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Article AN OLD, OLD STORY. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Old, Old Story.
perceive anything in Mr . Walters' voice , and advanced , bat in hand , as usual quite at his ease , to pay his respects to the two ladies . Miss Margerison greeted him warmly , Lucy was as her wont most kind , but
clearly a little constrained in her reception of the smiling and somewhat free aud easy young man . There was , to say the truth , reason to believe that she was a little bored by his arrival , as she was expecting her godfather aud Mr .
Mainwaring to luncheon , and they had all agreed to drive over , and dine quietly at Richmond , and return in the cool of the evening . What was to be clone 1 What was to become of this inevitable curate 1 Such reflections , however , did not affect Miss
Margerison , who for some reason or other , appeared pleased with the advent of this at any rate conversational youth ! Much to Lucy ' s distress , ere a few minutes had elapsed , she heard her aunt asking Mr . Williams to luncheonaud even
, telling him of the expedition to Richmond . And then , as she had to leave the room to give her orders , " on hospitable thoughts intent , " poor Lucy found herself condemned
to a tete-a-t ^ te with the curate . I have said before that Mr . Williams always flattered himself that he knew how to improve the occasion ; and so with this unexpected good luck , no sooner did he see that the coast was clear , than lie
endeavoured—I do not say that he was to blame—to profit by his opportunity . But Lucy was , like young ladies often , not very easy to get on with , especially if it was not the " right man !" How often have 1 laughed in life , amid
pleasant parties and festive scenes , alas , all things of the past ! " tiempi pussati " of one ' s sojourning never to return , at the huge adroitness with which the female " athlete " as it were gets rid of the wrong manor gives the cold shoulder to the bore
, , and " tackles , ' ' as old Jorum puts it , " an unsuspecting fellow , " the real hero , however , of her own little life drama . The difference between the ri ght man and the wrong man in a woman ' s eyes is very great , and always most important .
Now , as my readers will have guessed , unless they are very dense , that for poor Lucy the right man was Mr . Maiuwariug , the wrong man Mr . Williams , and so she
accordingly , like a wide-awake British maiden as she was , set herself calml y to work to meet the blushing Mr . Williams on his own ground , and if possible to give him his " coup-de-graco " before that Miss Margerison could come upon the scene . And so when our friend the
interesting aud energetic curate began in dulcet tones to speak confidingly and pleasantly to that goddess in blue and white , who sat before him in all her grace of '' golden youth , " he soon felt as all men feelas if by intuitionthat for some
, , reason or other his words fell flat on , and his special confidences were not reciprocated by the sympathies or attention of his graceful companion . Her eyes would not meet , bis .
Lucy clearl y cared nothing for his views and wants , his ideas or opinions , his words or his ways , and as she was a resolute young woman , and clear aud decided in her enunciation of what she thought and what she wished , and what she disliked
, poor Mr . Williams with a sigh gave up the struggle , and resigned nimself gracefully to the consolation of a coining luncheon , and the conversation of that " superior woman " Miss Margerison , when she kindly reappeared !
Sensible man ! And must we not say that Lucy behaved very well ? There is in her , we note , no weakness , as a friend of mine says , of " hand or mouth ; " she is not a flirt—she does not think it right to profess an interest she does not feel , or to avow a liking which is too surely unreal ! What an example to some fair young friends of mine !
They seem to look upon mau , as the law-books say , "ferai nature , " fair game , for that most dangerous of pastimes , the little innocent ; , harmless , tender flirtation ! They forget often , in these gay flirtations of theirsthat what is sport to them is often a
, deadly wound to the trusting and truehearted , and that what seems to them a legitimate amusement for the space of half-au-hour , may become the saddening " reverie " of a whole life !
Minnie Oompton met Harry Hig heover at a pleasant dance . Minnie was a blonde with bewitching blue eyes , golden hair , good hands , good teeth , good feet , and all that sort of thing . Harry Hi gheover was a reckless youth , who thought more of horses
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Old, Old Story.
perceive anything in Mr . Walters' voice , and advanced , bat in hand , as usual quite at his ease , to pay his respects to the two ladies . Miss Margerison greeted him warmly , Lucy was as her wont most kind , but
clearly a little constrained in her reception of the smiling and somewhat free aud easy young man . There was , to say the truth , reason to believe that she was a little bored by his arrival , as she was expecting her godfather aud Mr .
Mainwaring to luncheon , and they had all agreed to drive over , and dine quietly at Richmond , and return in the cool of the evening . What was to be clone 1 What was to become of this inevitable curate 1 Such reflections , however , did not affect Miss
Margerison , who for some reason or other , appeared pleased with the advent of this at any rate conversational youth ! Much to Lucy ' s distress , ere a few minutes had elapsed , she heard her aunt asking Mr . Williams to luncheonaud even
, telling him of the expedition to Richmond . And then , as she had to leave the room to give her orders , " on hospitable thoughts intent , " poor Lucy found herself condemned
to a tete-a-t ^ te with the curate . I have said before that Mr . Williams always flattered himself that he knew how to improve the occasion ; and so with this unexpected good luck , no sooner did he see that the coast was clear , than lie
endeavoured—I do not say that he was to blame—to profit by his opportunity . But Lucy was , like young ladies often , not very easy to get on with , especially if it was not the " right man !" How often have 1 laughed in life , amid
pleasant parties and festive scenes , alas , all things of the past ! " tiempi pussati " of one ' s sojourning never to return , at the huge adroitness with which the female " athlete " as it were gets rid of the wrong manor gives the cold shoulder to the bore
, , and " tackles , ' ' as old Jorum puts it , " an unsuspecting fellow , " the real hero , however , of her own little life drama . The difference between the ri ght man and the wrong man in a woman ' s eyes is very great , and always most important .
Now , as my readers will have guessed , unless they are very dense , that for poor Lucy the right man was Mr . Maiuwariug , the wrong man Mr . Williams , and so she
accordingly , like a wide-awake British maiden as she was , set herself calml y to work to meet the blushing Mr . Williams on his own ground , and if possible to give him his " coup-de-graco " before that Miss Margerison could come upon the scene . And so when our friend the
interesting aud energetic curate began in dulcet tones to speak confidingly and pleasantly to that goddess in blue and white , who sat before him in all her grace of '' golden youth , " he soon felt as all men feelas if by intuitionthat for some
, , reason or other his words fell flat on , and his special confidences were not reciprocated by the sympathies or attention of his graceful companion . Her eyes would not meet , bis .
Lucy clearl y cared nothing for his views and wants , his ideas or opinions , his words or his ways , and as she was a resolute young woman , and clear aud decided in her enunciation of what she thought and what she wished , and what she disliked
, poor Mr . Williams with a sigh gave up the struggle , and resigned nimself gracefully to the consolation of a coining luncheon , and the conversation of that " superior woman " Miss Margerison , when she kindly reappeared !
Sensible man ! And must we not say that Lucy behaved very well ? There is in her , we note , no weakness , as a friend of mine says , of " hand or mouth ; " she is not a flirt—she does not think it right to profess an interest she does not feel , or to avow a liking which is too surely unreal ! What an example to some fair young friends of mine !
They seem to look upon mau , as the law-books say , "ferai nature , " fair game , for that most dangerous of pastimes , the little innocent ; , harmless , tender flirtation ! They forget often , in these gay flirtations of theirsthat what is sport to them is often a
, deadly wound to the trusting and truehearted , and that what seems to them a legitimate amusement for the space of half-au-hour , may become the saddening " reverie " of a whole life !
Minnie Oompton met Harry Hig heover at a pleasant dance . Minnie was a blonde with bewitching blue eyes , golden hair , good hands , good teeth , good feet , and all that sort of thing . Harry Hi gheover was a reckless youth , who thought more of horses