Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1896-07-01

Il - y
| 4 M Vane, of course
| z W NJ n won't! You must
| ~ W # have taken leave OF
| SR1E(H your senses, and oil
IN ~ ways told you in
kK d tended to we'd o. man
| cp ~ with blue eyes and
golden hair, and yours are dark. Be-
sides you are twenty-seven and q med
ical student, two things I mover could
tolerate in the man I honor with my
heart and hand" And lovely little
Lottie Rexdal laughed very wicked
little laugh as she pushed the end of
her red silk parasol into the soft soil
under On old apple tree, at the same
time gIancing saucily up at her COM
panion, scholarly young man.
"Why do you ask me?" she re-
sumed.
"Because I wanted to be made fun
of, to be ridiculed by the little girl l
love, replied Vane Winton, smiling
sadly at the pert young lady perchod
on the back of rustic garden seat,
her brown frizzes falling roguishly in.
to her dancing brown eyes.
'Now, chat doesn't sound bit like
our own grave Vane, who studies med
icine and cultivates an ice cream COM
plexion."
Gan ice cream complexlon9" asked
Vane Winton, little mystiied.
eyes, that's Lottie RexdaPs term
for students compilations. You nook
worms study away until your faces
take on the hue of that sweet COM
pound. answered the roguish girl.
"If you would only be grave for
while 1 might talk to you," said
Vane.
eyes; you know pm such O rogue
that I should put yoa to the blush a
thousand times O. day." chimed in
Lottie.
81 am willing to run the risk. %
'tAh! but 1 shall not agree to any
such sacrifice. Marry some steady,
sensible girl. Alice May will be here
in one hour. Be polite, and captivate
her. Miss May is SO highly cultured
and grave that she will surely not be
less than sublime in your eyes. I'll
tell you"
But vane did not stay to hear more.
He walked of, leaving gay Lottie Rex
dal laughing merrily.
Lottie was the ward OF Vane Win
toms kind father. She had been or
phaned at g very early age. A maiden
aunt had then adopted her. When
Lottie was but ten, and her education
not half completed, her kind relative
died. But before that she had sent
for Mr.. Winton, her girlhood's lover.
and made him promise to receive the
little orphan girl. The kind man con-
sented; and so Lottie became an in
mate OF Vane Winton's home.
Vane was the only child of wealthy
parents, and at the time when Lottie
came to his fathers house he was away
on the Continent.
When he returned three years after
words he found his "ward sister," as
he had called her in his letters, away
at some school for girls. So it hap
pened that Vane and Lottle had never
met until six months before. Tane
was fine scholar, but he had never
studied any profession. Now. OF the
age Of twenty-sevep, realizing perhaps
that ''it is never TOO late to mend" he
was fitting himself for the medical fro
fesSion.
vane was trying to study at his
homo that summer. sometimes he
found it impossible to do so amid the
tempest aroused by mischieyous Lot
tie Rexdal. She threw open the un-
used piano, and made the house ring
| with her clear. bell-like notes. She
filed the library with flowers, tossed
up Vane's books, and even scribbled
on them. She rode every horse on the
place, romped with Prince, the great
shaggy dog, tore her dresses, went
bare headed, and turned the wide hall
into skating rink.
She was utterly spoiled by both Mr.
and Mrs. Winton. At first Vane had
been shocked, But the more he
studied her original character, the
moro he become reconciled to it. Tol.
erance gave place to admiration, and
that, in duo time, to love. He had
always felt vague longing to discover
o woman in whose character he hoped
to find originality and freedom t1cm
affectation. If he could only teach
Lottie to love him, what splendid
woman she might become!
he would wait patiently and hope.
iully, he reasoned, as he walked
away. Taking o volume from his
pocket, he sat down on bench under
an elm, and began to peruse it. Soon
o merry laugh caused him to look up,
and he sow Lottle riding down the
lane on her milk.white Floss. Very
bright and piquant she looked in her
riding habit rs she drew rein beside
him.
s'Sir Owl, I'm on my way to meet
Miss Alice now; and while I'm gone /
shall expect you to comb your bair,
port it in the middle, put on q clean
collar, pin flower in your buttonhole,.
and act very aesthetic and duke-like."
And with merry laugh size rode
away.
For weeks after Alice Mays arrival
the house was filled with company.
Vane devoted himself almost entirely
to her, leaving Lottie TO amuse herself.
Atthe frequent picuics Alice shone rs
the chief star OF the occasion. She
might be gone all day, but returned
with her elegant costumes as perfect
as when she started, while Lottie would
lose her parasol and fan, and tear
great holes in her dresses, and came
home with her face and-hands as black
as gypsy's.
When Vane and Alice went riding,
Toftia would ahory off Flocc ond hmm