The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-07-17
now that I was an old maid, because

now that was an Old maid, because
I had never had nm offer. I lust
wonder what Ariel would say. I
guess won'ttel her; she would only
laugh at me-" ss -
"Mr. GroverW -
L ssShow him in, Biddy, I am quite
at leisure to receive him. y
And our hero, entirely innocent of
the pending storm that was awaiting
him, walked into Miss Exparience's
awful presence, with bundle of title
deeds in his hand. tied with the
official looking red tape of his pro-
fession. ~A '3sN f.-
"Good afternoon. Miss Expert
ence."
"Ain't you ashamed of yourself,
Harry Grover?" calculated the spin
ster, in q deep, stern voice. ''Get
along with yourself, maxim love to
nm old woman more'n twice as old as
you be, just because she's got little
money? What do you take me for,
hey? Don't stand starin' there!
Walk out of the room, quick, or I'll
throw the big dictionary at your
head No, NO, no! Now you have
got your answer plain enough! I
wouldn't marry you if there wasn't
another man in the whole of the
townW
Harry Grover was little appalled,
at this charge OF horse and foot, but
he stood his ground manfully, not
even quailing at the big dictionary.
''But, Miss Browne, will you hear
me moment? I don't want you to
marry me. What has put this strange
fancy into your head?"
'You don't want to marry me?
Then what in the mischief does this
letter mean, I'd like to know"
"May I look at it?'
Harry took the letter and glanced
ut it. Its contents threw O new light
on the unaccountable state of affairs.
"Good Cupid what blockhead-
what an unmitigated, inexcusable,
incompatible donkey I have been!
What could I have been thinking
about?"
"Hey?" demanded the puzzled
spinster.
"Excuse me, ma'am, but there has
been-a-"
And without stopping to complete
his fragmentary sentence, he rushed
out of the room to the little bay
window parlor, where Ariel usually
sat.
"Well, I neverI' exclaimed Miss
Experience, as the door banged un-
tremendously in her face.
''Ariel! Miss Browner'
But Ariel turned haughtily from
the pleading eyes of her lover.
"Your letter is quite sufficient, sir;
need no further exponent of your
meaning"
"Ariel-darling-there has been an
absurd mistake; this is the letter
that was intended for you. The other
| was written to your aunt on bust
ness, and by some unaccountable
blunder got into the wrong envelope!
have been fool-a blockhead, but
love you, dearest, with all my heart!
Ariel! you will not send me away?"
No-Ariel did not send him away,
for the shy smiles and rosy bloom
were beginning to come back to her
face, as she read the real letter.
"But, Harry" she said, with q
roguish dimple at the corner of her
mouth, ''you must confess that Aunt
Experiences note had rather m un-
pleasant STYLE"
81 was careless reprobate," said
Harry, frankly, "but you see Judge
Cornell was watching me-"
And that was the end of all this
misunderstanding between Harry
Grover and Ariel Browne, thence
forth, forever.
Miss Experience was rather disap-
pointed in two things. She would
like to have sold the school-house
"corner lot," and she would like to
have said, that once, in the course of
her fifty-five years of life, she had an
offer of marriage.
However" said Miss Experience,
Ariel is very happy, and maybe
things are best as they are."