Omaha daily bee., 1874-05-08

HERO 1 inquired. I. was relieved
to find that she was innocent o.
aught that would have lowered bel
in my eyes. She was lost to me
forever, whether she accepted
Charles or not, but she was worthy
the place l had given her in my
heart. and would have given her in
nv house. Without giving him
time to reply, L went on: 4 have
too good an opinion of her to believe
that she will answer you without
consulting her mother
az begged her to say nothing to
any one.'
".Then either 1 rejoined, you
are more ignorant of the world than
l believed even a reading-man
could be, or you have endeavored
consciously to lead her to act as a
modest girl should not. Tray, what
reaso did you give for such a re-
quest"
"'This: that, in the event of her
taking me, some years must elapse
before I could marry and l should
dislike being pointed at as an en-
gagged man all that time ; and if she
refused me, it was no business OF
any one else.'
"sHIs COOL sELFISHNEss
e~xasperated me. 1 got up and
walked about the room. Good
heavensv 1 calculated; 'and you
are a very young man, and my
son.
"1Of course I did not put it quite
so broadly as that he observed,
rather alphabetically; but you ex-
pect confidence, and am not a man
of many words. 1 really took pains
to write a proper letter, ahd 1 think
succeeded. I always had a notion
that l should never marry. A col
lege life has been my object since l
was old enough to have one, and as
a rule, L find women a bore but
Dorothy is different from all other
women l knOw-suits me, in fact.
/ thought 1 should like to make sure
of her, and would not mind waiting
for her. You see, it could all go on
quietly enough. i should see her
here a great deal.'
az set my son down as utterly alb
normal, and / think 1 disliked him
for a minute, but l remembered his
poor mothers loving pride in him
as a little child, and relented.
".Have you any reason for eX-
pecting that Dorothy will accept
your inquired:
9.He leaned back comfortably,
put his hands in his pockets, and
said: Not exactly; but l do not see
why she should not; she is very fond
of us all. At any rate, 1 will let
you know rs soon as l get al an
swer.'
with that he seemed to consider
the conference over; and that he
was at liberty to leave the room. /
was glad when he was gone. / puz-
zled myself very much as to
HOW DOROTHY WOULD ACT
not as to whether she would accept
Charles-it never occurred to me to
discuss that with myself. Would
she tell her mother? Undeniably,
she would wish to do SO, for she was
opennesaj, Self; but she would be
unwilliisH4o annoy Charles, be-
cause he was myson; if for no other
reason. Would she write to me? or
would her father or mother write?
Unless they sent a special messen-
ger-and they guarded conscien-
tiously against needless small eX-
penses-there could be no letter till
the third day. In the interval,
there was no perceptable change in
Charles ways, except that he was
constrained when we were alone. /
imagined that he feared 1 should re-
new the subject, but / was not at
all inclined to do that. l had dis
covered a great gulf, unsupported
before, between myself and my
first-born. My life was placed in
a new groove, and did not-perhaps
never would-run easily in it,
and that odious gossip had given the
first impetus. l believe my hands
ITO BE CONTINUED.