The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-01-09

Martha, telling her 70 expect US By the
afternoon train.
'sThe old lady hiss her cranks and.
cpotchets, II explained.as we opened the
gate ana walked up a garden path be-
tween trim box borders and flower beds
and skisted a weIl-kept lawn, .but she Is
true blue all through"
Aunt Martha CRESTED US with less
frigidity than ] had anticipated, and.
the fros*u Of years, iii silvering her hair,
had obviously mellowed some Of her
asperities of temper.
We had q dainty, well-seryed supper,
and IL was only when Fred and sat out
on the pier-head enjoying our cigars
over the tapping water of the bay that
4 remembered the, existence Of my poor,
fragile little cousin Adele.
Great Scott" / said, jumping up;
Aunt Martha will never forgive mei'
I hurried back to make inquiries and
apologies. and as / was leaving the
wharf which runs out over 100 feet in
the shallow water Of the bay, reaching
nearly to the channel, I saw a fairy
vision approaching.
A young woman came toward me,
walking with slow, tranquil grace,
while holding her soft, pale blue gown
aloof from the dust Of the shell road.
She was b~areheaded, and the waning
afternoon light seemed to pause, all
entangled in the ripples of her golden
brown hair. Never had I seen anything
quite so lovely as this maiden, whose
brown eyes shone with a subdued
mirth, while her smile of recognition
and welcome was beyond all descrip-
ton.
"Why, Cousin Allen, you don't seem
to recognize your poor little playmate
of years ago. Del is very glad to see
you again, nevertheless"
I'm common parlance, you could have
knocked me down with a feather, as /
instantly told Del, while insisting that a
long lost cousin was entitled to some
thing more demonstrative than a hand
shake.
But Del laughingly objected until a
renewed acquaintance, she said, would
verify the existence of the rough,
good~natured fellow she liked so
much.''
We strolIed out on the narrow plank
ing Of the wharf, side by side, to where
Fred still sat, enjoying the cool breezes
Of the gulf, his cigar, the broad view Of
paling waters and sky tints, and tie
faint song of some fisher folks waited
to us by the light evening winds IS a
coasting lugger beat her way slowly
down the channel.
Fred's back was toward us, and he
only turned, aware of II presence,
when I called to him to present him to
my rebound cousin, Miss Del.
That was my great mistake.
No one knew better than I did that
Dalton is a particularly pleasing fellow,
Everybody likes him.
He is clearly one Of natures favor
ties, for besides an uncommonly bright.
mind, much practical sense, as evil
denced by his success in life, Fred has
. gracious and a bright, unaffected wit
which makes him a much sought after
man by all, and everywhere, at all times
and all places.
So it was to be expected that a child
like Del, brought up austerely, aloof
from the world, mostly in the grand
solitudes Of Aunt Martha's seashore re-
treat, would he quickly charmed by so
pleasant a fellow.
june merged into July, which in turn
slipped by with swift, unconscious
fight, the pleasant days following each
other all too quickly, as we would run
into town each morning, look at our
mail, step in at the club, then catch
the nine o'clock train and speed back
to Seayiew to lounge through the cool,
sweet evenings and nights.
August came and went all to swiftly,
each day adding to the long account Of
hopes, fears, desires, anticipations, de-
termincd resolves and possible bitter
arEagonisms which we would hourly
balance, Fred and I, when the fall
would come and the summer cease.
From a close friendship and in
timacy, built on long years of liking,
es&eem and daily intercourse, Fred
and I fell into a polite frigidity and an
aloofness from each other, which was
! calling to each of us, but which neither
could break through or overcome.
Between us stood Del's sweet witch
cries, ripping laughter, bright words
and wondrous graces, piled noun
tain high in an impenetrable bar
rier, which cut in two the ties
of boyisn years and the friend
ships of manhood, leaving us a stern
antagonism and an ~implacable deter
mination to each seek without stay or
stinct what the other most coveted on
this green, smiling earth.
Aunt Martha led her busy life with
calm regularity, and Del each day gave
us a joyous greeting from her pony
carriage when we alighted from the
train; chatted with Fred and coaxed
me to a better humor, or sat with me
on the moonlit porch and sang some
sweet dirty, then chatted in French
with Fred, adding each day to the list
of our long reckoning, which in the
after years would make or mar two
lives.
ssYou both leave tomorrow for good