Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-01-04
HIS EYEGLASSES.

mercantile house. lie was iona OF society,"
He lived in one of those extremely select
boarding houses frequented by delightful
people as regular boarders, who, if not the
rose, were very near the rose. Many
charming families also came and went,
and some of them comprised charming
young ladies who made themselves agree
able to the now somewhat elderly buck,
whose years OF residence gave him the
privilege of host in the parlor after din
Jses. Middleton spent his vacations at
Esragansctt, and there too, being fair
dancer and assiduous esquire of dames he
made many friends and was talked of as
being devoted in turn to more than one
belle of the Casino and the beach every
summer. Yet nothing came of it. Year
by year he added to his well chosen invest
ments aud shirked the duty of stimulating
trade by distributing part of his large
income for the knickknacks and Chitfons
of wife Why was this9 The secret
lay in the double eyeglasses which hung
about his neck and which he was seldom
seen to place upon his nose, though he was
never observed to read q newspaper in
public, and his private sitting room would
have revealed the fact that they were in
use nightly when Middleton pGrused his
favOrite papers The fact was that his
sight had failed him prematurely, inst
when he had resolved that he could afford
himself the pleasures of matrimOny, and
when looking about the world, he found
it and many Of its inhabitants very fair.
His first essay at this time may give the
keynote of many subsequent ones and will
illustrate an unhappy experience to which
the sympathy of the world has never heGn
called, although our hero's was probably
by no means an exceptional case.
There came to Middleton's boarding
house one winter a family from Alabama,
important people before the war, a father
mother and daughter. General Rosa was
a forid, portly man, obviously choleric,
careless in the details of dress, for even a
scrupulously white wristband sometimes
showed a frayed edge, and his evening
clothes were shiny at the seams and def
cient in their complement of buttons. He
was undoubtedly a gentleman, reticent of
personal observations, in spite of his fiery
nature, full of petts sOins to ladies and
punCtilious in attentions to them, espe-
Cially so to his somewhat faded wife and
his tall, dark eyed daughter. Fortul or
the kindness of the landlady placed this
young person at Middloton's left hand on
the occasion when the family first APP
peared at the O'Clock dinner. No pres
entatiOns took plaCe-in fact, Mrs. Sim
mons did not appear at her own table, at
the head of which Middleton presided in
right Of his residential dGanship, as they
say in diplomatic circles. The fact of
sharing in the hospitalities Of so select an
establishment was, as in the parlOrs of a
private house. considered sufficient guar
antoe to warrant ordinary intercourse.
Middleton had heard the names and con-
ditions of the new arrivals from the man
who had come up to brush his coat before
dinner, and from Fish, Miss Rosa? Do
you like it well done? Some gravy?" he
soon slid into a genial and animated con-
versation with his neighbor who had the
pretty southern softened "r," elongated
novels and the slow musical tones of her
native state.
Pride ourselves as we may on our accu-
rate accent and clear speech, there is al
ways something attractive in those who
offend our standards in the way of soften
ing grace, but Middleton thought little of
Miss ROsas voice or of anything else, so
beautiful his neighbor seemed to him. 1t
had CHANGED that year that no young la
dies had visited the house. At the end of
his annual stock taking and accounts he
had had an unusual lot of night work at
his Office, porting over columns of figures
in his ledger, and the poor fellows weary
eyes were fairly bathed by the contempla-
ton of face and figure which impressed
him as the most beautiful he had ever
seen.
Outline coloring the facial angle, that
vital element in beauty, the shape of the
eyebrows, the curve Of the lips, the swell
of the throat, the delicate bust, the poise
and carriage of the figure, all seemed to
MIN perfect. Not only did he forget to re.
ward himself with those dainty tidbits
which, though they only reach him cold,
are in some degree the acknowledged COM
pensations of a Caryer's labors, but Mid
dletOn almost neglected to eat at all In
fact, some of the young men who occupied
hall bedrooms and the lower end of the Ia.
BILE INDUCED in the exchange of knee pres.
6ures and meaning looks before the com.
pany broke up, SO apparent was the i'm
mediate enslavement Of the old buardur,
AS they called him.
After dinner the same thing went on
Miss Rosa played and Middleton turned
the leaves Of her music, or rather attempt
ed to do so, for the white fingers fluttered
past his face invariably before he was
aware that the end Of the leaf was reached.
And when she pointed an observation
about poem of Tennyson by taking up
the volume of his works lying on the ia.
bic and handing it to Middleton it might
have been observed that his eyeglass still
dangled unused while he was looking at
the opposite page from that which Miss
Rosa had indicated, and that he put down
the book and changed the subject some
what abruptly.
However, day followed day, each devel-
oping more and more of the amiable re.
sources of Middleton in courtesy and de-
votion. Drives in the park, theater, opera,
picture exhibitions, were diversions in
which the Rosa family were invited to
share, for Middleton was obviously pro-
'ceeding in form and pursuing no furtive
and meaningless Irritation. Even the flow
ers which be sent Miss Rosa were usually
accompanied by nosegay for her mother,
and the general, with the same easy frank
ness with which he would have offered tho
hospitality Of his own home did not scru.
pie to accept the perfectos which Middle.
ton showereG upon him, or to take many
q toddy Of the ancient whisky which
flowed like water IN the fastidious bach
elor apartment while the pair chatted into