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"sweet Brown Zaide!"

"sweet Brown Zaide!" image
Parent Issue
Day
18
Month
February
Year
1876
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Sweet Brown Zaide ! always pure and sweet in her neat brown snit, and the pretty brown hat and feather ! And that is why she was called "Sweet Brown Zaide," by Harry Brown, as day after day he eaw her pass his office. She passed twice a day, in fact - early in the morning, and late in the afternoon, and the young lawyer, who was fortunately quite independent of his profesaion, had grown strangely interested in the girl, even before he quite accidentally discovered her name to be Zaide ; and the peouliarity of her name only interested hún the more in its owner, She was not, as heroines are usutilly described, "fair as an angel," with heavenly blue eyes, and ethereal frame, with flowing curls of burnlshed gold brushed loosely back f rom a snowy forehead, - or, excuse me, I meant to cali it- broto. Quite the contrary, this Zaide was totally unlike an angel, and inclined to tlie brunette style of beauty. Her eyes were blue to be sure, but they had a dear little habit of turuing to black or gray, according to different lighta, so that her most intímate friends didn't feel willing to take oath upon the actual color of Zaide's eyes. Her hair was as unlike "burnished gold" as the dnrkeat of brown hnir can be, and iustoad of hanging loosely over her shoulders, in the usual untidy heroine style, was always as neatly braided and coiled, or arranged after its owner 's own fashion, as the style of the present day required. Far from ethereal was onr heroine's figure, since oue recognized veritable flosh and blood when Zaide appeared, and the stately, graceful gait oonvinced one that it would reqnire the strongest kind of tornado to waft this very human young person heavenward. I suppose not everybody would cali Zaide Buckley pretty, but those who loved her choose to think so, and Harry declared privately to his foolish heart that "nobody was l-.alf so beautiful," in his opinión, and bis heart of course agreed. So days and weeks passed and our hero could wait no longer to discover the young lady's name. But just as he mude up his mind to deliberately steal the coveted information in some way, chance favored him, and a mutual acquaintance who happened to be with him one morning when Zaide passed, informed him that "By George, there goes Miss Zaide Buckley 1 " "Do you know the yonng lady?" inquired Harry, quite indifferently. "Yes," was the reply ; "that is, I've met her in the choir of church. She sings there, and we are on bowinp terms, that's all. Believe she is teaching in one of the ward schools up this way." "Stately looking girl, isn't she ?" replied Harry, indifferently turning over a t ile of law papers, and appearing careless and unconcerned enough. "Well - y-e-s, rather," came the answer ; "but not my style - too hard to get acquainted with her. I hate your reserved women ! By-the-by, Brown, coming to the Club to-night ?" "O, I suppose so - going? Well.goodbye, old feUow !" and Harry is presently alone. "Name is Zaide, eh ?" he murmured, forgetting his law papers and everything else in fact but Zaide. "Teaches school near here ; by George ! that's too bad ! She ought to be a queen - my queen, for instance. Hard to get acquainted with too, White said. He 'bates reserved nomen,' does he? Well, say, God bless reserved women, if they are all like this one, who is the sweetest woman I ever saw ! Zaide, Zaide - sweet brown Zaide ! Yes, that's what I shall cali her, for she always wears brown, and, by George I brown is my favorito color !" (So green would have' been if Zaide had happened to wear it.) "Now Harry, don't go to the office so awful early this morning ! Don't you remember idice Moore is coming to visii us, and you mu.it meet her at tlie depot al teu u'uluuk. " Harry groaned inwardly and remembered who would pass his office precisely at quarter of nine. But since Mr. Brown's death Harry was the only masculine of his immediate famüy, so oi course to the depot he was obligedto go, relieving his feelings, however, by a mildly expressed wish that "Miss Alice be " his sister wasn't sure whether the last word was "hanged" or no, but she reproached Harry for non-politéness and then forgave him. Miss Moore was an adopted daughter of an old Indian - East Indian, yon know - and there was every reason to beliere that she cared more for the property than for him. He had long ago, in % mean business transaction, robbed a friend of large sums which no quibble of the law could recover from him, and this Alice was sole heiress to the man's legitímate as well as hiaill-gotten wealth. She had during a seaaon of travel made the acquaintance of Miss Brown, and in response to an invitation from the latter was now on her way for a viait of some weeks. Harry met her at the depot, escorted her to his home, then unceremoniously departed oflice-ward. Days slipped into weeks and Harrjr was tormentad by mother and sister with, "Do be more attentive to Alice ; süe i wurth more money thau you can ever make, and could buy us forty times over. Do try and win her if you can !" But the young lawyer meanwbile managed to put himself and Zaide Buckley on speaking terms, thanks to skillful manceuvering, and would not have exchanged her smüe and the dimple which alway accompanied it, for a hundred Alice Moores and all tlie wealth of the Indies. Moreover, he had got into the habit of walking up to the large building where Zaide spent tlie tiresome days, and then waiting till the boys and girls and teachers were at liberty to breathe, and theu, whether Zaide were willing or no, he would not leave her side until the ferry was crossod and site was safe at her own door. Meanwhile Harry's friend White was hard at work paying his addressos to Miss Moore, and quite convinced the heiress that no woman save herself could ever make him happy. She would have preferred, if choice had been allowed, to see Harry at her feet, but his heart was all bound up in Zaide, who had only her ealary and was very far from being an heiress. And if Miss Moore could have Been the devotion which shone out of the handsome fellow's eyes, and almost glorified his face, when Zaide was with him, she would surely have detected the spurious coin which White offered her for her wealth's sweet sake. Of course Mrs. and Miss Brown guessed nothing of all this romance of Harry's. They only knew he had more need to seem so devoted to business, and whereas his former honrs for joining his family had been two and threeo'clock, P. M., now it was seldom he appeared before half-past five, and then, as his sister once observed, "Bueiness must be splendid with Hal, he comes in so happy. Why, Harry, you look as joyous as though every wish of your heart were gratified." Well, so he was happy ! And why not ? Such a persistent lover, girl never before knew! "Miss Buckley" had long ago changed to "Miss Zaide," and presently "Zaidie" was quite enough, for with his whole heart and soul Harry Brown loved Zaide Buckley. She knew it, of course, long before he mustered courage to teil her so, and in her woman's heart she was glad. It had been simply impossible for her to resist his loving, coaxing heart, and at last she yielded and let him love her his own way - with eyes, and tongue, and hands, and with every little act of thoughtfulness his loving, happy heart prompted. What cared he for money if Zaide could not share it with him 1 He only wauted her sweet self,and none other in all the world. And one day he called his mother aaide and conflded all his secret to her mother-love. "I sm disappointed, my boy," she said, uadly, "for Alioe will be very rich, and you might have learned to loveher." But Harry argued the possibility of happineas without too much oí the "root of all evil ;" and the lady dismissed Mi Moore (rom her heart, making room for her son's choice wheu opportunity favored an iutroduction. Meanwhile young White had aeiznd his chance, and without one ounoe oí love in hifi heart, triumphantly asked th Browns to congratúlate him," &c. A. few iliiyH after Alice was summoned by telegram to the death-bed of her adopted parent, and White accompanied her to look after her comfort (or her money) - poor, bereaved girl ! Weeks passed. Juns oame with ita roses, and Harry grew daily more ntranced with his "Sweet, brown Zaide," as he still called her. She never made a fusa over him ! Not she ! Qniet, reserved, almost cold, she was, and if she had been called an ioeberg, I think it would ' sometimos have served her right. But Harry knew what a dear, warm heart hi love had reached, and not unfrequentlv that heart betrayed itself. "Cónldn t you flnd somebody better worth yonr loving than I am ?" she would aak now and then, and for answer he whisperod, : "Only mia Zaide." And what could sto do with suoh a persistent fellow. It ia one year since the East Tndian"ï death. Harry, in hi room dressing for his wedding, is handed a telegram whioh reads:- "Hal, old boy, Alice and I we married last night. Will be with you in three weeks. Hurrah ?" "Hum!" think Harry. "I can aay 'hurrah,' for within an hour Zaide, sweet, brown Zaide, will be very brown Zaide, or my name isn 't Brown. " Then he looks in the glass and sees a face with "Zaide" looking out of the eyes, and his arms fairly ache to close themselves round the graceful figure which he knows is even now being arrayed for the brid&L How long, think you, does it take thia impatient lover to drive to Zaide's house, to rush up to her room, and before the crowdof attendants and friends, clasp her close in his arma and kiss the sweet mouth till it fairly implores him "not to tumble the vad, at least till after the wedding !" Then follown a quieter season, during which Zaide Bnokley- "Sweet Brown Zaide" - is changed to "Sweet Zaide Brown," and vacation has commenced. "See, Harry, a lettpr f rom papa "exclaims Zaide one week after, and two heads are bent over the letter. Then a start - a puzzled face for Zaide, a laughing face for Harry, who reads aloud - "You will be surpriaed to learn that by the will of a former friend, one Bobert Moore, who robbed me years and years ago, you, my daughter, are possessed o? more than half his property. It seems his conscience troubled him, and the old rascal thought to atone for his gnilt by leaving this wealth to you in case you could be found. He doubtleas belived me 'dead, and I presume his daughter wishes you were. The lawyers searched among 'Buokley' for a year almost, and jnst found us in time to make the will valid. But the ways of Providence are past Onding ont, and it is a great comfort for me to know that my child is at last the rich woman she was bom to be, The rest of the letter doesn't concern us, Rn we will pass on to the time of Harry's return home. Of Alice White we will hear nothing more, but Harry was made conscious of his friend White'n presence one morning - just after he had kissed Zaide good-bye and startod for his office - by a doleful voice. whioh exclaimed: "Isay, Brown, old fellow, that was a shabby trick you played on me. Yon told me Alice was an heiress. " Harry couldn't restrain a smile, but he replied honestly: "Sorry for you White, but I believed all I told you. I married my wife for love, and if you had done the same for your wife, you'd say, 'Hang the will ! I've got my wife whether orno I"

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus