Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1895-01-16

@SSIGIhtfs%ES2S me aS pIeSeub
WSggsg%S@NESS years ago when I
fHN,}s2>M2NNSS was young man
gWo oV'G w and foun tain
pens were a novelty. Mine was made
of tin, with rubber bag to hold the
ink. When you squeezed the pen
holder the ink ran out of the bag and
flooded the pen-or anything else that
happened to be within convenient
range. The diabolical contrivance
looked like a tin whistle and acted like
uttle-fsh, but no one else had one,
and so I was proud of it. Vanitas
vanitatum! Short was my triumph.
I can still remember, as painfully as
though it was an affair of yesterday,
how the tragedy occurred. 1t YVES at
the Sturdevant.Hamilton's ball
quite the swell event of the season. I
had been looking forward to this ball
with interest for a good while, be-
cause intended o,fnd an opportun-
ity there to effect reconciliation
with Alice. Such opportunities were
not frequent, and I knew that if 7
missed this one it might be long
time before found another, and that
odiously handsome Dick Hamilton
Sas paying her great more attention
than I liked. Alice and I had been close
friends ever since we were children,
and had come to feel that I had a
sort of proprietorship in her. We
had even been engaged for just
twenty-four hours, at the end of which
time we had quarreled, for reasons
too complicated and too absurd to be
introduced here. Ispeedily repented,
however. aid was or'J' waiting for an
opportunity to ilduce her to do like
wise.
With this weighty resolution On my
mind, it is no wonder that felt lit
tie tremsr as I started to go down
Stairs, and that I scanned myself with
unusual attention in the great pier
glass, to make sure that my attire was
perfect. Nothing embarrasses one
more under trying circumstances than
the consciousness of being badly
dressed, l was, I think I may say,
well dressed. My trousers were i'm
peccable, my gloves ditto, my coat fitted
to perfection, my white waistcoat was
as spotless-to employ figure which
is popular among my brother barris-
ters-as spotless as the driven snow;
my hair was at that precise point when
it has lost the formality given to it by
the hair-dresser, without assuming the
wild and outrageous appearance to
be noticed among musicians and other
doubtful characters. My complexion
had never been better. On the whole,
I was very we'll satisfied with the gen.
eral effect.
When entered the ballroom Alice
was away at the further end, talking,
I grieyed to note, with that odious
young Hamilton. l did not care to
make my approach under such trying
circumstances, and bided my chance
with what patience could muster.
Finally my opportunity came, and I
lost no time in reaching her side. She
greeted me very kindly, as she al
ways did, in something the same style
that she might have received very
old friend OF her fathers. This cheer
full, unembarrassed greeting always
provoked me beyond measure; but I
did my best to stiae my ill-temper,
which was also somewhat assuaged
by the pleasing discovery that
through some misunderstanding she
was not engaged for the next dance.
I had never seen her more radiantly
beautiful, and could feel the eyes OF
many en7ious observers turned upon
me as we took our places. The next
dance and the next were taken, but
the third she promised to me. At
the end of this dance, which was
waltz, and taken at the numerically
fast tempo then prevalent, I remarked
that she was somewhat flushed with
the heat, and proposed that we should
take turn in the conservatory.
Whether she guessed what was in
my mind or not, I cannot soy. 1t
seemed to me that the color grew a
shade deeper in her lovely cheeks, but
that may have been due to the heat,
or was perhaps the effect of my own
imagination. At any rate she assented
in the most charming manner in the
the world, and we strolled out into
the large and handsome conservatory,
which was now quite deserted. 1t
was in this same conservatory that we
had stood and talked the evening after
we were engaged, and hoped that
memories of this would affect her as
they did me. But alas she was evil
dantly in very far from sympathetic
state of mind.
81 suppose you must be very much
engaged with your profession" she
remarked, sweetly; eve see SO little
OF you nowadays" This had all the
effect of premeditated satire. 1t had
not been a month since we had
laughed merrily together at my brief
less condition, and had agreed that we
could be very happy together without
riches.
:'Not SO deeply engaged but that I
find time to call on all who care to
have me-" I answered, bitterly.
ctI,Jaad 1,o,, ora ,,orv ,1nrind ond