Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-01-30
ES:

1880
laughed the girl. 'sWhy, you are only rs.
It will be ten years It least before you are
able to marry, and In ten years / shall be
quite old. You see" continued the girl
81 am old enough to Be married
now, and that is where the difference comes
in. And I Am going to be presented and 60
to parties and wear lovely frocks-I do hate
those shabby old things-and then ! shall
marry somebody rich and great and live in
the world. I'm 20 tired Of this little poky
place, with nothing but lessons and Sunday
school children and rheumatic old women
suddenly looking down at the golden
haired lad stretched on the turf at her feet
-''only, Of course, l shall miss you, Her
bert.
.sThat is all very well for you, but what
is to become of me? I want to marry for
love, and how can / if you go and marry
somebody else?" said the boy plaintively.
sit is quite easy" answered the girl as
she plucked a stem of Towering grass, then
gravely counted, "'This year, next year,
some time, never, this year; think of that!
You must, of course, fall in love with some
body who isn't married. You can't really
be in love with me, I think, because you
are SO young, and I am not in love with you.
I am almost the only girl you know, and
you are used to me. We are like brother
and sister, but that isn't love-"
.sIIow do you know" asked the boy
jealously. care you in love3" Old Tomp-
kins is the only man about here"
S<TNon1f hn rv<xcc MA T0uorh:ct A Inll
head, spectacles and a perpetual snifle. No,
I'm in love with life and wealth and power
If you'd always worn hideous old frocks that
didn't fit and had been kept at home all
your life with stupid governesses, because it
is no good spenping money on a girl until it
will pay from the marrying point of view,
you would know what / feel like. But you
have your ambitions too. You want to be a
great poet; you want all the world to see the
rocks and woods and the everchanging sea As
you see them, and to hear the skylark and
the nightingale as you hear them. Isn't
that enough for your"
"No, l want that and more too, Oh,
Meg, can't you see that you have been the
inspiration Of all my pc. try, that it is for
you I've written the songs the birds sing to
me and painted the pictures our eyes have
seen together7 This beautiful place will be
all empty and drear when you are gone.
Must you go? Stay here as we fave been
until / get some money. If you 60 l can
not come after you, and what am I to do
here2"
The girls face grew troubled and her eyes
wandered far out to sea, where a white sail
had just appeared above the horizon.
=
"Who does she say she ISL"
ssShe's the widow of Lord Hardworth.
He was fabulously rich and held some posi-
ton in the last cabinet, but he was an awful
skinfint and not exactly what he should have
been in other respects. He's been dead
about two years. Splendid woman, isn't
she? But she looks as though she had not
found life all beer and skittles."
81 believe l know something Of r then.
Wasn't she Sir John Haugh.on's only
daughter?"
.sYes, and an uncommonly pretty girl.
Directly she came out she carried off the
prize of the seasonal least SO my mother
said, and she was pretty sure to know the
quality of the goods upon the market, be-
cause my second sister came out the same
spring.
s'Jlook, she's speaking to that curious
loosing little man with the red hair who
turned up at table d'hote yesterday. He
looks like a musician or an artist Dear me,
how she has frightened up! What will you
bet he isn't an old lover. She doesn't look
more than 20, with that pretty blush and
the SIN lie, and to think of their being thrown
away on that withered specimen of humanity.
They are s~trolling into the pine wood. If
that isn't the last chapter of a romance in
real life, I'll venture TO eat my hat. !
must find out who that fellow is
"You need not trouble, my dear chap.
You're ridiculously b~ehindhand, or you'd
know that that is our only poet, Herbert
Rlaxtone.n
.sThat Herbert Blaxtone! Well, I'd never
have thought it. I always did say Il at
g~eniuses and poets in particular should con-
ceal their personality. It's so disillu-
sioning to know tn, t your favorite some
was written by a scarecrow. But there's no
accounting for the tastes of women, and l
dare say the fair widow thinks him an
Adonis. A bachelor, isn't he9"
IA widower, l fancy. Anyway his wife
has been dead Tor years. He's nothing like
the guy that you would make out. You are
jealous, old man, because the fair widow,
as you call her, has steadily refused to
smile On your magnificent proportions. All
the same, he's a morose sort Of q fellow, and
nobody knows much about him. He was
frightfully poor ut one time, I believe, and
had more than the usual difficulty in con
vincing the critics that his verses weren't
twaddle. But he's tremendous swell now.
Sand 50 Of course my lady is beginning
to look out for No. 2. Kismet, il is fate!',
s.And so you went into the world and
found your hearts desire7" said the man.
Eyes; ! married and got it in 4 fashion, .
answered the woman.
"And it wasn'tquit all yourfancy painted
it7' asked the man.
s.1shings never turn out exactly Is one
imagines. There is usually something one
does not calculate upon"
tsWhat was it in your case?" persisted the
man.
The womsn's pale face flushed.
"My heart IS dead-it died of starvation.
And you7 Did the girl GOMEZ"
s.She did"
Sand you married for lover"
g y>-~4A~A NsS l#"