The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-01-03


palo yellow gauZo which made her look
like AN escaped sunbeam. Toward the
| close of tho evening he managed to get
her away from the circle of admirers
! into the conservatory-that paradise of
lovers-where he poured out his passion.
What was his establishment and indig-
nation TO meet with u decided refusalI
Sho was already engaged, she assured
nm. Her lover was poor, and she was
young, and 1T had been thought best not
to announce it at present. He reproach-
ed her with unfair conduct to himself.
and she replied: II am suro | never
dreamed of your meaning anything by
your littlo attentions to me- Every one
thinks you are engaged to Miss Ferris,
and Mrs. Grytan told mamma months
ago that she was sure there was an un-
Outstanding between you and Agnes
Moulton."
Chagrined and furious, Mr.. Middle
ton made his way back to the ballroom.
Here no vented his spite i'll way fatal
| to his best interests He vowed to him.
self that he would marry before either
of those girls should do so. Who was
his partner for tho next dance? Lilly
| Edgerton. He would propose to her as
soon as it was over. She was nice girl
enough, used to be Il great belle, had
| hirted desperately, but what of that?
Marry he would, and at once. He car
ried out his intention. Miss Edgerton
was much astonishcd, and she may have
had shrewd suspicion of the truth,
but she was too clever woman of the
world not to profit by her opportunity,
| e1,. o&D.1 1.
He went tho next evening to see Jo-
sephine before going to place his be-
trothal ring on Lilly's finger and told
her of his engagement. Her face was
a study in which sorrow and surprise
were blended. "Shc thinks me an ass"
he muttcrcd to himself as he left the
house, and she thinks about right"
Less than month later the fashona-
Bile columns Of the daily newspapers
chronicled brilliant wedding in which
Mr.. Augustus Middleton and Miss Lii
liam Edgerton were the contracting par
ties There was trip to the Bermudas,
a series of receptions in their new home,
| and all the feting and attention usually
shown newly married pair.
On one of these occasions Mrs. Mid
dleton said to her husband: DO YOU
see how devoted Fred Cartestcr is to
Josephine Ferris: | hope it will make
match.
"Joscphinc." he exclaimed in an an
noyed tone. Impossible!" He had come
to regard Josephine as his own especial
property. Surely his friend was not go
ing to desert him too.
why impossible?" demanded Mrs.
Middleton sharply. 'Shc is 10 older
than | and much more agreeable than
most of those chits of girls.
She is 3D. l though You were "a. {"
So am to the world Mt large. You
don't suppose any woman out of her
teens tells the truth about her aye, do
YOU
Mrs. Middleton had no intention that
the intimacy between her husband and
Miss Ferris should continue, and she
spoke her real sentiments when she said
She hoped for the match. 1t was not
made, however, and month later Miss
Ferris left town for an extended trip
abroad
Mr.. Middleton, having married in
haste, now had time to repent at lei
sure. He found that his wife was
selfish, worldly woman, with not lit
tie of the shrcw in her makeup. She
cared nothing for him and for his home,
only that she might exhibit its beauti-
| full appointments to the outside world.
! He missed his old friends, with whom
his wife would have nothing to do. and
| he could not endure the fashionable cir
Gle with which she surrounded herself,
SO he gave his days To the club and
sighed sometimes for tho bachelor days
when he was free to picture an ideal
home of domestic felicity. But if Mrs.
Middleton did nothing else for her hus-
| band. ono thing she did with entire
thoroughnoss- she took the conccit out
of him. He was much smaller man
| III his own estimation than when he had
| offered his name and his forum 10 Lii
| liam Edgcrton. He knew now that he
had never loved any one but Josephine
| Ferris, and he felt himself to have been
| an cgregious fool that he had not tried
TO win III his mature manhood what she
had denied to his callow youth. He did
not suspect the truth, though his vito
| did, that he would have been entirely
successful.
To end in the regulation way, Mr..
hluulctoH ought 10 nave 1Ounu hlmSelf
widower at the end of the year with
tiny baby girl dependent upon him for
love and care, and Josephine on her re-
turn from Europe should have been pre-
vailed upon to be mother to the little
creature, but things do not end in the
regulation way in real life.
On the contrary, Mrs. Middleton pre-
sented him with a bouncing boy and
was soon in tho full tide of fashionable