Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1871-10-28

somewhere.
Nonsense, dearl, said Fred, kissing me.
earth, and think more about love than Fanny
does, III warrsnti"
The next Thursday we were expecting Kitty
Lang to tea, with two homesick girls she had
discovered, who had come up from the country
to learn the milliner's trade. Fanny and few
around making preparations; for j meant TO
have delicious chicken salad tor supper, bis
cult and coffee, and some of Fanny's wonderful
cakes and tarts. Every thing came from the
stove a perfect success. BERTHE was good as a
little cherub, and kept his white frock clean all
day. Fanny and finished every thing by three
O'Clock, and were congratulating ourselves,
when suddenly theIclouds began to gather, the
wind rose to almost hurricane, and in half an
hour the rain was pouring down in torrents.
We said it might be only shower that would
pass of, and so kept hoping till half past five,
when the skies seemed blacker than ever, andit
was evidently setting in for wild, stormy night.
do you suppose they will Gomez" L asked
Fanny, thinking to myself how many weary
blocks away Kitty LaDgs boarding house was.
Fanny shook her head.
Kitty hasn't any overshoes, know" she
said, 'and her umbrella is broken. 4 don't be-
heve they will come"
And they did not come. We waited and
waited, till at last 1 began to think even Fred
himself would not get home, he was so late. But
at seven L heard him rushing in at the hall
door, and his voice telling some one where to set
the umbrella.
"Oh. / hope he has brought Nevins!" 1 ex-
Claimed, running out
But it was not Nevins. nor any one L knew;
only a red-haired, shrewd-looking boy about
fourteen years old, who, Fred explained, had
just been taken into the Office as an errand-bo
with chance to work his way up. And Fred
added, with smile, that the little fellow meant
TO be one OF the firm vet.
don't think ever saw smarter boy in my
Hfe-a perfect specimen of young America
wide awake, keen, not bit afraid. If he had
been six years older, Fred said afterward, he
should not have thought of inviting so self-suffi
Gent young man to our" Thursday evenings
But, as 1t was, 1t was the very courage OF the
boy that won ON his sympathy thinking of all
the probable disappointments, temptations, and
pitfalls that lay before the unconscious little
fellow. His name was Roger. left him i'm the
sitting room with Fanny, and hurried to boil my
coffee, which made. none the less nice be-
cause we had only this little waif to share it with
us.
And didn't he enjoy his supper! Ihave known
appetite than Roger! He thought the chicken
salad bully" and regarded Fanny's tarts with
especial favor. He got acquainted with the ut
about his widowed m0the1 howl a
they had lived, and about the bit of property
that lay in the bank waiting for him to be
o and into He spoke
If I'm going to climb the ladder, suppose
the right place to begin is at the bOttom!'
IL rained harder than ever after tea; but we
ourselves. Roger seemed pleased with every
thing-played with BERTHE, whom he called a
"cunning little shaver" looked through the
sterescope, examined the albums, and finally
SAT down opposite Fanny. He seemed to take
the greatest fancy to Fanny from the very first,
ana his eyes were wandering toward her cOntin-
ually He found she was from England, and
then he piled her with questions about what
parts Of 1T she had seen, in what county she had
lived, and how long since she had left there.
She was more amused at his curiosity than Of
tended, and answered him fully, as one would
tell stories of long ago to a child.
Fred sat reading his newspaper, and presently
called our attention. to curious account, which
he read aloud, of returned soldier looking in
vain for his only sister for years. She had heard
he was dead, had married, and gone West. The
name Of her husband he could not learn, nor
where she went; and so had searched and in
quired throughout the country for three years,
without finding any clew, till one day he met her
face to face in little village post office in some
remote part of Michigan.
This led to a conversation on the WAYS in
which friends might be lost to each other and
Roger frightened up. He evidently had story
"That is like what has happened to my
Strip
Fred laid down his paper indulgently to listen,
be by the talk about her English home sat with
dreamy sorrowful eyes, looking off into vacancy
So Roger began: 90 You ought to see my
brother Phil; he's splendid fellow. He's only
my halt-brother, but / love him just as well
He don't look like me: he has black, curly hair
and Is real handsome. He's a smart business
fellow, too and he is twenty nine years old; but
he don't get married, because he can't find the
girl he's in love with, though he has hunted high
and low. You see, the firm he worked for sent
him To England three or four years ago to see TO
some agency, and there, in some little village,
he fell in love on Sunday with girl that sung
In the choir. You ought to hear him tell about
her voice, and how pretty she was. He got ac-
quainted, and saw Der all he could, and found
she was just as nice as he thought for and he
thinks she was beginning to like him Titles
anyway, he at last made up his mind to propose
to her the very next day, when telegram came
and took him of as quick as wink to Liver
pool; and from there he had to 90 to Edinburgh
and wait a good while about something; and
then. he was sent to Paris; and, one way and
another, 1t was too months before he could get
back to the village where the girl lived. And
then he found that the old folks had taken a
sudden notion, and sold out and gone to
America, taking his little English daisy as he
called her, without leaving any word or clew by
which he could find them. He came back to
New York as quick as ever he could, and made
all sorts of inquiries, and advertised, but il
wasn't any use. And he'd be just about heart
broken If he didn't keep hoping to find her some
day. Every time he hears of such family he
hunts them up. He's away OF in San Francisco
now on business, and expect he'll search Cali
fornia through before he leaves, thinking she
may possibly be there. Isn't 1t too bad, Mr..
Brown? feel so sorry for him--she was such
nice, pretty girl. 1 should know her in a min
ute II L saw.her: / am sure L should, for he has
told me just how she looks, with smooth golden
hair, you know, and shining dark brown eyes.
ded, excitedly. For the last five minutet his
eyes had been eagerly fixed on Fanny, and hers
as eagerly on him, and now she turned away
and burst into tears.
He sprang toward her. "Say!" he exclaimed
g :, Fanny Gray, aren't you my brother PILLS
Fanny Gray?"
OF course she was! And wasn't it splendid?
And didn't have the romance L wanted to per-
lection? She, poor child, had thought, perhaps
after all, he did not care for her, because he had
gone without speaking; and so she left no mes
sage, never dreaming but what he could find
them easily enough in America if he wanted to-
But she loved him with her whole heart; and
that was why, when she realized how hopelessy
they were lost to each other, the brood ng, visit
full, sad, Evangeline look came into her eyes
and dwelt there.
A telegram sped to San Francisco the next
day, and just as quick the noble through
train on the Pacific Railroad could bring him.
Philip Bolton came. liked him the moment
saw him; and oh! how proud and glad he looked
when he had his "little English daisy in his
arms!
Well, of course he wanted to be married right
away, and that broke up all the fine plan of
Fanny's going to take care of the little Royal
children. They had a quiet morning wedding
In our parlor, with no guests but the Royals, and
nj airy Rush and Kitty Lang, and poor old New
in Pills home was in another town, and
there he took our Fanny; but hear from them
often, and they are always doing well and al
ways happy. Said not that Providence had
meant Fanny to be a sunshiny little wife and
housekeeper and mother!