A Bar Harbour Tale
BY
F. MARION CRAWFORD
AUTHOR OF "MR. ISAACS," "SARACINESCA,"
"KATHARINE LAUDERDALE," ETC
New York
MACMILLAN AND COMPANY
AND LONDON
1894
All rights reserved
COPYRIGHT, 1894,
BY F. MARION CRAWFORD.
Norwood Press:
J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith
Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
LOVE IN IDLENESS.
"I'm going to stay with the threeMiss Miners at the Trehearnes' place,"said Louis Lawrence, looking downinto the blue water as he leaned overthe rail of the Sappho, on the sunnyside of the steamer. "They're takingcare of Miss Trehearne while hermother is away at Karlsbad withMr. Trehearne," he added, in furtherexplanation.
"Yes," answered Professor Knowles,his companion. "Yes," he repeatedvaguely, a moment later.
"It's fun for the three Miss Miners,having such a place all to themselvesfor the summer," continued youngLawrence. "It's less amusing for MissTrehearne, I daresay. I suppose I'masked to enliven things. It can't beexactly gay in their establishment."
"I don't know any of them," observedthe Professor, who was a Bostonman. "The probability is that I nevershall. Who are the three Miss Miners,and who is Miss Trehearne?"
"Oh—you don't know them!" Lawrence'svoice expressed his surprise thatthere should be any one who did notknow the ladies in question. "Well—they'rethree old maids, you know."
"Excuse me, I don't know. Oldmaid is such a vague term. How oldmust a maid be, to be an old maid?"
"Oh—it isn't age that makes oldmaids. It's the absence of youth.They're born so."
"A pleasing paradox," remarked theProfessor, his exaggerated jaw seemingto check the uneasy smile, as itattacked the gravity of his colourless thinlips.
His head, in the full face view, wasnot too large for his body, which, inthe two dimensions of length andbreadth, was well proportioned. Theabsence of the third dimension, that is,of bodily thickness, was very apparentwhen he was seen sideways, while theexaggeration of the skull was alsonoticeable only in profile. The foreheadand the long delicate jaw wereunnaturally prominent; the ear was set muchtoo far back, and there was nodevelopment over the eyes, while the nosewas small, thin, and sharp, as thoughcut out of letter paper.
"It's not a paradox," said Lawrence,whose respect for professorialstatements was small. "The three MissMiners were old maids before theywere born. They're not particularlyold, except Cordelia. She must beover forty. Augusta is the youngest—aboutthirty-two, I should think. Thenthere's the middle one—she'sElizabeth, you know—she's no particularage. Cordelia must have beenpretty—in a former state. Lots of brownhair and beautiful teeth. But she hasthe religious smile—what they put onwhen they sing hymns, don't you know?It's chronic. Good teeth andresignation did it. She's good all through,but you get all through her so soon!Elizabeth's clever—comparatively.She's brown, and round, and fat, andugly. I'd like to paint her portrait.She's really by far the most attractive.As for Augusta—"
"Well? What about Augusta?"enquired the Professor, as Lawrencepaused.
"Oh—she's awful! She's theaccomplished one."
"I thought you said that the middleone—what's her name?—was