The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-08-22
From the Sunday Magazine.
LAURA RICHMOND.
BY JEAN INGELow.
CHAPTER v.

Lolly-do. She wants you to marry
her so much, don't you, Lolly? and we
want to go to the wedding. e. q
Dicks self possession so utterly
failed him, that he sat stalk still; and
the Ridiculous reason which came out
az sufficient to bring him to this fam
ily arrangement struck him so forcibly,
that in spite of himself he burst into
an irresistible ft oflaughing
Come along" he exclaimed, as
soon as he could recover tits time we
were off," and he shook himself free
of the boys OBTAINING arms, and was
wondering how he could turn round
and look at Laura, when, to his relief,
he heard the door open and shut
again. She was gone; and he wished
and so did she, that she had had the
sense and foresight to retire before.
well, / never did feel so utterly
put out Of countenance said Dick,
marching across the garden, with his
face still all aglow. 1.-THE only draw
back to being with children is that
they now and then say such disaster
Gus things. Wants to marry you SO
muchr Well,sif it had been said of
any of the other girls in the neigh
borhoodl But this particular one, if
she has such wish, has certainly the
grace to keep it to herself. | know
nothing of her; and, upon my word, 1t
was too bad. Il nustibe particul arly
civil to her this afternoon"
Here the children overlook him;
and he told them a story all the way
home by wayIof making them forget
this matrimonial conversation.
In the afternooa Laura did not ap
pear.
Il wonder" thought Dick, whether
she minds it much. and whether she
was much put out of countenance. "
Probably she was; for the next day
he met her. suddenly in the road land
she was so pain ully embarrassed that
though he greeted her with the most
successful air of. Inconsistencies, she
stammered, blushed, and could not
look at him. So in pity to her he was
obliged to take his leave, instead of
turning and walking little way with
her as he had intended. 'lo T
She was very successful afterthat in
keeping out of his way; did not enter
her brothers house, nor sit in the
drawing room at home, least he should
comesin. Yetat the end Of aweek
when he did encounter her, she was
still shy, still abashed. 9u.8 g3n10
Poor little girll'' he thought
(Laura was as tail as most other wo-
men.) What is to be done? I must
manage to restore her self-respect if |
can.
But for several days after this he
did not see her, and then she dined at
her brothers house, and avoided him
with such bashful persistency, that he
was afraid every one would notice 1t
was very real feeling, that was evil
dent, and it seemed to grow upon her.
So Dick revolyed the matter In his
mind, and decided that he would speak
to her about it in a plain, simple man
ner, just as if he was relative and
much older than herself-would as
sure her that he knew the children
had quite misinterpreted her senti-
ments-and talk afterwards about
other things till she was again at her
ease. 5tE
This conversation was to begin
somewhat in this way: he was to re-
mark that children often make ridicu-
lous speeches, and she, knowing what
was coming, was to turn her young
face away and blush. He knew ex-
actly how she would look when she
blushed; but he did not care for any
thing but to set matters right; he felt
no other interest In the conversation
that he thus rehearsed beforehand. :
LAS our little niece and nephew did
the other day." he meant to add, and
then he was to tell her how absurd
they had both been to be so sensitive
about it for his part it was only for
the moment, but as she felt the mat
ter. STILL" &C., &c.
And then he meant to say things
which would show her that he was a
man of somewhat mature age who had
seen good deal of life, and she was
a young. inexperienced creature, and
he could assure her that she ought
never to bestow another thought upon
this nonsense, and she was to say she
would not, and they were to part
friends. rg s-r -.s-5,s
'Only." thought Mr.. Richard Yer
non, 1T behooyes me to be careful not
to produce second misunderstanding
while | am correcting the first If
he was making mistake himself In
so thinking, he should not be severely
blamed, for several women as young
and fairer than Laura had helped him
in the making of it, and were helping
him still
So he watched. his opportunity, anu
one morning, when Laura's mother
and her sisters were out, he again APP
preached her window from the gar
den, taking care to sing an air as he
came along which should prevent his
taking her at.unawares. ea q
oh, Laura he said when he