Rocky Ford enterprise., 1896-03-05

set. Half the ladies in the city were
in love with Mr.. Linmcre. He was SO
tlistingue, carried himself SO loftily.
and yet was SO calamity. condescend-
| ing and so inimitably fascinating. He
knew Europe like book. sang like q
professor. and knew Just how to hand
a lady her fan. adjust her shawl, and
take her from her carriage. Accom-
plishments which make men popular,
always.
Early in July Mr.. Trevlyn and Mar
gle, accompanied by gay party, went
down to Cape May. Mr.. Trevlyn had
long ago forsworn everything OF the
kind: but since Margie Harrison had
come to reside with him he had given
up his hermit habits. and been quite
like other nice equity old gentlemen.
The party went down on Thursday
Mr.. Paul Linmere following on Satur-
day. Margie had hoped he would not
come: in his absence she could have
enjoyed the sojourn. but his presence
destroyed for her all the charms of sea
/ and sky. She grew frightened. some
times. when she thought how Intense
| was to become his wife.
Some way. Margie felt strangely at
ease on the subject. She knew that
| arrangements were all made, that her
wedding trousseau was being gotten up
by questionable modiste. that Delmon-
leo had received orders for the feast,
| and that the oranges were budded,
which, when burst into flowers, were to
adorn her forehead on her bridal day.
She despised Linmerc with her whole
soul. she dreaded him inexpressibly, yet
she scarcely gave her approaching mar
! riage with him a single thought. She
wondered that she did not; when she
thought Of 1t at all. she was shocked
to find herself so impassive.
Her party had been week at Cape
May, when Archer Trevlyn came down,
with the wife of his employer, Mr.. Bel
grade. The lady was in delicate health
and had been advised to try sea air
and surf bathing. Mr.. Belgrade's busi-
ness would not allow of his absence at
Just that timc, and he had shown his
confidence in his head clerk by select
ing him as his wife's escort.
introduced into society by SO we'll es-
tablished an aristocrat as Mrs. Bel
grade, Arch might at once have taken
a prominent place among the fashion,
ables; but his singularly handsome
face and high bred manners made him
an acquisition to any company. But he
never forgot that he had been street
sweeper, and he would not submit to
DO patronized by the very people who
had once, perhaps, grudged him the
pennies they had thrown to him as
they would have thrown bread to a
starving dog. So he avoided society,
and attended only on Mrs. Belgrade.
But srom AleXandrine Lee he could not
escape. She fastened upon him at
once. She had habit of singing out
gentlemen, and giving them the dis.
tinetion of her attentions, and no one
thought of noticing it now. Arch was
Ill at ease beneath the infliction, but
ne was thorough gentleman and could
not repulse her rudely.
Few days after the arrival of Mrs.
Belgrade, Arch took her down to the
beach to bathe. The beach was alive
with the gorgeous grotesque figures of
the bathers. The air was bracing, the
surf splendid.
Mr.. Treylyn's carriage drove down
soon after Mrs. Belgrade had finished
her mornings dip" and Margis and
Mr.. Linmere, accompanied by A;exan-
drine Lee, alighted. They were in
bathing costume, and Miss Lee, espy-
ing Arch, fastened upon him without
ceremony.
oh. MIR. Trevlyn," she said animat-
edly, Il am glad to have come across
you. was just telling Mr. Linmere
that two ladies were hardly safe with
only one gentlemun, in such surf as
there Is this morning. / shall have to
depend on you to take care of me. Shall
II"
or course, Arch could not refuse, and
apologized to Mrs. Belgrade, who good