternoon
I had discovered a delightful bracken-
covered dell by the dry bed Of brook
in Richmond park, where but for the
distant shouts Of the gay and HESS
cyclist nothing disturbed the pastoral
beauty Of the scene.
Here stretched myself out, with my
arms under my head and my hat tilt
ed over my eyes, and fell to dreaming
and to wondering when, if ever, l,
a bank clerk at 200 year, should dis
tinguish myself by my literary efforts
which occupied all my spare time ~ to
be wholly independent of the bank ex-
cept as a place Of safety for my super
fuous thousands.
If only could write brilliant novel
the novel of the season! But Anleri-
can authors had declared that the stOr-
les Of the world have all been told and
the serial papers preferred romances
written by young ladies as being more
sentimental and soothing, and the IL
braries would have nothing to do with
the work of an unknown man, and
A feminine shrek broke in upon my
Responding musings and the idea Of a
lovely woman in distress brought me to
my feet
She was lovely; of that there was no
possible doubt. Tall and slender, with
light brown hair and big, appealing,
darl-blue eyes, eyelashes curling up
ward and a red mouth dropping down
dn1 a.e,,llyr ------------ --
She was angry, flushed and frighten-
ed. as was small, stumpy girl. evident
ly her maid, who accompanied her. She
clasped her gloved-hand implorlngly
and looked at me with tears in her
eyes.
my dogv' sch painted. "My dog,
Bull! Pray save him. Some 'Arries are
numbering him!''
Then she ran through the bracken
and I ran after her, to the spot where
five little east-end roughs and villain
Olls mOngrel with one ear bitten
through were wreaking vengeance
upon white bull terrier
My six feet Of authority, armed with
a stout stick, speedily dispersed the
dogs assailants. They retired in con-
fusion, employing language so bad as
to be fortunately unintelligible to my
damsel in distress, who was by this
time kneeling beside her precious dog,
hugging him effusively and trying to
wipe away the blood from an injured
leg.
Th dog really had been a good deal
knocked about, although I have no
doubt he richly deserved it; he now,
feeling himself an object Of sympathet-
DC interest, sat down and refused to
move any further.
1 knew something about dogs and
speedily bound up his paw with my
handkerchief and that Of his mistress,
which was simply marked Ella
Our faces were very close together
over the dogs leg and one of her tears
splashed on to the back Of my hand.
Ella blushed, laughed and apo1ogized.
1 never saw lovelier blush nor heard
a sweeter laugh in my life.
Seeing that the beast was resolved
not to walk, I carried him. He was
a tremendous weight and fidgeted alb
ominably. Put with ELLA beside me and
her sweet, white hand, from which she
had withdrawn the glove, constantly
stroking the brute's neck, I trod on en-
chanted ground. The maid brought I'D
the rear, giggling good deal, but as
she constantly dragged behind to stare
at soldiers her presence did not in any
way hamper us.
The accident took place near the
White Lodge and we had to pass out
by the Star and Garter gates. Long
before we reached them I was madly
In love with Ella and had already in
formed her that this was the happiest
hour of my life, when to my Gismay
learned that she was Miss Ella Bar
rington. eldest daughter Of Barring