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

| me. I had hoped that we might al
ways be good friends.
81 think" I replied, with unpar-
donable brutality, "that you had bet
ter invest in lap.dog. They are
much more manageable"
''You are right" she said, with icy
sweetness; "and they are at least CRATE.
full to their friends. %
"Forgive me, Alice !". I stammered; ;
ct did not mean to be such O brute. ;"
'Iet us forget everything but that
We are very good friends" she an.
swered. after moments pause. Sand
I want to put your friendship to q sell
fish use this very minute.
"You know very well that I would
gladly die for you"
"Oh, my wants are not so exorbi.
tant rs that, she answered, lightly.
81 merely want your advice, as my
oldest and best friend, in case where
I can't trust my family to judge i'm
partially. I think you know Mr..
Hamilton-Mr. Richard Hamilton, L
mean" And I fancied that she
blushed trife as she mentioned the
name. I answered with very bad
grace that had the great honor of a
distant acquaintance with the young
gentleman in question.
sT Tfancied so. Now, the long and
short of the matter is, that my people
are very anxious to have me-marry
him; and Aunt Mary in particular has
her heart set on it."
"He seems to me very desirable
parti, indeed" I said, coldly. 'I sup
pose you hardly need my congratula-
tions."
"He, too, is SO silly as to want to
marry me-" she went on, without
seeming to notice my rude speech,
"and I have promised to give him an
answer this evening. And what
here she seemed strangely embar-
rassed, and became deeply absorbed
in the figures on her fan-"what an
swer shall I give him?"
"What answer?" 7 cried, as her
meaning flashed over my dull compre-
hensions, "why, tell him that you are
engaged, of course!"
just what happened next is rather
hazy in my mind-almost obliterated
by the direful catastrophe which SO
soon followed. I dimly remember
kissing her upturned face as we stood
in the shadow of a great South Ameri-
can cactus, that screened US from all
observation, and drawing her unre-
sisting form toward divan that we
had occupied on the memorable even
ing when we had been engaged before.
We knew all the strongholds of her
aunt's house perfectly.
"How horribly improper ri" she ex.
claimed, apropos of something OF
other. Suppose that any one should
see US this way"
s'That would be improper, I ad-
NIT, I replied, serenely; "but then,
you see, nobody can." The argument
was undeniable, and she let her head
rest against my shoulder with little
sigh Of satisfaction.
absurd to think, that we ever
quarrelled," observed, prese2.lx
"Oh, don't talk of that horrid time
any more! I have nearly cried my
eyes out over it. Let's just remem-
ber that we have loved each other all
the while"
For moment there was silence.
"Alice!" I said, severely, .as sud-
den thought came to me; "what were
you intending to answer"
"That," replied Mistress Alice, Sc
renely, "you will never know"
There, that dance is finished" I
said; "the rabble will be out here in
a moment.
"There is no hurry" she answered,
with the delightful sang froid OF wo-
mankind under circumstances that are
trying to masculine nerves. "We can
see any one who passes the turn of
the staircase. ;"
"Ah, now it is time" she said,
laughlngly; zone more kiss, and I
will see If I can fix myself up little.
You have put my hair in shocking
state of disorder. Ugh! What's that?"
I sprang to my feet, aghast. On
her delicate pink corsage was large
and gruesome stain of black, that was
slowly but surely spreading over the
entire front.
"I-1-I'm afraid it's ink!" I said,
in quavering accents of despair.
Ink! Where in the world should
any ink come from?" Her voice had
hard, sharp quality, that I heard
once in q while before. Evidently her
ladyship's mood was fast losing It's
amiability, and felt some tremors of
fear.
I knew altogether too we'll where
the ink came from. With an awful
certainty I looked at my once immacu-
late white waistcoat; it was now
gruesome, soppy mass ofSmith's Blue.
Black Commercial Writing Fluid. The
emergency was frightful. Was there
On outside exit? And then the dress
hcrriblel I have known affection to
outlast the crash of fortunes, and to
vanish like frost-work at dish of
gravy spilled over new gown. Since
that day have refused to believe all
stories of hair growing gray from
fright and anguish. 1t is absolutely
impossible that any one should be
scared as I was.
Alice looked mp from her own ruined
fnery and caught the woe.begone ex.
preston on my face, and, overcome
with the ludicrousness of the situa-
tion she burst into a little ripple Of
laughter, in which I was Obliged to
join.
ooh, here she is," said familiar
voice, and Mr.. Stlrdevant Hamilton,
accompanied by the handsome Dick,
turned in from the long staircase. /