Puck — January 23, 1878 — page 13: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ities which he had amassed in the course of his travels. I almost believe, if he had tried to kiss me, that I was angry enough with the Cap- tain to have let him do it! Remember what my life had been—remem- ber how-ignorantly I had passed the precious days of my youth, how insidiously a sudden accession of wealth had encouraged my folly and my pride—and try, like good Christians, to make some allowance for me! My aunt came in from her walk before Mr. Varleigh’s visit had ended. She received him rather coldly, and he perceived it. After re- minding me of our appointment for the next day, he took his leave. “'What appointinent does Mr. Varleigh mean?” my aunt asked, as soon as we were alone. ‘(Is it wise, under the circumstances, to make appointments with Mr. Varleigh 2” she said, when I had answered her question. I na- turally inquired what she meant. My aunt re- plied, “I have met Captain Stanwick while I was out walking. He has told me something which I am quite at a loss tounderstand. Is it possible, Bertha, that you have received a pro- posal of marriage from him favorably, without saying one word about your intentions to me?” I instantly denied it. However rashly I might have spoken, | had certainly said no- thing to justify Captain Stanwick in claiming me as his promised wife. In his mean fear of a fair rivalry with Mr. Varleigh, he had delibe- rately misinterpreted me. “If I marry either of the two,” I said, ‘it will be Mr. Varleigh!” My aunt shook her head.“ These two gen- tlemen seem to be both in love with you, Ber- tha. It isa trying position for you between them, and I ain afraid you have acted with some indiscretion. Captain Stanwick tells me that he and his friend have come to a separa- tion already. I fear you are the cause of it. Mr. Varleigh has left the hotel at which he was staying with the Captain, in consequence of a disagreement between them this morning. You were not aware of that when you accepted his invitation. Shall I write an excuse for you? We must at least put off the visit, my dear, until you have set yourself right with Captain Stanwick.” 1 began to feel a little alarmed, but I was too obstinate to yield without a struggle. ‘ Give me time to think over it,” I said. ‘To write an excuse seems like acknowledging the Cap- tain’s authority. Let us wait till to-morrow morning.”” Iv. The morning brought with it another visit from Captain Stanwick. ‘This time my aunt was present. He looked at her without speak- ing, and turned to me, with his fiery temper showing itself already in his eyes. “T have a word to say to you in private,” he began. “TY have no secrets from my aunt,” J an- swered. “Whatever you have to say, Captain Stanwick, may be said here. He opened his lips to reply, and suddenly checked himself. He was controlling his anger by so violent an effort that it turned his ruddy fa-e pale. For the moment he conquered his temper—he addressed himself to me with the outward appearance of respect at least. “Has that man Varleigh lied?” he asked; “or hzve you given Aim hopes too—after what you said to me yesterday ?” “I said nothing to you yesterday which gives you any right to put that question to me,” I re- joined. ‘You have entirely misunderstood me if you think so.” My aunt attempted to say a few temperate words, in the hope of soothing him. He waved his hand, refusing to listen to her, and advanced closer to me. PUCK. you think I am a man to be made a plaything of in the hands of a coquette!”’ My aunt interposed once more, with a reso- lution which I had not expected from her. “ Captain Stanwick,” she said, “ you are for- getting yourself.” He paid no heed to her; he persisted in speaking to me. “It is my misfortune to love you,” he burst out. “My whole heart is set on you. I mean to be your husband, and no other man living shall stand in my way. After what you said to me yesterday, I have a right toconsider that you have favored my addresses. This is not a mere flirtation. Don’t think it! I say it’s the passion of a life! Do you hear? It’s the passion of a man’s whole life! Tam: not to be trifled with. I have had a night of sleepless misery about you-I have suffered enough for you—and you're not worth it. Don't laugh! ‘This is no laughing matter. Take care, Bertha! ‘Take care!" - My aunt rose from her chair, She aston- ished me. On all ordinary occasions the most retiring, the most feminine of women, she now walked up to Captain Stanwick and looked him full in the face without flinching for an instant. “You appear to have forgotten that you are speaking in the presence of two ladies,” she “Alter your tone, sir, or I shall be to take my niece out of the room.”” (To be continued.) obliged Goop wine needs no boucicaulting.— Oi City Derrick. ‘THe man who swore off has sworn on again. —New Orleans Picayune. SHouLD you cochineal, what would you do with it? Let it dye, of course.—/hila. Bulle- tin, Every well-regulated Kentucky town now claims a ‘‘second Gough.”—PAila, Chronicle Herald. Mr. CHARLEs Apams, of the opera sings, at Memphis, way up in tenor C.—New Orleans Picayune. Two thousand Milwaukeeans have signed the pledge and cased their Wisconsciences.— Boston Post. A ittLe boy will never willingly relinquish any of his cakes, except his spank-aches.— Phila, Bulletin, Joaquin MILLER wants to be cremated after death. But Beecher says there’s no such place. —Phila. Chronicle-Herald. ‘Tue reason why the young ladies like naval officers is because they belong to the marry- time service— Whitehall Times. ‘Tue days of knighthood have passed away, yet about every tramp you meet is incased ina coat of alms.— Fat Contributor. Auice Oates cried like a baby when she found that somebody hadn’t put a new husband in her stocking.—Xochester Democrat. Tue man who swore off is beginning to ob- serve, with great feeling: “We've got but one life to live, anyway." Danbury News. Ir may sound like a paradox, yet the break- ing of both wings of an army isa pretty sure “You have misunderstood me,” he said, if | way of making it fly.— Unidentified Exchange. 13 A Sat Lake newspaper contains the modest announcement that Brigham Young's widows “are beginning to marry again.” — Worcester Press. Great quantities of clothes-pins are shipped to New Zealand.—£x. They must feel quite home-sick when crossing the Line.— Phila. Bulletin, A younc blood, recently jilted by a Fifth Avenue belle, says he has had enough of the beautiful's “no” to last him all winter.— Graphic. ‘Tue New Orleans Picayune says that Span- iards are asked to leave France when they get too Don Carlos in their habits.— Priladelphia Bulletin. ‘THe widow Oliver is good in one respect. She never hooks old men and hides them away so that their relatives can’t find them,—Un- known Ex. Girts who skate this winter are compelled, by the pressure of fashion, to skate on one foot and hold the other up like a hen in wet weather, —Rome Sentinel. ‘Tue street-car drivers and conductors get heavier salaries than any other set of men in town, ‘They are paid off in nickels and pen- —Breakfast Table. Ir is estimated that there will be a deficit of amillion pounds in the English budget this year. How much ought their old budget to weigh, anyhow ?— Worcester Press. Patrerson says those who expect that he is going to resign, and thus lose $13 a day, are mistaken. ‘That's the kind of a rocking horse he is.— P’ila, Chronicle-Herald, Tue reason why young men don't make Washington's birthday the occasion for pro- mising to abandon smoking is that Washington never told a lie.— Worcester Press. Wuen Senators Conkling and Gordon sit down to that peace dinner together in the Senate restaurant, a little squab'll be the most appropriate dish to order.—N. Y. Commercial. He just had time to brush the frost from his mouth with his coat-sleeve, yesterday morning, before telling us that the chronometer was twenty degress below Nero.— Zurner’s Falls Reporter. Av old man, who lives near Utica, says that 8o years ago the farmers of New York State plowed in January. Ah, yes; but that was under a very different administration.— Buffalo Express. ‘Tue latest sudden disappearance is that of the year 1877.— Worcester Press. The fact of the old gentleman’s departure was very generally tolled in this city at the very chime it hap- pened.—oston Adv. Iris reported that Mrs. Hicks, like other fond wives, already stands over the register, and monopolizes the heat, while her dear Lord stands apart and kicks the wainscoting to keep his toes from freezing. —Derrick. Wuen we think of the villain who stole our umbrella, and then of the bare possibility that there is no hell, we feel as if we could bury our head in the waste-paper basket and smother right to death.—_New Haven Union. Wise people who love to dive into apparently unfathomable mysteries are requested to explain why a lead pencil always breaks just when you have finished laboriously constructing a point with a dull knife.— Rockland Courier. “Marian! Mariah! please slet me in!” said a man to his wife, who was looking out of the window watching him trying to open the door with a toothpick. ‘Ish tread on my key and it’sh all flattened out.”— Zransvaal Olio. SST