The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-10-25
A Matter Of Expression.
A SHORT STORY.
BY J. M. b.

q - u - a - - - - .
Nobody ever believed young Hayes
was in earnest or angry CT troubled
for any cause whatever. He had q
pair of laughing blue eyes whose
only other expression was one of ton
| dorlcss; he would approach you with
q business proposition or sc re serious
| statement, ard while he was g1;"5
over the ground his eyes would twin
klc and dance till serious attention
was impossible, and the conference
end in 4 laugh.
OF course he was engaged, and to
the dearest girl in The world; he had
| looked nC1 heart away IN acr first sea
son, and equally, Of course. there was
no prospect of their being married
| because even the most uneXacting
| mamma in town, as the dearest girls
mother GER ainly was. stood out fer
q definite something be IL ever SO
| small, in the way of income before
letting the young people fix date.
1t hal be n very rice to have Meta
to such a winscmc fellow as young
Hayes, who had nice caressing, re-
spectful ways with the dowagers, paid
them the little a,tcn. lens the other
men bestowed On tle young married
| women, ana was a sea fellow gener-
ally. But TOW the enga cement was
an old story, and half a dozen girls
who had not become engaged till the
season after Meta were calling them
selves "Cld married women" already.
Now. Me,a was the most sensible.
as well as the. dearest girl in the
world. and she knew tlat to love and
be loved by Charley Hayes. VIII. had
neither money nor vices, was ever 50
much better than to marry some fell
low with plenty OF both. Still. she
Was soft-hearted little soul, and
dropped. small ear now AMI then af
ter an expedition in search Of wei
ding present fo- some more fortunate
couple.
The spring and fall weddings went
as far as anything else to keep young
Hayes poor, for no one gives silver
any more. and those old things that
clerks bring Cut and show you conf
dentially are dea:er than diamonds.
She would have made. she was sure. a
very crcditabie nousekeeper, and. to
quote one of her aunts, who always
brushed her hair smoothly back and
turned ner gowns, kept strictly
within her income" There wasn't
any income to keep within.
Of course: young Hayes lad enough
to buy coats that were cut right. and
never wore ready-made shoes, and Of
course. the dearest girls mother
would have tlc third sorry done over
and give it to thcm if it came TO that,
but Charley Hayes didn't think it
would be the thing for q fellow WHO
had wife to Let Ter so to- her moth
or every time she wanted gown.
So, even though lis eyes twinklcl
and laughed, his hear was heavy.
He knew a fellow at New Rochelle
who had been engaged to a girl
seven years. He had seen them spend
q whole afternoon On yacht onre
and never say a word to each other,
and he didn'. want things to get like
that between MIN. and Meta. He was
thinking of this in a sunny wir.inw
at the Athletic club and turning over
in his mird two or three ideas nc had
which struck him as rather coed. when
he heard man he knew telling ahort
little box he had taken "a Mamaro-
neck and what good times he and hi;
new wife were going to have.
Hayes determined to do something
then and there, and made his way as
fast as possible down 10 a numbcc on
man had an office. He put the two
propositions before him ccEcisely, and
iot,ed down the figures with a pen
Gil on a MANILA pad that lay on the
desk. The business man followed the
argument with attention, till locking
up. in interest. at a clever point, he
saw Hayes blue eyes twinkling AMI
laughing as if it was the best joke in
me world.
well" he said before locked at
you, thought you meant it.
They started for Maiden Lane 10
see man who had some lovely uncut
diamonds. TIE ceiling of the mans
place was being repaired, anil DIS they
passed through to the back Office
where the safe was some OF tire EMey
stuff the men were using splasheh,
somehow, iD.o Hayes right eye AM
burnt like fire.
They get him into a hanson AMI
round 10 The hospital as fast as posi-
bic, and Of course everything was,
done, but the lime worked quicker
than the doctors. and when the dear
csr girls mother let him see Ger there
was a dolcful black silk patch lined
with green fastened round his head
with a thin black elastic.
Her mother was yc;y kind. and
"would always be friend to him. but
GA there was row even less prospect
than ever Of marriage she was sure
Mr.. Hayes would see~~s~~" Bat here
Meta managed to Sc; between thera.