The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-01-06
Ghtqntettigetrar:
MISS BROWN.
A CHARMING LOVE STORY.
From Chambers journal.
[coEcLUDEcl tei
CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XII.
But tine week went on, and no letter
came. At first, she did not wonder at
this; she said TO herself, when she thought
quietly over their interview, that II was
not likely that he would have time TO sit
down 10 write letter 10 her, and that he
could only have spoken Of doing so from
an impulse Of kindlincsS, which made him
wish tOsOllen the apparent llniriendliness
OF their hurried parting, He seemed TO
he full OF business, and he had told her
that he was on the point Of starting for
Australia. Ofcourse, 1t was possible that
he might have some wish TO hear more OF
her history during the last twenty years,
and 10 tell her something more ofhis own
than there had been time for in that brief,
confused quarter OF an hour. But IL Ills
business obliged him TO return the follow
ing week to Winchester, 1t was not likely
that he would give himself the trouble d
writing what could more easily be talked
Of during IN afternoon call. .f f,
In spite, however, Of these reasonable
reflections, she became depressed and dis.
appointed as day after day passed and
brought her no letter. Certainly, he hui
spoken of writing, and 1t was NOT like him
it used not TO be like him, at lcast-to
make empty promises. What ifhe equally
tailed 10 keep his promise OF coming back
To see her When she thought OF this
possibility, she could almost have wished
that they had not met again at all; for
before that day she had been trying to
feel cnntented, and reconcile herself to
the old weary life, and now It seemed US
il the uphill work must be begun all over
again. Would 1t not have been better for
her not TO have met him2 Yet she could
not quite agree to this. She could not
help recolleCting how he had called her
Lilly" and how pleasant it had been TO
hear the old, half.forgotten name; and she
knew that II made her happier TO think
that he had met and remembered her,
even though she might SEQ no more of
him.
During this week, she got u letter from
MIR. Dixon. He had been thinking that
he would like to hear something Of her.
tie had written, on some pretence of bust
ness, TO MIR. Finch; but Mr.. Finch had
gone TO London ,'and from him Mr.. Dixon
would hear nothing Of Major FOrtescue's
proceedings for MIR. Finch was now very
cautious, and having had cause to distru3t
Mr.. Dixon, he would not now say more
To him than he could help. Then he de-
termned to write to Priscilla herself He
did 50 without letting his sister know OF
it; md he wrote his letter very skillfully
and Carelully,'and much TO his own sat.
inInnttnF, Tul,f1n I,n nI,nyVnl
that he was still interested in her and her
affairs, lie left it uncertain whether the in.
tcrest was or was not purely cousinly.
And he put his letter into the post one
morning during his early walk, and then
went home to breakfast with comlorta.
BILE certainty in his mind that he was
keeping things in convenient train for
further action, according rs might seem
advisable.
Ills letter reached Miss Brown one
evening towards the end OF the week oil
waiting. She saw the postman coming
down the street rs she stood watching at
her window; within the last few days she
had taken to watching for him as she had
never used TO watch before. She saw
him cross the street, and come straight TO
her door; and before, in her furry Of hope
and joy, she had remembered that she
had more than one probable correspond.
ent, Il letter was brought her She caught
it up in nervous, trembling cagerness, and
SAW ut once that it was from Robert
Dixon.
In her first veXatiOn, she did not open
the letter for some moments; then, re.
hnked by a sense of duty, she opened 1t,
and read it through, but with so much
impotence and wandering Of mind, that
It is TO be feared that she missed both the
lorce and delicacy Of the deliberately
turned sentences; and at the end pre-
served only confused notion that Robert
wrote less clever letters than she had i'm
agined. And then she threw II aside-no,
she actually tore it up, thing she had
never done with an unanswered letter in
her lie before. She hated the sight OF
that decciving envelope, and made haste
to get rid Of it.
The next day was the one which Mr..
Lawrence had spoken OF as the day OF
his return to Winchester, the day on which
he might come TO see her. She was wary
now of allowing herself TO expect any
thing, and she assured herself that she did
not expect to see him. Yet she rose ear.
lier than usual, pretending to herself that
she did so on account of the extra fineness
oI the morning, and dressed herself very
carefully, as for great and festive day.
She had been attempted 10 put on one OF
her handsome dresses, one Of the rich silks
that were lying carefully folded up in her
drawers, and which she shrank from
wearing as II they had been stolen goods
She took out soft, glossy, violet silk, and
held itup, and spread it out on her bed,
and gazed at il admiringly, and remem.
bered how becoming II used to be TO her,
and how well she had looked in it. Might
she not put it on to-day? When he had
met her, she had been so shabbily dress.
cd; she must have looked SO old and
faded She would not like him to pre-.
serve such recollection Of her. To-day,
At least, she would like once more to look
her very best.
No; 1t must not be. What right had
she TO deck herself out in costly silk and
rich lace? She was very poor; and her
natural good taste and sense oil fitness, no
less than her honesty, made the wearing
Of such dress no longer possible to her.
So, not without paRg OF regret. she put
the violet silk away again into its drawer,
and put on q plain gray gown of some
thin, soft stuiE, which was indeed IL better
dress than her ordinary morning one, but
still cheap, common, and severely simple.
And yet what pains the arrangement even
OF this unpretending robe cost her! How
anXiously she scrutlnized the set Of her
collar, and how often she tied and united
the ribbon which fastened it! Great
sGarchings Of heart did even this poor
little blue ribbon occasion her. Was It
too girlish, TOO gays? Did il make her
look rs il she were trying to seem young
aud pretty again? She could quite recol.
lcCt certain white muslin dress with q
blue ribbon which she had worn on the