The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-12-21

Frank; and, somehow, friends face
seems oil the more worth seeing,
when you have ridden over fifty miles
of green slope and swell with that
sole end in view In fact, L think q
man must go to the bush before he
really understands the meaning of
the word 'neighbor.' No offence,
you know, old boy"
"None in the world; but, for gen
tleman of passably engaging man
ners, decidedly handsome means, in
q moderately populous and sociably
disposed neighborhood, to com,,ain
OF solitude, and talk Of flying to the
bush for society, strikes me as a fact
requiring explanation. If Charles
wood and The Wild are dull, fill them
with friendly faces, dear lad; they are
never turned away from such rs thee" "
But Jack shook his head.
THE dear old country seems to
have grown small, Frank. I feel in
the way here"
We were just at the end of the sha-
dowy avenue of lines, as he smoke.
and, the next instant, there was a
talnt rustic among the withered leaves
on the grass, and my Cousin Beatty
gllded into it and faced us. We both
started e little, but the little lady held
out her hand to Mr., Mortimer with
ever so quiet smile, and then swept
away before we could turn and accom-
pany her.
Jack looked after her for an in
stant, and there was trouble in his
eye.
''Miss Francis is not looking we'll"
he said; ''she has grown thin and
pale
".
There was no prettier and cosier
room III all comfortable and pictur
esque old Meadowsleigh than that
one appropriated to its master. and
called ''Mr. Marchmont's study 1t
was sacred to myself, and I was charv
OF allowing the intrusion Of nv house
hold across its threshold, feeling that
the business in which [ talked So
lemnly of being engaged during a
quiet hour or so, when it pleased me
to retire from the bosom of NV
family into its comfortable seclusion.
might, perhaps, suffer in the respect
OF its members, if they found how
often it was transacted with a cigar
between my lips and i'll position OF
redundancy on lounge constructed
with many cunning contrivances for
insuring the greatest amount Of com
fort, with the least expenditure of ef-
fort, on the part Of the individual
who sought its sleepy hollow.
The fire had sunk down into q deep
red glow on the tesselated hearth, nv
favorite hound was sleeping peace
fully In its heat, all the room was full
of brooding shadows, and that waver-
ing glow from the fire only very
dimly defined the large person of
Jack Mortimer, as he lay extended
very much at his ease on that same
lounge.
A tap at the long window thai
opens upon the shrubbery.
elf ye please, sir, Jones would
thank ye to walk down to the stable
Lady Betty went dead lame to-day.
sir, while one of the boys had her out
exercising, Sir"
Uttering an anathema upon boys
in general, and stable boys in parti-
cular, [ caught up my cap, and has
tened away, without word of excuse
to Jack, who was, moreover, fast
asleep.
[ might, perhaps, have been alb
sent half an hour, for I had to wait
the veterinary surgeons arrival and
report upon the disaster of my favor
lite mare; and when I presently re-
entered my sanctum, which I did by
the window, as I departed, I stood
still moment surveying the sight
that presented itself to my eyes.
Not with surprise-no-I fiatter
myself l had entirely overcome any
tendency to that emotion where Jack
Mortimer and my Cousin Beatty were
concerned; for, of course, those young
people composed the tableau on which
looked.
1t was not otherwise than O pretty
one; [ am bound to confess that
There was Jack seated easily back on
my favorite resting-place, and by his
side-and so very close, that Jacks
arm could scarce have found posi-
tion anywhere but round her waist
nestled Miss Beatty. AS far as I
knew, he had hardly hitherto touched
the little inger-tips of my pretty
cousin, and now-lo-butI 1 was calm,
and advanced into the charmed circle
within the fire-lipht as If for q Ia6v