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Show afterward he met Keino wr me o:u, not in a bathinjf suit. No, no; such a sight has broken many thousands of engagements en-gagements and serernd tUe strongest ties of love. She was in a plain but bo-coming bo-coming morning dress, and wore a very sweet smile. "Are yon cross this morning?" "No, I hftvo never been cross. I don't get that way," and he smilod blandly. "Will you do me a fnvor? I have lost my ring, and Oh, Mr. Btockwell, if you find it I will never provoke you again, I will do anything for yon." "I will hunt it to the bitter end." "But it has no end." "Our acquaintanceship will have if you get off another such a point. Where did you lose yonr ring?", "Right here by the water's edge." Together they walked toward the water and at the edge the ring lay as though it had carefully been placed in ite position. Gilbert picked it up quickly, quick-ly, and, handing it to Nellie, claimed as a reward her hand. He revived it to place the ring on her finger. Jt was not until they had wandered off by themselves that she apologized for being rude to him the night before, und then she quoted: If you rad, sir, The veme with heed. air. You will see it runs a clearly a It may, That erery man. air, Should never take his answer Unless it be yea or nay. 'Then I implore yon to tell mo is it yea or nay?" aWl Gilbert. "Neitlier," she replied. "It is aye." The summer was ended. The romance was over. Real life began. They were manned. Paradise was removed. Air all, the happiness that comes by a good breakfast, lunch and dinner and a beautiful companion ia more desirable than ethereal dreams of a paradise fax removed. True, the perverseness which made Nellie compel the othT ladies to wear columbines and the deeeitfulnes of the pretended loss of the ring made his life at times miserable, but he is satisfied sat-isfied with a fashionable wife and does not regret his summer amid the beautiea of Santa Cruz. True Flag. ! hand all this time. Circumstances, you know, must adjust themselves to human feelings. They arose. The scene was a lovely one. Away beneath them a creek murmured mur-mured a song. The tall trees of the gulch, the dangerous steepness of the slope, the stillness of the hills, the grandeur of the scenery, the stern hills separating, as if in anger, at the base, and proudly receding, until from top to top great spaces intervened; the delicate fioer, too weak to "bear up the pearly drops of dew. Ah, the sublimity of the hills. Who can measure the dimensions of the beautiful as the eye wanders from stream to hilltop, from hilltop to stream, the oye ever meeting delicate touches of nature's finest, grandest and most beautiful beau-tiful objects? The ocean air seems to be caught in the branches of the trees, purified by mixing with the mountain breeze, and given as a delicacy to the strollers. "Don't press my hand so hard, cried Nellie. "Excuse me, I thought I was holding my cane," replied Gilbert, while Nellie looked unutterable things. "Come let us return to the hotel;" and not waiting for his consent she started off at a break-yoar-arm speed. "Wait," cried Gilbert. "I want to talk to you about the lady you said loved me. Tell me the lady's name, won't you?" "I am too modest," was her laughing reply . , , i He reached out his arm for her, but she was not there. He turned, and like a . petulant boy showed her the dimensions dimen-sions of his back. . "Gilbort, I will fasten a columbine m he hair of the young lady who loves you and to-night at the hop your curiosity curi-osity will be satisfied," said Nellie, as she plucked a bunch of columbines. "I hope I will see the combine in your own hair." , "Perhaps so;- wait and ee. Preparations had been made to make this the grandest hop of the season. The social gatherings at seaside resorts are rather insignificant affairs, unless the men are flirts and the women coquettes. But inasmuch as the contingency is dropped and a declarative proposition is true at a seaside resrt, the hops are very entertaining. ' The hall at the hotel was beautifully decorated with flowers, pretty women and handsome men. Gilbert StockweU was there, anxious and waiting the coming com-ing of the one wearing the columbine. A dozen handsome ladies entered. Imagine Im-agine his surprise when each one of them wore the identical columbine that Nellie had plucked. , Gilbert, after the fashion of men oi this generation, withdrew to the smoking smok-ing r x.ni and tried to soothe his asitated ul with a cigarette. Hfflartni n tore. He was a briefless hamster, fuJy aware of advantage of poverty, for "Blessed be nothin'. it has no taxes to cay He had seen the fabe moon be-SSh be-SSh the surface or the water and found a true moon in the sky. He had dreamed ofV4radise and found a true one, but ffairCaidwas there and . SanU Cruz a pandemonium. Yet it was stw to him. The glory of it. at-tnETlapped at-tnETlapped to verdurous mils i by .n Wav and through the paradise wanSaVetable daughter of Eve. VpllteAhson, the belie of Santa Cmz; a because wealthy mother pre-tSh pre-tSh to society thesame as . ani-Sr ani-Sr politician is entered for the race. XrttaJ hoped that Nelbe would flower for bis sake. A smoke did not decide the matter. A man may relieve himself of a few cigars by SJiok-ing, SJiok-ing, but time alone can dispel disagreeable disagree-able thoughts and customs. He returned re-turned to the ball room. Nellie was a star, surrounded by a cluster of young hien, lesser lights. Gilbert rudely pushed his way to her presence, aud taking her by the arm led her to a deserted corner of the room. "I see you are fond of a joke." "With whom have I been joking?" "With me." "How?" "Did you not promise to place the columbine in the hair of the one who loved me? You led me to believe that you would wear it yourseu." "I do." "So dp a dozen others." "They must all love you." "No, I am not wealthy, not an elegant dancer, not an Apollo in face or form, and modern young ladies reqnire something some-thing more than a commonplace, briefless brief-less barrister to win their love." "Oh, how I pity your most pitiful condition! con-dition! I would help you if I could." "Then marry mc." "Impossible!" , "Why?" Her merry langh arrested the attention atten-tion of the dancers as she quoted: Across my face, sir, I'd have tbo grace, sir, Or mother wit, to pull a gayer mask, And wait to find, sir, What was the mind, sir. Before I'd grovel at her feet to ask. When sha finished he was standing alone, and her laugh came back to him from another part of the room. He was provoked. The spirit of the place depressed de-pressed him. Leaving the party at an early hour he said, "I will have a good night's sleep." Nothing is easier to do than to promise prom-ise one's self pleasant dreams. It is like ordering a good dinner, and on the first course have your appetite destroyed by a dead flv. Those unfortunates the bulk of mankind who cannot look forward for-ward to a public execution in the morning morn-ing have nothing to do bnt place their heads on the pillow with serious doubts. He went to bed, tried to sleep, trying first one side and then another, anon again. At last he attempted Franklin 8 experiment. Benjamin, you know, recommends rec-ommends the sleepless to get up, make the bed. dress in their Sunday clothes, comb their hair, etc., and then retire. Gilbert tried the experiment. The town of Santa Cruz was wide awake, the sun was high above the eastern horizon, the bathers had already doparted for the beach and the children were playing upon the street before Gilbert awoke. Nellie Alison danced until after midnight. mid-night. She was angry at herself and at Gilbert. It wa her determination to see him in the morning and apologize for her perverseness. Her thoughts were of pleasant dreams as she unfastened her hair, unbuttoned her dress, unbuckled her shoes turned off the gas. Night was gone. Morning has come, and to save the trouble of buckling the shoes, buttoning the dress and fastening the hair we will meet Nellie in the surf, where she enjoyed the luxury of a bath. Gilbert was also in the surf, and the ladies who wore the columbines, and the gentlemen, and merry, laughing children, chil-dren, who played at the water's edge and ran a race with incoming and outgoing out-going wave. Gilbert approached near where Nellie was, but the moment he saw her his head was beneath the waves, and his presence made a maiden feel brave, a hundred feet away. An hour AT SANTA CRUZ. i many summers ago a young man nil means and good parentage was V-S for a pan.dise a place where y scenes, tempered winds and the taw of prolonged summer would -niinate. He had lamented lost ;'s, invented ideal paradises and 'tsd real paradises into veritable 'inoniums. Never yet had the real ' of a woman figured ia his esist-though esist-though ho dreamed of the gentle - of Eden, and, as he rested, lapped :tDes and ease, yielding to the gen- of the skies and the. modest woo-f woo-f tho winds, a pale, refined and ;iM woman playfully touched his eyelids with her hand and caressed villing dreamer. A woman is not 'fj'thing, but she is coexistent with warns. Gilbert StockweU was a f- The magical charms of an 'risteuce captivated hint. jjay between Santa Cruz and the. re, where the hills reach nearest n w here the trees in the gulch ' taU, as if ambitious to overtop the Wains, where the flowers grow beau-"y-fhere, away up on tho side of "Mintain. two fons bend ungrace-'over ungrace-'over a little flower, hat touches if it were not for the Gains-'Sh Gains-'Sh style ear would touch ear. We not describe the couple. Any in-ot in-ot reader knows the twain are lazing and the scenery round about n 's more beautiful than any hero or of song or story. They pull the or from the ground, and seating "selves on a barkless log examine its hirsute stem, calyx, petals, seeds, 'teJ by step trace its marks from ,'y to branch, from general to par-r, par-r, and in delight exclaim "Right!" ;tiw flwer has been analyzed. He her hand in his to protect the deli-: deli-: sn from the winged insect of the atiun. StockweU was in paradise, and '9 Alison was with him. He had Koae to Santa Cruz in vain. Six go he had met Nellie Alison, and production was the beginning of 'atnatfon that ended only when the es,of time elevated the infatuation .htfolrBrerenoe., , ', , 8 bison's face was to mankind 1 poetry ig t0 literature. The over wion of a fashionable mother had a frail, delicate girl, but the ;f .sr'PPlied what nature wanted ad of being an unformed jne looked at least a well developed She had more intelligence than 7. more sparkle in her wit than in ..i;- She had a heart, but it was 2. that is, rather perverse, and a ' it was filled with the mnto-a! mnto-a! 6hlM. We will not blame filter, but condemn the mother. -h n Was two-and-twenty, the 5 a nature will stand the test of W , pTore real worth. Bnt e left Gilbert hwldinir Nellies |