Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-02-04


adore mademoiselle; no?"
The Belle--''No, not all the men.
Some of them. Enough of them.
(Sighing). Too many of them.
The Maid--"That is good. Made
moiselle has embarrassment of choice. "
The Belle--"Yes, an embarrassment
of choice. Yon speak truly, Celeste.
(Sighing again). 1t is that which
makes me--but, bah why think of it
all? suppose it is the experience of
all girls like me in society, with for
tune, a face and a facile tongue.
There! That will do for tonight,
Celeste; I am going to sit up for a
little. I may read and I may write, I
cannot say"
The Maid (horrifed) )--"But made
moiselle has already lost SO much of
the beauty sleep"
The Belief am restless. Be
sides, if all be true that men have
told me tonight, 1 do not need it.
Good night, Celeste"
The Maid-''Good night, mademoi-
selle!" Exit mai1.
The Belle (alone) )-"Five proposals
in one night. That is, counting one
that I suppose does not-ought not to
count. Four Of them at any rate such
as girl in her second season should
Jump at. AS for the ftth-well, |
won't think of it, l mean, if 1 can help
it | won't. Yet-but what nonsense
Let me review the others. First came
old Totterly. Sixty years old he said
he was. He is eighty, if he is day.
Worth four millions, he said. That
part is probably true. But, ON Let
us pass on to the next. Philip Eyer
ton Denning, the writer and thinker
the literary lion Of the season. Funny
he should fancy me. like him, too,
myself, I cannot help admiring his
intellect, and l feel that | should
always respect him. Yet-(muses sew
eral minutes, then sighs). Who next ?
Oh, yes. Laughing heartily. must
not forget him. Lord Tuffnut, the
latest British importation, who did
me the honor to offer me, with
monocle in one fishy eye, his title, his
mortgaged estates and the family
tree that, in its time, has borne an
abundance of just such ovcrripe fruit
as he is. And for what? My youth,
beauty, and money. Nonsense. Next.
Ahem The same thing, in measure,
only of our own manufacture. Tracy
de Puyster Van Tretfer, of the most
cerulean of blue blooded Knicker-
booker stock. Truly our country has
reached a wonderful height in her in
dustries when she can turn out any
thing SO nearly like the English arti-
Gle, even to his morals. as Tracy de
Puyster Van Treffer! There they are,
all of them, labelled to the best posi-
BILE advantage. All-except Jack.
Poor Jack We'll, [ might as we'll list
him. Jack Willoughby. Something
down town. Poor as a church mouse,
handsome as Apollo, and true as steel.
All, well (sighing) | suppose I must
not think of him. 1t is lucky, though,
that some one interrupted us when he
proposed, or / might have said yes. 1
was overcome with the heat of the
ball room and when he put his arm
around me, and whisperingly begged
for an answer, | felt so weak, for the
moment, that | don't think l should
have had strength to refuse him But
somebody came, somebody always
does, and l suppose l am safe.
promised them ali an answer in week.
An embarrassment of choice, Celeste
said, CLOSES her eyes and thinks.) ss
half hour or more passes, during
which the belle appears to sleep. Sud
denly she opens her eyes.
The Belle-"I must have slept. But
nothing in my dreams seemed to offer
me any help. Oh, dear! Is there
anything or anybody that can show
me what to do?"
A voice-"There is.
The Belle (startled) Good gra.
cious What was that?"
A Voice-''Don't be frightened. 1t
was /.
The Belle (still more alarmedl-
"But who are you? Where are you?"
A Voice-"Your mirror"
The Bello-''But, good heavens
Mirrors cannot speak.
The Mirror" Mirrors can do
great many more things than people
give them credit for. We reflect
why should we not speak? That we
can do so is proved by my talking to
you now. l have listened to all you
have thought and would help you"
The Belle (trembling)-"Was 1
thinking aloud?"
The Mirror-''No. But you cannot
think and look into my face without
every thought being known to me
even though / may not reveal what is