A.NYMPH OF THE WEST.

Northern Advocate, 25 November 1893, Page 2

A.NYMPH OF THE WEST.

COPYRIQHTCD, IB9S. BY D. APPLETON * CO. PUBLISHED

[continued.] But all these air castles of the elder Dallas were doomed to speedy overthrow. To one and all Cynthia preserved a consistent attitude of calm indifference. The meal progressed in grave silence. The infrequent conversation had no lighter topic than the incidents of the roundup, and when at its close the admiring Alcides suggested: "Ye might bring out yer banjo and shake it up for the boys a little. Show 'em jes' natch'ally what a stunner ye are at pickin it," this accomplished performer replied with an excuse or instantly escaped to the seclusion of her own little room, whereupon the embarrassed covjinen were compelled to endure an onslaught upon the violin that should have caused the embowering live oaks to rise and mutiny. But Cynthia went her way and followed the dictates of her singular humor. Aulus and the fawn usually accompanied her in these lonely wanderings. Sometimes her listless footsteps sought the piny shelter Of her bower, where, swinging in her little hammock, she passed long hours steeped in the aromatic odors of the woods, watching the soft play of aunlight in the boughs above, her fancy captive and her thoughts adream. What secret she whispered in the ear of the sagacious hound that lay at her feet, with his devoted eyes fixed ever upon her face, what thoughts of hers may have been detected by the antelope that drowsed away the long hours thus consecrated to her -woodland reveries, have never been divulged by these most worthy confidants. And if the grave pines that bent so reverently about their little devotee divined aught of her disquietude they only grew the graver for the knowledge and dropped a cone now and then in their still depths — a woodland tear of sympathy. And at such moments the river far below lifted a soft consolatory murmur that stole upon her silent musing. For I fear our little Cynthia was but learning the story which, if we are to believe the poets, the vast panorama of nature has been telling "since first the flight of years began." A sudden loneliness had come upon her in the midst of her pastimes and occupations. A strange voice whispered in her heart. The things which satisfied once had lost their charm somehow; the tones of her banjo were harsh and discordant; the fawn had less of grace; even her beloved Aulus was often stupid and tinsatisfying. At times the preoccupied Miss Dallas turned her footsteps in quite another direction. She developed a fascination for a certain ledge of rocks upon the crest of a western divide. It was a bare, uninteresting spot, without shade or shelter, and, but for the prospect it afforded of the valley on either side, a poor place certainly to pass one's time. Yet Cynthia was much given to haunting this locality. A superficial observer might have surmised that she sought this lofty post of observation the more closely to note the varied maneuvers of the roundup in the plain below, but unfortunately for this theory the back of the fair observer was invariably turned upon this animated spectacle. Who shall say what disappointments were hers, thus occupied in spying out the land? Who shalT say how many times this self appointed Sister Anne beheld the cloud of dust upon the distant horizon disclose not the expected horsemen, but the invariable flock of sheep, or how many times some roving mustang raised a tumultuous flutter in that little breast that not a whole caballada of bis wild eyed comrades might have caused by the maddest of their onsets? Yet even in this hopeless reconnoitering the days sped on and on, and the anticipated horseman never came.

thedays sped on and on. I must not omit to mention a certain formality in dress which Miss Dallas began to affect about this time. It was in the direction of long trains and trailing habits. There was much mysterious rehearsal in the seclusion of her little room, a disposition to gather her skirts in one gloved hand and tiptoe about, avoiding intermediate objects with an acquired daintiness and grace. There were certain fastidious airs of manner which were deftly caught and quite as faithfully rehearsed in private. During these ceremonies a small riding whip, formerly presented to Cynthia by Mr. Buck Jerrold, was generally carried lightly in*the right hand. A swift canter over the adjacent hills, attended by the same scrutiny of the remote horizon, invariably followed this painstaking performance. Such mysterious behavior was not without provoking the comment of other members of the household. "I should reckon yo' was practicin fo' the tight rope, wi' allyo' airs and graces, Mib' Cynthy," the ebony Amelia remonstrated. "Is there any private theatricals goin to come off down at San Marcus?" in-

quired tne mystified Alcicles, having through the open door caught a glimpse j of his daughter attitudinizing. "I didn't know, from thet thar highjteppin, Lut you war posin fur th^Hfcy hearted princess thet refuses theplWDut deservin young man in the play." To all this ingenious badinage Mifis Dallas preserved an attitude of disdainful reticence, but she was manifestly unhappy and ill at ease. That joyous, light hearted gayety which once posjessed her had taken wings. Sho sang Bo more, where once her glad voice chal-v lenged the mocking bird. She was as capricious as an April day. Peevish and fretful with her father for the most part, there were intervals of sudden tenderness when she overwhelmed him with kisses and caresses. Possibly at such moments a certain absent individual was ever present to her fancy whose name she' never suffered to pass her lips. Philosophers aver that in matters of tho heart there is a species of cold comfort in thus lavishing the affections by proxy. During this unsatisfactory period Cynthia's treatment of Mr. Buck Jerrold was most remarkal :10. This gentleman had been wont to visit 1 r often, to pass hours in her society, to t;lb quietly by her side silent and thoughtful, smoking his pipe and noting her every word or action with a reverence and admiration that was little short of worship. Formerly - Miss Dallas had permitted this oppressive homage as if hers by a species of divnio right, had laughed and chatted with him pleasantly, accepted his little gifts and keepsakes gratefully, sent Mm upon her errands with the air of conferring a favor and exerted her many fascinations in a way known only to the sex.. All this had been most agreeable to Jerrold. "With evident satisfaction ho basked in the sunshine of her favor. But a change came suddenly about. ' With the advent of the spring roundups came more frequent visits on the part of that gentleman and a strange waywardness in Cynthia's reception. She greeted him with marked embarrassment and restraint. The former silence of his manner was now eclipsed by her own taciturnity. Jerrold was often astounded at his eloquence in his efforts to entertain her, but Cynthia was at all times r, osont and distraught, and appeared to be haunted by a nervous dread that Mr. Jerrold was about to say something which it give her great pain to hear. Upon the slightest pretext she would escape him and bury herself amid the solitudes of the sympathetic pines. Here that strange trouble which made her heart ache would occasionally overflow her eyes, and there were tears shed in the dim woods as little bidden as understood — tears which the pines bemoaned and the bluebirds and squirrels held sacred, but which somehow brought the balm of relief to her who shed them. I do not tiiink through it all that Miss Dallas was really conscious of being in love, only in a general way that she was ] bereaved and disappointed. The occurrences of the past few months had come to her in the light of a revelation. Sho was suddenly aware of the existence of some one who possessed for her a peculiar sympathy; whose words awoke a responsive echo in her heart — some one immeasurably superior to tho rough men sho usually encoivatered. Sho could not explain the strange claim this hitherto unrealized being had upon her. She only knew that it existed; that she longed for its influence; that she grieved when it w.as denied. And there was associated with this feeling, as there always is, one of pique and injury for the apparent neglect which she had suffered. • How much this state of mind was alleviated when the obliging sheriff put into her hands the guitar sent by Henry Bruce it is impossible to say. Certain i t is that never instrument was the recipient of more tender treatment. Siie adorned it with ribbons, carried it abont with her constantly and practiced assiduously upon it. Abont this time the elder Dallas, recognizing a formidable rival, abandoned his own exertions upon the violin. He viewed the advent of the guitar with suspicion and commented upon it with cynicism. Apparently he recognized in the soft harmonies Cynthia's deft fingers struck from the strings a dangerous ally to sentiment. Alcides, as wo have see-a, was a foe to romance. _i.--¥o wanter look out, Cynthy, fur the poetry and nonsense thet thar tarnal thiug'll idl you chuck full of, ef ye once turn it loose on yer onguarded feelin's," he said gravely, surprising her once playing upon it with eyes that were wistful and far away. "It's a destroyer of the appetite, and gener'ly plumb full o' onsatisfat-toriness," bestowing a glance upon the glistening strings that was full of foreboding. "I knew a girl once th£t was thet led away by one of them, jinglin cvitters thet she didn't denothin else but play an lie round, a-longin and a-yearn-in, until .by and by the sallow faced critter got herself clean bewitched. Her family and friends could do notiiin with her. She wouldn't eat nothin. Andfin'ly she went into a gallopin consumption, and they buried her one very damp day in the arly spring." But in spite of this terrible example of the fascination of guitar playing Cynthia still persisted in her practicing. She endured with cheerfulness the sore finders, tired wrists and other annoyances which this c:. ng instrument imposes upon its devo. 3. And she received no end of encouragement in other ways. The mocking birds which fled aghast from the shrieking violin sometimes favored her with imitative outbursts — that sincerest form of flattery. Perched on some tossing spray or flickering here and there in their odd "half mourning," they produced snatches of her waltzes and fandangoes. There was a certain sentimental lizard with a speculative eye that would bask daily xipon a sunny rock, and from his rapt demeanor during her performance was apparently enabled to obtain glimpses of the infinite, hitherto denied. And Aultis sympathized and lent his quiet and dignified approval. And tho fawn was sopthed into a dreamy languor that was fa*st becoming habitual. So the days passed, andCynthiaV. heart found much of consolation, and Mr. Buck Jerrold wondered at the chango in

ins dulcinea and had long'conterenccs with the mystified Alcides, who was annoyed and fretful and made mysterious reference to tho prevalence of malaria and the existence of "dumb ager" —the inference being that his lovely daughter was suffering from the maladies of a forward spring, until one day Mr. Jerrold surprised the old man with this query: "Ye don't reckon, then, thet tho visit of thet thar Henry Bruce hez bed anythin to do with this yer change? It's my opinion thet's what's done it." - "Why, he wa' n'fc here more'n two days at the furthest," remonstrated the father, staring at his questioner. "Thet's all right," returned Jerrold meditatively, "but it don't take any great length of time with the proper person. I've bean told thar's been cases where it was only a word or a look thet done the biz'ness. Purvided thet's the true state of tho case," he added, stretchI ing his huge limbs awkwardly, while a weary look crept suddenly into his ejres, "purvided thet's it, and he proves himself to be a better man'nur I am, Cynthy must take her ch'ice. I hevn't got nothin agin him. He's a square sort of chap, and a man ez is a man can stand bein I beat by a straightforrard feller who is i better fixed and better favored." I Then came a letter from Henry Bruce ! to Cynthia, couched in delicate terms, wherein he expressed regret that he was unable to act as her escort to the coming ' ball at San Marcus, but that courtesy necessitated that he should accompany .Miss Stafford. Cynthia perused this missive calmly, wept over it in private and then acted with the perverseness of womankind. She did not change her attitude toward the deserving Mr. Jerrold, but she sat down and indited a long epistle to the neglectful and dangerous Captain Foraker, in which she reproached that gentleman for his long absence from her side, represented herself as languishing from lack of bis attentions and inquired if he could spare time from his engrossing military duties to take her to the coming festivity. And Captain Foraker, vain, critical and;.complacent, read this letter carefully over Ms after dinner cigar, smiled superciliously, adjusted his officer's cap raMshly over his distracting curls, and mounting his l;.iv;o rode over from the post and passed the afternoon with Cynthia. That he was received with a cordiality he had no reiioon nor right to expect; that Cynthia flirted with him desperately and in a manner calculated to strike despair into tho heart of Buck Jerrold, and that the irate Alcides was moved several times in the course of that eventful afternoon to cast longing glances in the direction of the "Silent Mary" may be readily imagined by the reader who has remarked the inconsistency of woman when dominated by pique. Small wonder that Captain Foraker promised to ga to the ball; that he listened cheerfully to Cynthia's plan to I visit Miss Bertha Mave:-_'_■, the fascinat- [ ing daughter of the village blacksmith, and agreed to call for her at that lady's home on the evening in question, and that he rode back to his quarters with a self satisfied smilo upon his supercilious features, curling his gray mustache and otherwise pluming himself upon the triumphs* of the afternoon. That after his departure Cynthia dismissed him utterly from his mind, and that she hated Miss Stafford cordially and was conscious in her her.rt of hearts that Henry Bruce was more fascinating than ever —are facts that will readily occur to her apprpciative and discriminating sax, to wuose tender sympathies her present emotions are intrusted.