Newspapers / Eastern Courier (Hertford, N.C.) / Feb. 20, 1895, edition 1 / Page 6
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A. SONO OF SLEIGH.BELL3, Joy our bells are ringing j O'er the snow ; Happiness is springing Where we sro. O 3 , Xlfe Is bright before us, fitnrm-fflrmds hani? n,it o'er 03. Hope and faith uphold us, Joyjand love enfold us. f The while we sing, j And sleigh-bells ring ! I Has life e'er a sorrow? Hint not so! Troubles shall we borrow? No, an no! From Hope's light -leaping fountains To far rose-tinted mountains Pull bravely we have started, And,, merry and trae-hearted, Shall gayly sing, . While sleigh-bells ring ! Before us lies a hollow, Dark and low, Whose winding path wo follow, Will or no ! In that valley lowly Shadows deep may slowly : Hide the moon, declining, ' Still we know her shining I So gayly sing, ' .V ' While sleigh-bells ring ! iiuieu xjyciibuu omiiu, in. xaarper s lxizar. West for soma hunting and shooting, haunted her for many days after. And all tho while! Jerome i. -was far away after big game and even in some little danger, Miss Aspin wall-0 ones did not forget, by any means, him. The moment he came bask, she sent bim an invitation to her bowling party, together -with a charming little note.. This was very pleasant to Je rome, who had been out of civilization for so long, and he made haste to ac V As he comes into the bowling alley, he stands near the entrance a mo ment," hesitating. ... There ii a great deal! of confusion ; snatches 6f conver sation, the shouts of the boy's in the pit, the crashing of pins, and the dull Tact of Miss Aspinwall-Jones. BY WTLTVTAM EAEIJ3 BALDWIN. ISS ASPINALL Jones has patch ed it from the; very beginning with the interest most people take in other people's love affairs, and phe feels exceed ingly sorry that it has all gone wrong; that is, she is sorry for Laurie Jerome. She thinks Acnes - Iiau caster most unreasonable and posi tively unforgiving. Miss Aspinwall-Jones is not a med- dler, but she thinks this particular affair is her own private property, for if the final quarrel did not take place tinder her own roof, it did take place not far from her tennis court, at a" tennis party late in the autumn. At that time Agnes Lancaster was yery positive that she loved Laurie Jerome. In fact, she was engaged to him. But this did not keep her from enjoying exceedingly the society of ether men. This? and Jerome's nat ural jealously, caused a great deal of trouble, which culminated on the ten nis court that afternoon. It was done very quietly, as all serious things are done. There were no tears, no dra matic stalking about, no words of anger. Jerome idly knocked a tennis ball up ,into the air with his racket, as he listened to what the girl had to say, and -when she remarked that it was better that they separate, and that it was plainly more for their good to bft ftnart fnr the rst nf fVioi 1 if no i " -v - v v" - w vuvs 11 W to, he assented quietly and did not stop counting the numbers of times the ball went up into the air. j "Twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one," hie said, mechanically. , "There is nothing more to say or do," declared the girl. "We have made a mistake, that's all." "Thirty-five, thirty -six," counted Jprninp. Iris atdq ofll on Via Kail - 'I am as much to blame as you," admitted the girl. 1 "I don't suppose you mind much, though." Crash ! went the ball down on the table into th6 midst of a cluster of lem onade glasses. "Did I break any?" asked Jerome, looking at them anxiously. "No, I think riot," replied Agnes, with equal interest. Miss Aspinwall-Jones saw it all, and heard it all, and yet she was quite helpless and unable to do anything. When Jerome came up to eay good bye, she wanted to tell him ( how very SOrrV fib ft font fihA Vnan i4 .nl1 -r t - " w a m i u Ui v hardly do. And the drawn look on Jxis face, when he told her he was immtr o o Dooming of the balls, mingled with exclamations of joy or Utile cries of chagrin, all adding to Jerome's bewil derment, make him feel more out of it than; ever. ' x Sometimes a large ball rolls lazily down the center to hit the king pin and plears the alley as if a tempest had struck it. Sometimes a small ball skipi down the smooth boards for a single pin. knocking it up into the air with' a loud "plunk!" Sometimes a ball whirls along the very edge, twist ing and curving in until it strikes the king pin a little to one side, knocking all tjen pins into the pit with the pecu liar (musical tone which gladdens the bowler's heart. Hpw brightly the sun shines in at the Windows of the place, lighting up the faces of the people, glancing on the jpolished maple of the alleys and the smooth rolling balls! How the motes in the air rise and fall and sway and pulsate, turning red and green and orange, and answering every wave and motion of the air, and writhe and turn into many glistening bands! How happy and jolly the people are, and howj they laugh, as if they hadn't a care in the world and as if bowling was the only thing worth living for ! Miss Aspinwall-Jones draws near at that moment and sees Jerome standing therje. Her face lights up with a cordia' greeting,i and she says: "Why, Mr! Jerojme, I am awfully glad to see you.'. And; that the man is very popular- is made evident by the fact that a great many people come up and shake hands with him and say they are glad to see himjback. And the men say, "Hello, Laurie, old fellow," and Miss Aspin-wallj-Jones, who believes in rushinsr rthings, adds : "You are just in time to bowl on number three with Agnes." J e'rome looks at the girl beseeching ly, and she nods brightly and savs: "Why not?" Jerotne laughs uneasily and echoes : "Why not?" And then he pulls at M mustache, and frowns in a rude and jmost unbecoming manner. "At least," puts in Miss Aspinwall Jones with a, meaning smile, "l ean remember the time when you would give anything to j see her. I have heard of a man whp wrote poetry to her and walked upland down under her window with a guitar." "Qh, I say I " protests the unfortu nate! Jerome. ? . "Well, didn't you?" "That was last summer. Er things, you know, have sort of er changed, you see." y "(phanged?" There is a note " of guilelessness. in Miss Aspinwall-Jbnes's voice that is pretty and childish, "How much does she know?" quer ies Jerome anxiously to himself. "I. won't tease you any more," says Miss Aspin wall-Jone3. "Only there is one thing I must say you don't un derstand girls." "JVho does?" " remarked the man. "And I must say I don't understand you," he added, rather cynically. "Who does?" echoes the girl, with a laugh. "Perhaps some time you will." They have reached alley number three, and a tall girl is standing there eyeing them with much coolness and evidently with much disfavor. "Agnes, here is Mr. Jerome, and he is going to bowl with you," says Miss Aspinwall-Jones. "He has just come back from Kansas, and if you like he will tell you all about shooting, and all about the gasoline stove that blows up regularly every night." Agnes looks from one to the other and laughs with embarrassment She knows that Miss-AspinWall-Jones is very clever, and while she knows a great many things she is liable to guess at a great many more; and even though 6he is her most intimate friend, she would never, never like her to know what she is thinking about. And so she laughs and says civilly "I am very glad to see 'you again, Mr. Jerome." And then she turns to Miss Aspinwall-Jones, and asks in a puz zled way: "Gasoline stove? what about a gasoline stove?" But Miss Aspinwall-Jones ha3 flitted away, leaving Jer.)me and Agnes to gether ; and from the other side of the room she smiles back contentedly, lit tle knowing that Agnes is ready to re solve never to speaktoher again, and that Jerome is wishing heartily that he had remained out in Kansas where he could shoot all day and not have to talk with young women who are dis tant and scornful, and who make him feel that he is very much in the way. Even the incident of 1 the gasoline stove fails to establish easy relations, and he starts in on another story which, however, is nipped in the bud. On the other side of the room, Miss Aspinwall-Jones sees them talking and says : "I have got them together," and congratulates herself on her tact. Miss Aspinwall-Jones is very young, and her ideas of doing good to other people often lead to complications. , , . In the present instance they lead to a great many complications. Agnes is very intent On bowling, and Jerome shows that he has forgotten all about it. , When she makes a strike Jerome follows it up with a score of three pins, and two balls in the gutter.; He becomes very angry, writes his tally on the wrong side of the blackboard and covers his fingers, his coat and everything in sight with chalk. Then it is a pleasure to see Agnes bowl, and he forgets everything else in watching her. Her figure is superb, tall and willowy, and, with a long, graceful swing of the arm, she "sends a ball down the alley. She holds her head in a queenly way, and eight sea sons in society have not dimmed the beauty and sparkle of her dark eyes,j nor made havoc with the damask of her clear complexion. t you roll?" she asks, presently, as Jerome stands before her a moment, looking at her intently. The-pins at the foot .of the alley have all been set up, and there is a pause in the bowling. She points a bit of chalk at him and smiles bewitchingly in a way that makes Jerome lose his head. "What do I care about this stupid bowling?" he says, passionately. "What do I care about anything but you? You know why I went away, and you ought to know why I came back." Agnes looks coldly at him. 'Yes ; I ought to know. I certainly spoke plainly to you six months ago. . I think .there is no need to say anything more." "There are a great many thing3 to say," continued Jerome, "if I only knew how to say them." ; "I don't see that you need any help," remarks the girt? dryly. And then': "Miss. Aspin wall Jones is be ginning to look worried because she see3 that you are not bowling. " Jerome seizes a huge hall and hurls it down the alley at a tremendous speed. Straight as a die it rolls down the centre ; there is a crash es it strikes the king pin, and then all ten pins with one accord topple into the pit. The bowling assumes a new aspect ; it is something to occupy his mind. He says nothing more, except: "What you told me six months as?o final i'o And the girl, with tightly compressed lips, mutters: "Yes." Bang! go the bails down the alley now. The pin-boys wonder what has come into that tall, dark-haired man, that he is so reckless. He nearly kills two of them, when they shout back "Take care, there!" and Jerome echoes "Take care !" He feels that one boy more or less is of no consequence, and he begins to be very polite and talk commonplaces with Agnes Lan caster. Has she been having a good time this winter? and is she going out es would much? and are there to be a ere many dances? He says that he is sorrv he is not going to be there, for he ha naa a great many cnarming waltz witn miss .Lancaster, and he luxe 10 nave a great many more. And until the bowling party is o?er he talks about a great many things which he forgets the moment they are said. And when the jseople begin to o and Agnes leaves him, Jerome re mains with' Miss Aspinwall-Jones aad a lot of people he hasn't seen for a long time. He enjoys . himself thor oughly juntil it suddenly occurs to him that he ought, to be very miserable. But when he leaves the building; and walks home alone he finds hiniself bitterly regretting thit. it is all over with Agne3. It has been thawing all day and tho walks are covered with slush. Jerome has to pass through a narrow street, and he sees the outlines of tall build ings against the clear sky A whistle blows in a factory not far away. Sleighs grate along the streets, which are denuded of snotf, so that the bare stones show here and there in patches. , mi ; 1 L " ' i 1 . jLue water Btreama across lae wait ia places, through which Jerome splashes ' recklessly. As he walks absently to- j ward his room he unwittingly cuts a j number pf his acquaintances. He realizes for the first time that he is getting old. The familiar street3 that seem unfamiliar with their life and bustle, and the cries of the news boys and( the sound of cabs and drays and sleighs, and the familiar old build ingsall these things force them selves on1 his mind in. a way that makes him realize how far back his memory goes, and how long ago are the gool times that have gone. He dines with a half dozen men at his club and reconsiders his determination not to goi to the dance that night at Uisa Aspfn wall-Jones's. The good comrade ship rather pulls him out of his fit of the blues and he gets away early for a short walk by himself, " and then he goes over to the dance. When he gets to the house there is a misunderstand-, ing somewhere. Jerome is sent up stairs ami goes absently into the room assigned jtp the men for the coats at least Jerome thinks it is the room. It is dimly lighted,. and he throws his coat down on a chair and feels for a cigarettej for it is very early and ho means to while away the time until, some of the other men come. Then, all at once, .from a far corner of tho room, helhears something that sounds very much like a sob. And he sees the figure of a girl, with her back to ward him, and her head bowed. "Odd,7 he mutters. "Very odd, indeed. (Deuced awkward, too, by Jove! Better get out! Stupidity some-:i where!" -j . But Jerome does not go out, for h& recognizes something in the tnrn of the shoulders that are bent away from him, and instead of escaping he merely stands there pulling nervously at a glove. He step3 forward and then stopi again, hesitating. Then all at once the girl draws herself up and stands looking at him blankly. It is Agnes! It does; not occut to Jerome that he should account for his presence. All minor considerations are swept aside, and he knows that the one last chanco has comej He draws back, however, for she may onlyj frown and look bored, and answer in that cold and flippant man ner of hers he knows so well.- Bat J erome ha3 not seen the pained look in her eyes give way and lose itself the moment she caught sight of him. Man like he ha not fathomed the meaning of the gleaming as it flashes forth one brief instant only to be veiled by tha lowered lids that close over those tell" tale eyesi He only kxjows that tin tears are gone from her face, and that down stairs in the music room they are playing "In Old Madrid." - The long swaying rhythm of tho Spanish music comes up to them lika the sound of water beating on a far away beach. His step unconsciously keeps time to the music, his arm3 are stretched oufc, and the cold, self-possessed1 young woman of the afternoon forgets herself, for Rh does not repsi him and! Agnes Lancaster, who h- i i i
Eastern Courier (Hertford, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 20, 1895, edition 1
6
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