St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-06-21
eyes. He had kissed her. then a

eyes. He had kissed her, then
| white-frocked little maid Of ten, a.
he went off to don his first gray Goa
at West Point. Some way the tiny
wide-eyed girl never quite forgot tn,
beautiful, manly boy, although sh,
had never seen him since, as thei,
schools and travels had contrived tt
keep them apart. But she remem
bered very well that when sEe wa.
!! sweet girl graduate she was con
fiding in maiden shyness to her dear
est friend her ideal husband, whe1
that friend laughed gayly and cried:
"Why, how funny! You've beer
describing young Capt. Doane, wh<
was here visiting his sister, Mrs. Will
marth, only last week.
Poor Hetty blushed as red a.
though she had been really guilty
and now that the famous, dignifiet
Maj. Doane had actually come to see
her, tiny Miss Hetty grew pink to the
tips of her little ears, until Mrs. Will
marth found herself wondering if il
could be possible that Miss Hopkins
were really pretty after all. While
the clear-eyed matron watched the
delighted hostess and her big, hand.
some brother, and they quite forgot
her over their tea cups and the ia.
nous pictures, sudden new light
came into her eyes, and the match
making spirit inherent in every hap
PLY married woman quietly began its
dexterous work.
Things went on famously. It was
the major who advised that the col
lection of paintings be kept for a
time and exhibited one day in the
week for the benefit of the orphans.
When Miss Hetty shrinkingly de-
INJURED he pointed out that the chill
dren would be the gamers in the end,
so she relented. That winter found
the whole neighborhood in the throes
of an extravagant social whirl, for
there was an unusual number of pink
andwhite debutantes, with the still
more unusual accompaniment Of
handsome, eligible men. Before she
knew it Miss Hopkins found herself
in the very midst of the mad jollity,
even laying aside all-black gowns for
those with hints Of violet about the
throat and wrists. No tea was quite
perfect without the dear little
artists presence; no girl felt quite
satisfied if she had not had chat
with Miss Hopkins between the
dances, and even the broad-shoul-
dered, fresh-voiced boys like to
creep into the softly-shaded little
studio to accompany its owner home
at dusk. Her Monday afternoons grew
famous, and the orphans on the cor
ner had enough new shoes and quilts
and real buildings for Sunday to
make them everlastingly grateful to
the happy hearts in the tiny brown
house on the next street.
Miss Hopkins always had the pref
test girls in town to pour in on these
occasions, and generally some one
with a really good voice or an I'M
usually skillful touch on the violin
could be found to make music. Then,
too, the pictures themselves could
bear repeated visits, for the poor,
sweet old man grew very dear to
them all now that he was not there
in flesh to trouble them. Further
more, it was almost as good as 60
ing to confession to creep up Silly
and gently before the last of them
all, where Miss Hopkins always kept
? bunch of fresh violets standing
beneath the sweet little canvas with
it's live morning glories and its sleep
ing man. .*... -se
And the best thing of it all to little
Miss Hetty was the Major, a tall,
,ourtly ma jor, who was so attentive
to her and seemed to enjoy being
With her more than any man in all
Ter life had done. When a woman
waits until she is thitry-six before
she loves, the result is going to be
terrible in its intensity. Mrs. Will
narth saw it and trembled, except
ng for the fact that her brother |
seemed to see no one else but Miss |
Ietty, except, of course, the girls
Ill that seasons buds, who fiocked |
bout the Major because he was SO
lifferent from ordinary men. Miss
lefty knew it and held her breath.
The boys and girls saw it and smiled
,leefully. In fact, everybody seemed
o recognize it except the man him
elf, who went blindly on, heaping
'oor, futtering Miss Hetty with COM
'liments, and making open love to
IL the young girls who gave him
ca and sat in open-eyed admira ton
S he related his thrilling stories of
rmy life on the western plains.
But at last even the Major knew
/, and his great, manly heart fell like
cad. 1t was one clustering evening
ate in the winter, and that mighty
1ilitary man was tramping valiantly
long the street on his way to Mrs.
But as he passed the
title brown cottage he noticed the
ght within, and turning up the I'M
ven board walk, he rang the old
ashioned bell bravely, for the puz-
led Major had all at once made a
lightly resolve, and when he once
ecided to do a thing he never re-
reated, whether it was to take an
camp or to brave woman.
Strange to say, he found Miss Het-
Y alone there in the warm, rosy
tile room, with its queer old china,
listening silver, odd pictures and rich
books. The tiny little :
ostess saw the determination in her
alters face, and sank into her deep I
lair, knitting her thin, beautifully
ept fingers together in desperate
ope and fear.