Bridgeton pioneer., 1907-02-21
WHAT A BIT OF
COQUETRY COST

IOriginall

he met and wooed Rosalind st. Leger.
a resident of that old southern city.
Miss st. Leger was a belle and had no
end of suitors, among them Julius
Warheld. born and bred in Louisiana
and heir TO a large sugar plantation.
Ashley was an ardent wooer, while the
southerner appeared to be rather In
different.
Mardi Gras was coming on and With
it preparations for unusual festivities
Ashley, whose engagements at home re
quired him TO leave New Orleans with
the advent of Lent, begged hard of the
lady TO give him an affirmative answer
to a proposition of marriage he had
made her, but she would not.
Meanwhile the Mardi Gras opened.
On the last evening of the festivities
Ashley put on a domino and mingled
with the masQueraders. Among the
throng he noticed a feminine figure in
4 green domino ON the arm of man
dressed in a red one In the former
was something familiar to the young
northerner. AS he passed them the
woman fiirted her handkerchief at him.
He followed the couple and at last
made up his mind that she was Miss
st. Leger. Then he purchased a bou-
quet from a street vender and, ap-
preaching her, offered it. She accepted
it and slipped her hand within his arm
Her attendant fell back. Convinced Of
her identity, Ashley took fancy TO
press his suit without revealing the
fact that she was known to him.
But supposing," she said in a voice
thinIy disguised, that 1 am not OF
Sour class
That cannot be-" he said. Zone to
the manner born cannot conceal it even
in disguise"
Il may be homely.'
THAT / will risk"
you haven't seen my face"
Il have seen your figure. I have
heard your voice. Neither could be-
long to any but a beautiful girl. But
were your face pockmarked, were your
eyes green, your nose beet, still would
1 love YOU"
She was silent. He felt her hand
tremble on his arm.
"Oh. to have lover like that" she
responded presently-''to be loved for
oneself by one who loves so we'll that
d lack of beauty, a blemish, has no
weight to turn his lover
"You will find me such. You are
beautiful. l know it. But supposing
some accident, some illness, should
convert that beauty into ugliness, still
would love you"
IF you only wouldr'
81 know I would
But suppose you should find my
face, which you insist on believing
beautiful, to be hideous"
Il would love you"
They had passed beyond the crowd
Of merrymakers. The torches flickered
in the distance. Shouts of laughter,
the footing of horns, the tread of feet,
came confusedly. Ashley unclasped
the hand from his arm and pressed it.
Tell me, sweetheart" he said, SIS it
yes?'
You do not know what you are do
ing"
Il know this-that love you.''
"When you see my face you will
spurn me-
Never
"Even if you should wish to keep
your word 1 would not permit you to
make the sacrifice. A hero once loved
beautiful woman. She refused him.
Smallpox destroyed her beauty. They
met again, and she accepted him. He
married her. They lived a wretched
nfe."
ut would not be so with me-"
II would not trust you"
II beg Of you, do not hold me off
longer. 1 am becoming beside myself.
Send me away from you, and will
bury my grief under the bosom Of the
Mississippi"
"You don't mean it."
"I do"
"You will surely die if I deny your"
IT will"
"Then l must yield"
Removing her mask, she turned to-
ward him the face of a full blooded
African negress. He started back.
Reckon yo' been mistaken, mars"
| she said in broad negro dialect.
Ashley drew forth a we'll filled wal
let and was about to open it when the
| negro snatched it.
II want 1t all, Mars Ashley. Eff yo'
| DON glib it to me I'll tell Missy Rosa
| lind"
"You know herY
| Il ought to. I'm her maid"
"Keep it, and if you keep the secret
as we'll you shall have more" And.
turning on his heel, he rejoined the rev.
| elers.
An hour later Ashley again passed
the green and red dominos. The wo-
man shook his wallet at him trium
phantly. He was about to turn his back
| upon her when she lifted her mask and
showed the features of Miss st. Leger.
She tossed his wallet to him with a
merry laugh and turned away. As she
did so her escort raised his mask and
showed the face of Julius WarfeId.
Rosalind st. Leger regarded her act
as a bit of coquetry that would serve
to draw the northerner only the more
FI.N r.NI- l.