The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1871-08-10

be Imagined, very Indignant and at lir
iuercaulaus, but was GmUy convinced
and Of li. own uecar1 Btkuow lodged ths
be was greatly astouisAcd that tbo icur
should have been written by eIthgg Of tlt
Young ladies ia the car "a, thgy had giygl
him no encouragement whatever To- sHeab
20 them tbpre Ne than became very
angry at thc boys concerned ia the trick
and said he would have hom punished
before the school; but when Mr. Smith
mildly suggested tbat he o., the principal
actor would appear In rather a foolish
light should the story be known, the Uu.
fortunate Young man was obliged 90 con.
tent himself with d promise ofa p.rsouaI
apology from Tom and Charles, which
pledge the youths were daily obliged "a
perform. aud Eugene agreed 10 keep
quiet aud not try to dud the Young lBdio,
who had able protectors, as Mr., Smith iu.
formed him, TO put down bis inso'euco
should he attempt 10 DO so. Early Mon
day morning, therefore, our champion
saw The crest fallen youth. diamond and
all, depart in the first train for Land llo;
and Sac returned TO New York the next
afternoon, ali parties agreeing TO say
nothing further on tho subject, the few
boys who knew about it readily consent
ing, as should the story reach the ears OF
the Principal it was fany appreciated
that they would not easily escape q severe
punishment. Thus ends, perhaps rather
abruptly, the first edition Of my romance,
but, like all exciting tales, there is OF
course a sequel which aptly illustrates the
old maxim that "truth is stranger than
felton," for a more singular coincidence,
it would be difficult even for practised
story teller TO make mp.
Hardly awcek had gone by after Sue,
departure when one morning, upon my
return from a walk, was informed very
mysteriously by the servant that | was
wanted up stairs. | ran mp without a
thought of anything unpleasant and ell
tered my graadmothers room. There
sat the old lady erect and diguitcd, two
lady visitors beside her, and near table,
looking very grave and solemn was my
Uncle George, clergyman who lived a
short distance out of town aud of whom
/ stood rather in awe But the objects
that at once attracted my alarmed attcn-
ton were about a dozen of the most re-
markable looking letters, Of all shapes
and sizes, lying on the table all addressed
to my name in various and peculiar styles
of chirography. There was an ominous
silence for moment and then Uncle
George said, Katharine have just taken
from the post office these letters. They
are not fit looking articles for young
lady to receive, and therefore, in the alb
sence of your parents, | insist, in your
grandmother's name, that You open them
in our presence.
What could | say or dol Visions Of
Eugene yowing ycngence and other
equally disagreeablc ideas intrudcd them
selves unpleasautly upon my mind, but |
was determined to put bold face on the
matter, and meet the emergency with an
assumed bravado. Accordingly, | said,
with a forced laugh, why its only joke ;
give me the letters, and added with a
twinge of conscience, | know all about
them. Alas! feared | did, only too
well. ! thought my uncle and the others
looked little crest fallen when ! said il
was joke; but / was allowed to take the
terrible articles in peace and rushing into
my own room locked the door and with
trembling fingers tore open the upper
most letter. My worst fears were rcaliz.
ed There at the heading stared at the IN
flaming characters, copied verbatim
from the New York Hcr0H, the fatal
advertisement, only instead of tho initials
c. A. II. was written IN my full namc,
Miss Katharine Herbert. For a moment
| was almost paraltzcd with fear for ID
seemed TO me that this was proof positive
that the wrclched affair was known to the
public at large, but collected my scat
cred senses and began to read the letter.
It was certainly a regular reply to the adj
ycniscmcnt, but the vein in which it was
penued caused me at oGcc to suspect is
gcnuneuess, and so hastily opened o
second letter. and then a third and soon
convinced myself that the matter was
really joke, and jumped hastily TO the
conclusion that some Of my friends at
home had probably seen the original ad-
vcrtiscmcnt and thought it would be good
fun to make believe it was from me and
answered accordingly. So firm in this
conviction returned 10 graudmothcrs
room, and laughing, this time with real
gaycty, askcd il they would like to hear
the letters read. But how did you find
ont the joke, Kate? said Uncle George.
Your mother wrote to me that number
Of your friends had written these letter.
for fun and bad kept the matter q
profound secret, and She asked mo 10 call
at the post, 50 ! thought II would be
amusing 10 pretend to be angry aud
frighicn you little. But YOU spoiled
Il all by knowing beforehand: some one
must have turned traitor aud given you
lhc clue. I laughed aud said that was my
secret, aud it wa. indeed. lfben read all
The letters aloud, and as they were really
clever and amusing lbey caused consider
able mifth.
determined to eoutinua the joke BY
replying 70 them en- mas'e, pretending
had really advertised. and accordingly