The Opelousas courier., 1897-05-22
q smile Of frank pleasure. "1s Cousin
Clara lere2"

l nave my carriage here to drive you
ont OF town. Shall I take the check
for your laggage?'
VI am desperately hungry" she an
swered, "coull we get something tt
eat while the trunks are being carried
out?"
"Here? I could drive yoa to
quieter restaurant"
"No, no; here! I could eat friet
whale, l am so starved. I have hal
nothing but gingerbread and apples
since yesterday noon"
There was no resisting such an np
peal, and Clarence led the way to the
depot restaurant and offered his cousin
the bill of fare. 1t being one of hi
great points in feminine perfection
that the appetite should be delicate
and needing ~coaxfpg, he was abso
lutely shocked to see Myra Deiane
est. Such an indiscr;minate tumble
OF provisions woull have made hi:
mother i'll for q month; but Myra
heartily enjoyed steak, eggs, coffee,
pie, rolls, cakes, oysters, anything and
everything, as the waiter put it before
her.
She was not rude, did not eat with
her knife or her fingers but she had
not one of the little dainty tricks of
manner that made Mrs. Parker's table
etiquette 80 charming; and Clarence,
trifing with his own luncheon, won.
dered if in six meais he could eat as
much as this ''sluaw" eat IN one. In
his own mind he christened her
"squaw," though he Was far too
courteous ever to speak SO Of her, even
to his mother.
All through the long drive home,
she chatted, frankly as a child, OF her
journey, her home, her a~nticipations
OF pleasure in her visit, and, while her
voice was clear, ringing and musical,
her language was we'll chosen, giving
no jar to Clarence's iastidious taste,
though he wished her tone more sub
dued. But her doHdy hat, her cotton
gloves, her stout leather boots, her
untidy hair were all an ofense.
In his first hour alone with his
mother. he imp.o-el her to buy some
dresses for their guest that vera not
two sizes to big and seven sizes too
short.
And Mrs. Parker, utterly over
whelmed by the tall, handsome girl
thrown upon her care, found her life
suddenly burdoned with unwonted re-
sponsibility. First, there was a daily |
light to settle between Lucille, her
own French maid, and Myra.
"But, madame, the dresses nevare
will tit, nevare, ii man'selle will not
wear re corset, or let me make re fl, -
the maid would protest.
II cannot breathe, all pressed up so,
Cousin Clara" Myra would reuon-
strate, II should slide in an hour"
1t was difficult to. compromise, but
Mrs. Parker, by exercising the
patience and gentleness natural to
her, finally presented Myra in q we'll.
chosen wardrobe that gave her the
freedom of lungs and movement che
craved, and yet set off the magnificent
I
The girls own utter ignorance OF
dress amazed the little lady of fashion,.
She fonndthata half-yearly visit to the
nearest town, an order to the dress
maker to make warm dresses for win.
ter and cool ones for u,nmer com.
prised Myra's idea Of dress. Sorup-
clearly, she WIS absolutely
without vanity, and as pleased as e
child to note the improvement in her {
'ooss produced by a becoming ar
%rangenent OF her abundant raven hair, =,
and the tasteful breach of bright color I
n her carefully appointed dress.
The first time Clarence saw her in a I
lress of black silk tissue with a dash {
IT vivid crimson here and there, at the
hroat, in the glossy braids of hair, G
he sash and sleeve knots, be was alb. 3
olutely amazed at her beauty.
"If only she was rot such o savage"
!e thought, regretfully.
But there was not one hour of the u
az that she did not jar upon his fas. t
ideas. He rode with her at /
'er request, and told his mother,
onfdentially, that he never imagined |.
nything but an Indian or q circus \
Ider could SO manage a horse. d
lie sang with her, and found that he n
lust actually exert himself to prevent [
is deep baritone notes being over b
owered by her ringing, powerful n
DICE, full of sweetness and music, but
tterly uncultivated.
He found her in the garden, dry.
'g the gardener distracted by her
upon his plants, and prov +,
e oil her theories by transferring q,
OTIS with her own hands to spots of II
u " selection, where they inyari-
improved. IT,
He caught her in the woods, prac. q =
cling with a revolver, shooting at a - L,
ark; and she pathetically tod him u
% Yves all out of practice, and only
t her mark six times in nine. e7
Il suppose there is no shooting to th
had here?" she said, do'efu1ly, and Gu
described hunts she had taken
tn her father, in the far Western pr
pods and plains, as if shooting deer pa
d squirrels were every day affairs in in
young lady's life. su
Kfry day Clarence found some
elu. ,ce rudely shocked and every an
y heiE1SSund new fascination in Myra's de-
cletr There WAS an irresistible M
IN the very ~franiness of her g.,
INNER, the daring of her movements, :.
1T were free as a child's but never
kward Or abrupt. She was absolute. an
Ignorant OF all feminine pursuits, oe
ew nothing OF sewing, housekeeping IL
the numberless accomplishments III
made Mrs. Parker SO fascinating. w
d yet she had an instructive avoid gu