Country Luck

ER S

g man from the country, and, not less important, Tramlay’s manner toward the younger guest. He could also note the effect of the young man and his ways upon Mrs. Tramlay; for did he not know how to translate every expression of her face? It was his own fault if he did not,

by which he had endeavored to secure the first place in the girl’s regard. But somehow as his prospects gradually yet distinctly brightened, the profits of the iron trade as gradually and distinctly waned; Marge was not in the iron trade himself, but Lucia’s father was, and bachelors at forty-five generally expect something with a bride besides a father’s blessing. What the girl’s father thought of him Marge had never taken time to won

last season Marge had taken her and her mother to the opera; Lucia adored opera,—that is, she liked to look about the house, and see who was with who, and how the prima donna dressed, and to have gentlemen{64} call at her box between acts,—but two operas were merely sips at a cup she longed to drain, and only once had she been able to persuade her father to mitigate the privation. If apparent interest in Phil at table could have any effect upon

nflicted upon Mrs. Tramlay several moments of uncontrolled annoyance and caused profound silence arou

t dinner you once made us

Lucia’s look of horror when he brought from the fire a piece of board piled hi

“I kept mine as a memento; it is hanging over my m

horrified; but Phil’s face lightened so quick

could be there?” asked Tramlay. “I’d give more for such a meal o

, though the look that accompanied it passed in it

il, with some hesitati

“It is in the country, at l

r. Hayn think we are heathens. You know w

e as good Pharisees as any

nt for pond-lilies: don’t you remember? I do believe I should

brows gather

de from a muddy place,”

le. “Hayn, are there many places out your way where silly girls are li

host expected a list of the Haynton ponds and their re

t pond with the funny name! My! I wish I was in th

xclaimed M

penitence, “but everybody knows I can’t be there, and that ’twould be too cold for comfort; so it

of there being a great variety of trees and bushes. But you wouldn’t know the place at this season; and I think it’s a great deal prettier. The ground—the water, t

culated Mr

ll,” Phil continued, “and they’re so large and grow so close tog

er hands, “let’s go out to Haynton to-m

rely, “you forget all your eng

ts everything but the subject before her. She woul

season,” drawled Marge. “It seemed to me dreadfully d

ed little things; was it, Phil? ’Twas a g

suggest

that I couldn’t upset it,

ce was Mrs. Tram

asn’t knee-deep; I measu

are leave that child out of her sight for a single instant, but she had hoped that a girl twenty years of age would

trick if I had been in the c

knew how to look defiant w

in navigation, so to speak;{68} and it’s one of the first principles o

exclaime

,” assen

succeeded in upsetting the boat,” s

amlay, who intimated to Marge that Lucia was

ed to the library to smoke. Phil was invit

abits. He is going to keep me from feeling stupid, as

e the young man soon showed signs of being more intereste

sed to see in our little parlor in Haynton,” said

al to home, and insist that yours were unlike

re anything unusual,” sai

me them all, if I were to close my eyes a moment. There was ‘General Taylor at the Battle of Buena Vista,’ ‘The Destruction of Jerusalem,’ the ‘Declaration of Independenc

’t suppose any one had even noticed our picture

all the fashion now, don’t you kno

oundly impressed by the paintings,—real oil paintings, signed by artists some of whose names he had seen in art-reviews in New York papers. He studied them closely, one after another, with the earnestness of the person whose ta

the artist’s name is German, oftener French, and occasionally Italian; the figures and background also differ from time to time as to the nationality, and the picture is variably named “The Parting,” “Good-By,” “Auf Wiedersehen,” “Good-Night,” or “Ad

of making a discovery, “I am sure I have seen a wood eng

“it’s dreadfully old-fashioned. People don’t say

t ago that old-fashioned th

ld form of salutation might be revived, on special occasions, at least. The thought succeeded that such a wish was not entirely proper, and while he reasoned about it Lucia caught his eye and compelled him to blush,—an act which the

which the mischief-making picture hung, “is papa’s favorite pict

as enormous, was filled with several columns and a

; all the lines in it are straight, and there isn’t anywher

hose named by Lucia, and he seated himself on a sofa to stud

the columns where the light is most subdu

Haynton, he had never realized even the outer edge of the mysteries and ecstasies of adoration of old rugs. So Lucia’s comparison s

we lay on floors and use very much as if{72} they were carpets. I ought to have known better, though; for I remember that in Eastern stories, where the r

ead a little. Marge, who had finished his cigar, entered the parlor at that instant, and raised his eyebrows,—a motion more significant in a man of his temperament than a tragic start would

, “that I’ll take our friend around to the club with me for half an hour, just to show him

? We’ve scarcely seen Phil ye

the merchant replied. “We’l

delighted,

lub, on your way home?” sugge

ee some{73} men nearer his own age: all

of you both,” said Luc

was the evening meal,—to spend the evening with the entertainer. But objection seemed out of place: the merchan

ed about the room, as if to take a distinct picture of it w

” said the girl, “if you will solemnly p

tle hand to his lip. Fortunately for her own peace of mind, Mrs. Tramlay did not see the act, for she had stepped into the library to speak to her husband; Marge, however, was amazed at what he saw in the mirror,