St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-08-02

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7 seen that in far-away corner Reat
ing Payne and his wife formed par
OF a group whose most conspicuou
figure, stout man of about 90, ha
put on his glasses to look at her.
And she read in the professor
small, gray eyes the proposal tina
she had vague desire to postpone
for she felt that he would not b
satisfied with less than q categorical
yes or no, and she was not prepare,
to give either. When he asked her t,
sit out dance with him and she de
clined he was not discouraged, fol
he knew her well enough to realiz,
that. even to accept an offer, sh,
would not consent to leave the lin,
light for so long.
From time to time as she danced
she cast furtive glances at the Payne
party, and saw that the stout, gray
haired man was still looking at her
And she wondered who he could be
The other members Of the group had
gradually drifted away, and he stood
in apparent earnest conversation
with Mr.. and Mrs. Payne. Suddenly
came swift impression that they
spoke of her. She saw Payne glance
furtively in her direction, and move
his head in a scarcely perceptible
negation.
Then the waltz absorbed her, and
when she looked again in their di-
rection the politician and his wife
had disappeared. But their friend
was talking with an old gentleman
she knew, and she was not at all sur
prised, when. after a few moments,
the couple moved toward her. AS
they approached her slim figure
stiffened with hostility, she was not
disposed to be overcivil to any friend
of the Reading Paynes. Her mouth
hardened into an expression of al
most insolent Indifference.
Miss Coles" said her friend, with
smiling benevolence, may intro
duee Mr.. Longstreth?'
She quivered, breathless with
establishment at the name; then
suddenly an idea smote her with in
slant, overwhelming force, for she
had never handled an idea before and
was quite unprepared for the re-
coil. But the next moment she broke
into a smile, so lovely that the pro-
lessor, staring at her over his part
ner's shoulders, wondered why he
had never noticed her dimples be-
fore, while the old millionaire, who
had braved a family difference to
make her acquaintance, felt in its
sudden radiance the renewal of his
youth.
For the rest Of the evening Miss
Coles had but a vague idea of her sur
She talked she hardly |
knew what, but she felt that her re-
marks, however childish, were re-
ceived with an appreciative Difference
no other man had ever given them.
Within week she had received her
first call from Mr.. Longstreth, and
so much had her wits been sharpened
by the subtle instinct for revenge
that she, who had received score
Of younger men alone, never saw him
except in her mothers presence.
Indeed, Mrs. Coles, with more or less
excusable vanity, soon began to won
Ter if she, instead of her immature
were not the object of his
lists.
In month Reading Payne, trem-
'ling]y alive to the situation, gave his
ather-fn-law pressing invitation
@ accompany him on long catching
'ruise, and when, somewhat to his
urprise, the invitation was accepted,
lis relief was fortunately unmodi-
led by the knowledge that Miss
,o]es wore the millionaire's flowers
ai]y during his absence. But the :
eparation served to crystaize an .
dea that had long been forming in
lr. Longstreth's mind. His youth /;
nd extreme poverty, concluding .
nth = marriage to a bloodless wo- :,
IAN, whose $4,000 had launched the
atent medicine into fame, had not :
,itiated him into those keener pleas =
res of life which, in his practically r
judgment, union with +
[iss Coles seemed to promise.
And he did not consider that any S
Jury to Reading Payne's prospects n
,ould weigh with him for moment. n
e knew, of course, that the politi- o
an confidently expected to become, c.
directly, his heir, and when he had p
roposed to and been accepted by
ISIS Coles, in the midst of his pleas h
IT'S as fance of a young and beauti- y
il girl was lurking sense of hav- Il
G gotten the better of his son-in- "
W that only served to complete his o.
licity. tt
Yet he was not more radiantly tt
eased than Elizabeth, who felt for Il
e man who had thus enabled her II
crafty her supremest passion, an o.
tensity of gratitude that was per- So
ps as much like love as she could e
We been made to feel. u
The happiest moment of her life was g.
t that which brought her to the "a 80
Tar a self-possessed and singularly ~
ndsome bride, but that which came
year later, when, profiting by the .,
rface friendliness her defeated
envy professed, she held up for Mr.. -
yne's inspection her frst-born,
1t bore her fathers name.
Mr.. Longstreth has never regretted "e
second marriage. Elizabeth salts q
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