The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1898-09-24
HIS SECOND CHOICE.

Mr.. Richard CarlSfOrde looked calm
ly at his wrathful little cousin.
II don't exactly phrase it in those
terms, Hetty," said he, quietly. "If
you mean to question whether 1 am
intending to offer myself to Miss
Deerhayen, l can only answer you
yes"
cts trap, and I insist upon it,
that it is" said Hetty, vehemently.
ooh, dear, why will men be so wise
on all other subjects, and so idiotically
blind when women are concerned?
Julia Deerhayen is an ill-tempered,
scheming
"Hetty!"
"She is not your wife yet; no, nor
even your fancee, thank goodness"
persisted Hetty; "and something may
happen to open your eyes before you
have hopelessly committed yourself. !"
"Hetty," said Mr.. Carisforde, rest
lessly turning lead pencil round and
round his fingers, "what has occurred
to give you such q prejudice-an I'M
founded one, as I sincerely hope
against Miss Deerhaven? She is GER
tainly pretty, and"
"Pretty? Yes" said Hetty with a
shrug of her shoulders, $50 is spot.
ted tiger pretty after its fashion, and
black and yellow leopard"
"And amiable?"
"No," interrupted Hetty, empha-
tically. "Her temper is anything but
the temper to make a mans life
happy"
"What makes you think so?"
II don't think so" said Hetty, with
an air of calm assertion. 81 know it;
she is ill-natured, shrewish to her
poor old father and mother, unamiable
in every relation of life."
'You misjudge her, Hetty, I am
sure" pleaded Mr.. Carisforde, with q
troubled look.
ooh, Of course" answered Hetty,
satirically, chats always a mans
argument. I only hope you won't find
my judgment correct when it is too
late to mend matters"
cat all events she is industrious, or
she would never have undertaken to
lead the district school,"
eyes; because she wants more
money than she can screw out of her
father for dress, ornaments and map
propriate iewelry."
"Now,y you are unoharitable Hetty."
"Oh, am I, retorted Hetty, with
toss of her pretty little head. Just
you wait and see for yourself, that's
all; only don't say that 1 haven't
warned you"
And she fitted out of the room like
o butterfly in high dudgeon.
Richard Carisforde sat with con-
tracted brows and grave, thoughtful
eyes, as he still turned and twisted
the cedar pencil between his fingers.
Could it be possible that there was
any shadow Of truth in what Hetty
Morgan had been saying to him. No:
surely not-and yet-the reflection
would keep recurring to him that if it
was so, what very disagreeable dis
coVery it would be to make too late.
He thought of Julia Deerhaven, fair,
serene and dew-eyed as an angel
surely she could be naught but what
she seemed. Hetty must be mistaken;
and yet Hetty was pretty shrewd in
her conclusions, quick to understand,
and an adept in reading all the signs
of character.
SIS there no way of deciphering
this riddle?" sighed the would-be
lover. ooh, for a wise woman to I'M
fold the mysteries OF futurity-for
clue to the hidden meaning of sweet
voice or gentle glance! I remember
how, as a boy, used to write in my
copybook, over apd over again: All
is not gold that glitters.' Can it be
possible that am destined to live
over the significance of the words? If
Julia Deerhaven is not perfect, then
women are more of dissimulators than
I have any idea."
And Mr.. Dick Carisforde, too un-
quiet to sit still, went for long walk,
whose winding took him past the one
story schoolhouse swhere Miss Deer
haven taught youngid ideas how to shoot,
at the rate of twenty-four dollars
month, and in sight of the lower
farmhouse, under the hill, where Far
mer Deerhaven himself dwelt, trying
to force a precarious living out of the
sterile and rocky soil. For the fair
Julia was the eldest of seven young
Deerhavens, and money didn't grow
on every blackberry bush in the pas
ture meadows, by any means, as the
poor tiIler of the soil found to his cost.
1t was no very tempting casket to
enshrine the jewel of Julia Deer
Ravens rich blonde beauty yet
Carisforde stood looking at it
rs lovers will gaze upon the homes of
those they have learned to worship,
until the purple clash came down, like
royal curtain sall glittering with
stars, and light flashed out of the
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