St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-07-20
A SCHEMING SCOUNDREL
RH W. ]. LAMPrON,

~ was merely to make me proud n
vseif that 1 had run the gantlet o,
n.ii century and didn't show ,
atch. At least, l didn't SEQ sny
s"ougn a friend of m:ne-one of those
SHOWS who go about among their ac
qoA'ntances doing everything they car
20 make truth odious-had a habit q,
Seiiing me every day or two that !
man OF fifty was scarcely az ..chipper'
rs man of thirty, whatever he mich,
mink about it himself.
In addition to my fifty years l was
(which was not counted against me by
soeSe Parsons best able to anaIyze true
traces Ct character) rich. Not a multi
niiiS1Aire, perhaps, but enough t.
make a bachelor very comforta BILE, not
TO cay luxurious NY business was
easy, and had no help to bother after,
except clerk or private secretary, as
u sounded more elaborate to call him,
ana a young woman who manipulated
the typewriter in my office Concern
ing these two persons have consider
able to say.
My private secretary, whose name
was Jeremy Kilton, was without any
exception the most modest and lady
like young man 1 ever met He had
come to my service highly recon-
mended by friends of mine in the
country. and though he had been y ith
me for seven years in town, he never
came into the Office Of q morning that
was not reminded of the green fields
and the running brooks and that sort
OF thing, indigenous to all traditions of
the rural neighborhood He was only
about ten years younger than was,
and have many times sat watching
HIM plodding away at his desk. silent
as sphinx and faithful as a fana tic.
and wondered why 1t was that he
should be as he was, and I rs l was. l
with the money, and he with the num-
berless good qualities that would be an
ornament to wealth, even though he
lacked in that polish which wealth
seems to demand.
Hut l paid him a good salary. for I
could afford to, and his twenty-five
hundred a year appeared to be almost
rs satisfactory to him as my twenty
FIVE thousand was to me.
Yet he wasn't half the man l was in
youth and love of life. and used to
twit him about his advancing years.
and tried to get him to 60 and call on
the ladies with me. BY all that is
lovely, you should have seen him the
first time / asked him to 60 with me
to call on a particularly bright and in
teresting young woman l knew, and
whom he had met on one occasion when
she had come to my Office with her
mother to see about piece Of property
the naother wanted to buy. The girl
had flashed her brilliant eyes on Jer-
envy, out of pure mischief, because l
had told her of his difRdence, and she
wanted to make him feel as uncom-
Portable as she could. and for a minute
or two I was fearful that I would lose
my valued servant, SO evident was
his desire to incontinently run away.
He blushed two or three cOlors. and
stammcred SO when he tried to talk to
her that l thought he would get his
tongue twisted around his teeth, and
in a moment of confusion would bite it
Of. When she had gone, I asked him
how he would like to 60 up and call
some evening. and he showed signs at
once of hysteria. Then told him If
he would not do that, would send him
up to the house next day with the pa
pers for the mother and daughter to
examine and sign. and. though he said
no word and bowed in humble submis-
sion to my will, felt SO sorry for him
that ! took them up myself
And here. 1 may say that a little |
thing like . woman never had the least !
q - Il
giving me the panicky feeling that
overlook Jeremy every time woman |
came in sight. He was bachelor, of |
course, for how could q man Of his |
eheeplike courage be anything else? |
He couldn't, and Jeremy was . living |
example of it. Even the young woman |
who manipulated the typewriter was |
source of discomfort to Jeremy.
She had been with me for three years,
and was a most exemplary person, not |
to say a very intelligent and cookbook
ing one. Being a woman. she did not |
get as much salary as the man, but she
was quite well satisfied with the nine
hundred dollars a year paid her, and
must say my official family was very
agreeable in its relations to me and to
itself. / felt this particularly, because,
for some time past. Miss Higgins-that
was the young woman's name-had
been occupying a good deal Of my at
tention. and l am pretty sure that If
Jeremy had been a dashing young fel-
low or a dashing old one. he would
have made me have more or less pal
pitations of the heart and other disa-
greeable sensations which are expert
enced even by the best of men under
so1le circumstances.
But Jeremy! l wasn't afraid of
Jeremy, and the more he tried to fight
shy of Miss Higgins the more twitted
her on the growing fondness for her
had detected and was daily detecting !
in my faithful secretary. Miss Higgins
would always laugh at these small
pleasantries of mine and would give
me her very sweetest smile. partly, ,
presume, In recognition of various t,
services l rendered her. which were not
called for in the contract when she
came into my employ.
Why shouldn't l be agreeable to herr ,
An excellent young woman Of excel /,
lent family, with nothing in the whole !
wide world against her except that she
WAS poor. OF course. that was an OBJ !
1ectionable feature to some, but it was !,
not to me. for had money enough for /.
two. and I could afford to be entirely i.
disinterested when it came to a ques-
ton Of the disposition Of my real senti- ,
ments. 1 had real sentiments. too and
they were all for Miss Higgins. knew +,
plenty of girls, old and young. grave /,
and gay. pretty and not SO pretty, rich
and less rich, but didn't see any of
them every day, in sunshine or rain.
ana had not the opportunity Of judR-
ing them rs had in the case OF Miss
Higgins, who seemed to me little
49, each time saw her during those
later days
Once or twice, perhaps several dozen
times, spoke rather vaguely to Jere-
nv about her superiority. and he in
1~..ea what had to say with the hesi-