The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1907-11-02

were made for each other.
And | tell you. Aunt Hildred.
would sooner die than marry him.
"NoI are fool Fanny You are as
heaGstrong and selfwilled as your Ia
Their y>s before YOU.
Please leave my relations entire
~ cut Of the discussion. | am my own
mistress, u years old last June. ana
free to refuse the emperor OF Russia, II
cheese 10. And tell you. Aunt Hi
bred, once more, that l will not stay
here to meet Earle RochefOrt, to be
inspected like q COW or horse just
up for sale. So there.'
And Fanny Shawmut left the room,
ard shut the door behind her in way
which showed that she had a temper
as it was right and proper she should
have. For a woman without tenn
per would be as insipid as broth with
out salt or pepper.
Aunt Hildred Ames put her smelling
salts to her nose and took long
sniff Such contumacy in Niece Fanny
was exasperating If she had dreamed
that the girl would ever have devei-
oped so much obstinacy, she would
have declined to become her guardian,
even to please her dying brother.
A very few words will explain how
matters stood.
Earle ROchefOrt was young man
CT % or 80, native of Mrs. Ames'
own town, ard prime favoritc with
the sCod LADY. According to her IDEA,
there was not another man in all the
world worth naming beside him. His
father had been Aunt Hldreds first
love, Lut treachery on the part OF
somebody or other it does not matter
whom, had separated them; and he
had found another woman, and Aunt
Hildred had found another man. But
when Earle's father died, an explara-
ton had taken place, and Aunt Hill
dred had promised to love the son for
the sake of the father. And indeed,
she found it not very difficult to love
Earle for his own sake, for he was
gentle and affectionate, and won the
regard of all with whom he came in
contact.
But he did not marry, though q
great many beautiful young girls
would gladly have accepted him, and
so it happened that at eight-and-
twenty he was still a bachelor; and
about that time Aunt Hildred's broth
er John died in Madeira. and left his
daughter Fanny to her aunts care.
Fanny. pretty, spoiled, an heiress in
her own right, and accustomed always
to troops Of servants to order about,
did not fall readily into the groove her
aunt had prepared for her. She made
up her mind that she would not love
and marry this Earle Rochefort, Of
whom she had heard SO much.
; AS yet, she had not met Mr. Roche
fort He was absent in California,
where he owned some mines, and had
been there nearly a year, perfecting
some arrangements for their improved
working. But he was expected home
daily, and Aunt Hildred was contin-
ually agitating the subject nearest her
heart. She had likewise written to
Earle. over and over again, glowing
descriptions Of Fanny, and had dwelt
largely upon her favorite plan OF
union between her two children, as
she called Earle and Fanny Young
Rochefort, with all a mans aversion
to having wife picked o1t for him,
began also to fairly hate the name of
Fanny, and to feel very much averse
IN vnoatiOp tho naropOD
In fact so strong did this feeling
become that he decided not to 20 to
Elmwood, Aunt Hildred's town, but to
spend the winter at Derby, a place
some hundred and forty miles distant.
He could make business" an ex-
cuse; for, in addition to his other ad-
vantages. Rochefort was wealthy, and
> man Of property is always sup
posed to have plenty of business on
hand. So he wrote to Mrs Ames to
that effect, promising to run down and
see her some Saturday night at the
very first opportunity.
Fanny, meanwhile, had packed
few dresses, and as little finery as it is
possible for a young lady to exist
with, into a couple Of trunks, and, in
spite Of Aunt Hildred's circumstances.
had departed to make long visit to
her Cousin Bentley's folks in Derby.