THE ROMANCE OF A ROSE.
Mr. Parkinson adjusted his hat, and darted a glance of indignation
at a fine-looking young man who had come to the rescue of Rose
Beaufort.
"This is an outrage, sir," he said, angrily.
Clinton Randall paid no attention to the discomfited Parkinson, but
asked Rose:
"Has this man annoyed you?"
"He forced his attentions upon me," answered Rose.
"If he has insulted you, I will take care that he is punished."
"Don't meddle with what is none of your business," said Parkinson,
furiously. "I have a good mind to horsewhip you."
"Make the attempt whenever you please, sir," said Randall,
significantly. "If ever I find you annoying this young lady again, I
shall probably give you a taste of the same medicine."
"Annoying?" sneered Parkinson. "I offered to make her my wife, if
you call that annoyance. Let me tell you that when a gentleman in
my position offers to marry a vest-maker she has reason to feel
complimented."
"She evidently does not," said Randall, not without sarcasm.
"Whether she is a vest-maker or not, she is evidently a young lady
and is entitled to be treated as such."
"She will be sorry for having made such a fuss," said Parkinson,
spitefully. "Miss Beaufort," he continued, turning to Rose, "you
need not trouble yourself to come to the store again for work, as I
shall decline to give you any. You may regret having treated me with
such scant courtesy."
"I had no intention of asking for more work," said Rose, coldly.
"Perhaps you have come into a fortune," sneered Parkinson.
"Enough of this!" said Randall, sternly. "This young lady has no
favors to ask of you. You had better go back to your master and
conduct yourself hereafter in a more becoming manner, or you may
repent it."
Here was a fresh outrage for poor Parkinson. In his own eyes he
was a man of very great importance, and to be told by this young
man, before a common vest-maker, to go back to his master, was very
humiliating. He was trying to think of some scathing retort, when
Randall, with a bow, offered his arm to Rose, and they walked away
together.
"I wonder whether she really doesn't care for any more work,"
thought Parkinson, "or is it only pretense? I dare say she will,
after a while, be coming round again for vests to make. If she does,
I shall have her in my power."
And the superintendent walked slowly back to the store, chafing
inwardly at his ill-success.
"I hope you won't allow yourself to think of this disagreeable
occurrence," said Clinton Randall, "or of this unmannerly cur."
"No, sir, thanks to your kindness, I shall have no occasion."
"He seemed spiteful. I hope it is not in his power to annoy you."
He said this, thinking that Rose might be dependent upon Parkinson
for work.
"Last week he might have done so," answered Rose. "I was engaged in
making vests for the store in which he is employed, and he might
have refused me work. Now, fortunately, thanks to a kind lady, I
have no further occasion to apply to him."
"I am heartily glad to hear it. Any connection with such a cur must
be disagreeable. Has he ever annoyed you before?"
"Never; and I was much surprised to-day when he followed me from the
store and pressed his attentions upon me."
"He is old enough to be your father--the old fool!" said Randall,
resentfully.
It seemed to him profanation that such a man should have thought of
appropriating the fresh beauty of the charming girl at his side.
"He thought I ought to regard myself honored by his proposal,"
said Rose, smiling, as she thought of the unromantic figure of her
elderly lover.
"He has found out by this time that you hold a different opinion.
If he should ever persecute you again, I hope I may be at hand to
rescue you once more."
"I am not likely to meet him, and have no further occasion to make
vests for a living. If you will kindly stop the next up-town car, I
will not longer detain you."
"Certainly," answered Randall; and as a car was just at hand, he
complied with her request.
He stood on the sidewalk, following, with his glances, the Broadway
car into which he had helped Rose.
"I wish I dare follow her, and find out who she is," said Randall
to himself; "but she might misinterpret my motive and class me with
that elderly reprobate with whom I was compelled to interfere. What
a charming girl she is! I never saw a sweeter expression, or a more
beautiful complexion."
He was in a day-dream, from which he was presently roused.
"What are you staring at, Randall?" asked a young man of about his
own age, slapping him on the shoulder. "You seem star-gazing."
"So I am."
"Star-gazing at midday?"
"It is a human star, Tudor. In short, it is a beautiful girl, whom I
have just helped into a car."
"Who is she?"
"I don't know, I'm sure."
"An unknown divinity, eh? Tell me about it, for there is evidently a
story under all this."
"A very short one. I found an elderly scamp annoying her, and
knocked his hat over his eyes."
"And, after having gallantly rescued her, you helped her into a car?"
"Exactly."
"And that is the whole of it?"
"I am afraid so."
"You don't mean to say you are struck at last, Randall--you who have
so long been the despair of manoeuvering mammas? Come, that would be
news, indeed!"
"I am not at all sure but I am. Tudor, I will say one thing, that I
never saw a sweeter face in all my wanderings."
"That's saying a good deal, for you have been all over the world.
And you don't know the young lady's name?"
"Haven't the slightest clew to it."
"Is she rich or poor, a stylish city lady or a rustic beauty?"
"I fancy she is not rich," said Randall, who, for some reason,
did not care to mention that she had been a vest-maker. To him it
mattered little, but his friend Tudor might be more fastidious, and
he was not willing to give him any chance to look down upon Rose.
"Couldn't you manage to ask her name?"
Randall shook his head.
"I tried to think of a pretext, but could not," he answered.
"You may meet her again."
"I hope to do so."
"And if you do?"
Randall smiled.
"Considering that it is not over ten minutes since I first set
eyes upon her, it is, perhaps, a little premature to consider that
question. I shall certainly try to meet her again."
The two young men sauntered up-town, and the conversation fell upon
other themes, but Clinton Randall seemed unusually thoughtful. Do
what he might, he could not help recurring again and again to the
fair face which he had seen for the first time that morning.
When Rose was at home again the matter seemed no longer serious to
her. Whenever she thought of Mr. Parkinson and his suit she felt
inclined to laugh.
"Addie," she said, "I have had a proposal this morning."
"A proposal!" repeated her sister, in surprise.
"Yes, an offer of marriage."
"You are not in earnest?"
"Indeed I am! I am not sure but I shall give you a brother-in-law."
"I wasn't aware that you knew any eligible young man."
"He isn't a young man. Let me describe him to you. His name is
Parkinson; he is somewhere between forty and fifty; he is partially
bald, and--I am not quite sure that he is not bow-legged."
"And you love him?" queried Adeline, mischievously. "If so, I
give my consent, for though I had hoped for a better-looking
brother-in-law, I am not willing that your young affections should
be blighted."
"Nonsense, Addie," returned Rose, half-vexed.
"Tell me all about it."
Rose did so, and her sister listened with fixed interest.
"And this young man who rescued you, and knocked your adorer's hat
over his eyes. I suppose he was a commonplace young man, red-haired
and freckled, perhaps?"
"Indeed he was not," said Rose, indignantly.
"Then he was handsome?"
"Yes, I think that he would be considered so."
"Take care you don't dream of him. It would be very
romantic--wouldn't it?--if you should marry him, as generally
happens in romances."
"Don't be a goose, Addie!" said Rose; but she did not seem annoyed.
Secretly, she thought Clinton Randall the most attractive young
man she had ever met, and wondered if fate would ever throw them
together again.