Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1908-04-29


IN silent despair as he checked OF
backward and forward. his available
hst OK choice epithets in futile effort
TO md one that would particularly ap-
ply to himself. Idiot" and lass" would
not do at all, for they were in no
way strong enough to meet the needs
"a the occasion.
Seaford was alike the despair and
oone or contention of every discern
ing mamma OF the set in which he
moved, and as their scheming tactics
were to him an open book. he had
come to take certain enjoyment from
noting the assiduity with which they
cast dutiful daughters in his path. II
there was anything he prided himself
upon 1t was his Harveyized heart ana
absolute lack of all emotion. When
he found his heart beating madly and
MS nerves tingling with an excitation
OF feeling which was entirely novel,
he lost himself in contemptuous self
analyzation.
IL had been but q glance from her
eye as she swept on with the hurry
ing throng, but it had sent the blood
surging to Seaford's head in torrents.
and he was painfully conscious that
no small share of the flood had dyed
his cheeks with perceptible flush.
The eyes, they were very blue he re.
called and then berated himself round
ly for needing their color, had looked
into his just triie longer than is
sanctioned by the laws of propriety.
While there was neither invitation nor
coquetry in their gaze, he felt intui
lively that they were friendly. He was
not at all vain, but he felt too that
they approved of his appearance.
After she had passed he did a thing
that he had never thought himself
capable OF. He had seen the face
clearly and knew that it was very
beautiful, an oval frame for a wealth
OF expression, but to take in the entire
picture he turned and stared after
her. He saw, almost with regret, that
her gown was perfect and her carriage
light and graceful. Outwardly at least,
she was without flaw. Despite his
80 years of celibacy, Seaford was a
very proper young man with strict
code by which he governed himself
flush that he had transgressed seri-
ously.
When once more safely ensconced
In his favorite chair at the club, Sea
ford could strike upon but one ex-
PLANTATION for the state of his feelings
His youth had been passed without
the usually-attendant desperate af-
fairs OF puppy love, and he reasoned
at great length that he was off his
feed and his nerves consequently un-
strung. But his unimpaired apprecia-
ton of his dinner and steady hand at
billiards belied any theories of falling
health and nervous disorders
No matter how animated the CONVEX
sation around him became that even.
ing. his mind constantly reverted to
the various opinions on matrimony
that he had read and heard, and these
thoughts were all companions to a
vision in his minds eye, a vision of
a trim figure all bedecked in blue
and surmounted by a pair of very
wonderful blue eyes Even when
Waters. his only and particular crony.
dropped into the club TO deliver his
weekly lecture on the follies of bache-
lorhood, Seaford listened with great
patience. This created such an i'm
preston, that his friend inquired
anXiously after the state OF his health.
Seaford had always held the idea
that at some time in the dim future he
would follow the duty of every man
and marry. But freedom was very
dear tc him. and then he had never
met the woman who had made the
slightest impression upon him. He
was obstinate with all the obstinacy
bred by years of singleness, and he
would not give in to the conviction
that at last he had seen a woman who
somewhere near approached his ideal
For an ideal he had long ago formed.
although she crept but seldom into
his thoughts.
For a week he fought to throw of
his new mood, and finally found. with
a strange feeling of joy, that he had
escaped from none Of his first
thoughts and visions. IL was a fight
between the old life and the new and
although he knew II not. the battle
was lost almost before the Fighting.
IL was unconditional surrender. and
he admitted joyfully to himself that at
last he was I'm love, madly and unre.
served]y in love. with the blue eyes
that had held his but an instant in the
impatient surging of the crowds.
He would find the girl. ne knew not
how, but be would find her and he
entered into the task with a zeal tina
krOught sJarpa NJ unaatfeaad o,,,fo,f...
from his friends. Waters he took
unreseTvedIy into his confidence. The
latter young gentleman had been mar.
ried not quite year, and he listened
with great patience and understanding
to Seafords rambling and fervid our.
breaks OF attempted description.