The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-04-19
A YOUNG MANS FANCY.

"You don't know how horribly
wretched 1 feel at the thought of leav-
ing here and you. 1t seems like death,
and you don't care enough to even
feign SORROW.
The speakers gray eyes are remark
ably effective and they are pleading
just now very eloquently for their own
err, but the young woman on whom
| they are fixed smiles carelessly, opens
her fan and contemplates the courtly
group of knights and ladies painted
thereon as If the gray eyes were not
pleading or sad OF reproachful at all,
but, like her own, calmly smiling
DO you know / go the day after to-
morrow" he continues, desperately.
so soon?" she asks, raising her fan,
so that her face is hidden from him.
Well I hope you will have a pleas
ant journey and meet unlimited sue
cess"
How cold you are, Marcella! You
scarcely seem to care. AS for pleas
ure you might as we'll expect the earth
| to stand still"
| Captain Talbot does not intend me
to stand still, at any rate" returns the
girl, laughing. Have you no part
ner for this waltz"
And then she glides away, with her
partners arm around her thin waist,
and the gray eyes look gloomily,
wretchedly, after her
The clock in the wide old hall strikes
| u, and still the tireless feet Of the
merry dancers trip lightly still the
pretty nOthings, the evergreen comp1-
ments, the time-worn ballroom utter
ances flow increasingly, and Clark Lor-
| rimer, standing modify against the
doors watching Marcella Durant, over
hears scraps of conversation jumbled
| confusedly. What can you expect
with the present prices?" Seven hun
dred and sixty bales, sir, all long sta
pie" Come and have some terrapin
and a glass of cham"
The music ceases abruptly, the
waltz comes to an end and Clark Lor-
rimers eyes follow reproachfully the
girl in the canary colored gauze float
ing by on the arm of Captain Talbot.
"Our dance at last
Miss Marcella looks up.
| "Ah, so it is" she says lightly.
And as it is probably the last dance
we shall have together let us make
the most of it," says Clark Lorrimer.
You will have plenty of dancing IN
New York" observes Miss Marcella In
a low voice. Il have seen such charm
ing girls from that city"
DO you suppose 1 shall SO much as
look at a girl? 1 shall hate them al
because they are not you"
Miss Marcella laughs. DO you think
you shall?"
You would not laugh if you knew
how wretched l am, cried the young
man.
Miss Marcella raises her tell-tale eyes
to his. DO you think you monopollze
the entire wretchedness of the entire
country? Do you think you are the only
person who"
"Marcella what do you mean?"
You are dancing so badly"
Come out on the gallery. l must
have a few moments talk with you al
by ourselves. Come"
1T would be much wiser to stay
where we are
Wiser Remember, this is my last
chance"
Miss Marcella resists no longer, and
so they go out upon the balcony, amid
the creeping vines, the softly shaded
lights, where the strains of the stringed
instruments come to them, softened by
distance, and gusts of warm, scented
wind rush about them, rumpling Miss
Marcela's brown locks and making
the frills of her gauze dancing gown
disgracefully fiabby.
40 re "a
or straying tresses. She is listening with
a wildly, wretchedly loving heart to the
''no-'count," handsome spendthrift by
her side-the man who has sold his last
possession. parted with his ancestral
home at the gambling table and sold
his last foot of land OF a once
goodly heritage. He was saying: u
have been watching you all the even
ing and your very beauty has made
me more wretched. 1 am selfish
enough to wish that you We're not SC
fair, so sought after, for then there
might be little more hope for me-"
Beauty and admiration come to an
end more quickly than anything ex-
cept happiness" observes Miss Marcella
tritely.
Il shall hear, no doubt, some fine day
that you are married; / shall be always
dreading it,
You need not dread it,, she said
impulsively; you shall never hear It, -
My darling! I must not ask you to
wait for me, but if 1 thought that Mar
celia Durant would be waiting for me
when l returned, l would work night
and day and lay a true faithful heart
at her feet"
Marcella Durant will be waiting fol
you" she said, unsteadily.'
DO you mean ii, Marcella?"
The gray eyes meet the brown ones
in a steadfast look. You know ]
mean it,"
But Colonel Durant took quite a diff
ferent view of the case when Clark ap-
peared at the Terraces next morning
asking for the honor of Miss Marcella' s
hand at some future time
Where would be the sense of fet-
tering yourself with an indefinite en-
gagement?" he asked. BE sensible
and give up the idea, for depend upon
it. you will find your wife in some other
State. while Marcella is sure 20 find hel
husband in this
But Clark protested Nothing will
change me-" he asserted, doggedly. I'll
| don't see her for twenty years | shall
never look at another woman.'
Durant Dere chuckIed: well, you
can be true and come back to he,
without an engagement, don't you see?'
Il am sure of myself" Clark asserts
positively, but how can I be sure OF
herr"
Why you can't, you know. That is