The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1896-02-22
probable or even DO ssible.

and all persons of the most absolutely I'M
blemishea character. that his father was
II tower of strength among the uncn'
guild, of the kind who invariably make q
special point of calling themselves good
church-people," of whom there was a
large faction in Blankhampton. that his
mother was Il woman of good fnmily-f
mean of very superior birth to- the original
De I.isies, who could only boast of a two
generations remove from the trading
class-that his sisters We're Il judicious
combination of unco' guidism and tenn
pered wor!dliness and contriyed to have
an uncommonly good time between their
adherence TO both parties, that he had one
or two brothers each remarkable in some
special line, one for cricket, one for mu-
sic, one for following his religion With the
help of the highest and most complicated
form of Ritualism. Added to all this,
Gerard De Lisle was undeniably the hand
soonest man in Bla%nkhampton.
l do not think, seeing him in London,
in the Park or II theatre, that you would
have picked him ont as being a man
out of the common looks. He was tall,
he was fairly broad, but like his fatherhe
had a certain air of %carryinga very sho TT
tubDlsh III of body on particularly long
and ose-jointed spindie-like legs, which
somehow always made me wonder that
the pretty Bla~nkhanlpton girls were so
utterly gone" upon him, as they one n
all undoubtedly were. For the rest he
was rather light in coloriLg v ithout bt.
ing what you would describe as a fair
man, had Il straight nose, Il pair of blueish
batl-te'npered eyes and q tightly COM
pressed mouth which preciuded the idea
of his disposition being a genial one.
Add to all this an e~Ntra-supertine man
ner. a manner which took the middle of
the pavement and paused for an instant
Mt the street corners while the quick hard
eyes glanced around as If to see what new
worlds there were for Adonis to conquer,
a manner which was always squaring its
shoulders and flourishing its walking
stick and made a little more display OF its
very white and shining linen han was
exactiy pretty, and there you have Mr..
Gerard De Lislc, whom everybody in
Blankhampton called "Adonis,' except
the pretty girls. who had such a variety
of gushing names for him that l will
spare their feelings by not repeating
them.
am afraid thar this description gives
You but Il poor idea of my "Adonis."
Well, l will be a little more explicit. 1t
is true that he was handsome and rs vain
rs n peacock, yes, ! admit it; but he was
not n bad sort Of fellow by any means.
On the contrary, he was scrupulously
honorable aud I know that he could be
%kind-and If / have seen him pay up his
shilling for n rattle he did not wish to go
in for. and say with un air of unutterable
surprise when his tormentor asked fer his
name, Mr.. De Lisle," in an accent which
conveyed clearly that she must either be
a knave or a fool, l nave also seen him
speak very kindly and without any oman
ner" at all to q little woman whom knew
to be in dire trouble, lave seen him take
hold of her arm for n moment In a mans
protecting way. and then pat her shoulder
with a kindly, "There, there-yes, l IN
derstand, I'll let you know directly I find
out aboutit.' Oh, yes, with ali his little
vanities Adonis was a good fellow down
ut the bottom, and in spite of their sancti-
~moniousness, most people in Blankhamp-
ton would take the word Of a De Lisle
sooner thar of most OF the townsfolk.
Besides Adonis there was-well. really,
it was wonderful how very few young
men there were! There was the Reverend
Evelyn Gabrielli, the youngest of the
minor-canons at the Parish. He was
! rich Tor at least certainly well Off, he was
young, he was q good size and fairly good.
looking, and for little vanities Adonis
was not in it with him. He had three
valuable rings for every finger andthumh
of his two hands, aud with regard to his
rings he did not hide his light under q
bushel.
But Evelyn Gabrielle was, MS Mrs. Traf.
ford knew from past experience, no good
in n matrimonial sense. Indeed he entire.
ly believed in the celibacy Of the clergy
the Priesthood ! believe he called it-and
was particularly careful to keep ut a safe
distance from the meshes of the matri
monial net. Perhaps it was for this rea'
son hat he especially attached himself tc
Mrs. Colonel Browne and, as a set-of1
against his vow of celibacy. very soon be
came the scandal of the town.
Then there was Mr.. Hooper, another
m~inor-canon, also i'll comfortable circum
stances and one of those intensely aggra
waiting men whoalways are wanting to gel
married and never do. He was no gooG
either.
Then-well, really, there were the Off
GERS quartered in the garrison and that
was all. Somehow, although Mrs. Traf-
ford did not mean to neglect the red
coats, she had not much faith in any OF
them being attracted by Julia; SO by the
time she had thoroughly thought out the
situation, she had come to the conclusion
that II she ever saw Julia settled in q
home Of her own at Blankhampton 1t
would most likely be In the large and
conlmodious old house SO difficult for q
stranger to find, because it was tucked
away down a narrow archway just wide
enough to allow n carriage to pass undo
it into the wider space of the court with.
In.
OF course it would not be a brilliant
marriage, the little widow told herself,
but it would be a nice comfortable posi-,
ton for Julia, who would naturally be
made very much of by the De Isle fami-
ly, who in spite of their undeniable weight
in tho town, were, Of course, at best
but professional people and as such not
by any means the equal Of the Traf.
fords, more especially since they had be
come allied to the houses of Ceesprine
and Stanton.
But not one word did Mrs. Trafford say
on the subject to her Julia, she was, in
fact. far too skillful a tactician to do that
However, one morning at breakfast she
suggested In q casual sort of way to hel
daughter that B~lunkhampton seemed
very dull since Laura and Madge had
gone.
"Oh! awfully dull" answered Julia,
who had. as l think I AVE already said, &
very high-pitched voice.
Really. 1 think we had better give 9
little dinner party" suggested Mrs. Traf-
ford, us IL the idea had but that instant
occurred to her-"What do you sayi"
''Yes-or a Dance" said Julia, who liked
!, having dances in her own house because
she was sure of having a good number O
= partners.
"Ohl think not a dance, dear" oh
jected the little widow. who did not SCI
spending a lot Of money just to entertain
a crowd of people to whom she was en-
!, tirely indifferent and who would probabl!
/ rather retard than in any way further he
schemes.
why not?n exclaimed Julia.
well, because Laura and Madge would
both think 1t most unkind to have q dane,
Immediately after they have left Blank
hampton, and when they could none o
~ fhn&, ,,,rrf1,l., -~,,1 Ia, Il f,n - Tl,k 4,