Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-11-19

SlAty-l1Ve, utterly Dditt tiLo Slo"h
ly thin, sat over his salitary-.fire.
sit is queer how old >ftncies hang on
he said to himself II suppose could have
any beautiful young girl Eschose to pro
pose to- tan old bachelor always believes
that and the older he grows and the ugllel
he gets, the stron ger this strange halluci
nation becomes). s:But | am fonder OF
Priscilla than anylcf them.
s'She is changed, Of course; not pretty
now, and suppose other men think her
an old woman; but she's a darling yet,
and if can get her to marry Il third time,
and come here and live in the old house
made ready for her when she was seven
teen, the end of my life will be its hap
! piest, and God bless her! III try my best
to make her happy tco.''
Then he went to his desk and looked at
a bit of ribbon she had dropped from her
hair the day she was first a bride, and that
he had saved al these years, and kissed it.
and taking his cane The hal already mad a
| twlnge or two of rheu natism) vent to call
upon his Cousin Priscilla.
Portly and rosy, she sat knitting at her
fire, neatly clad in widows weeds. OPP
posite her sat stout gentleman, perhaps
two or three years her junior.
This is my neXt-door neigllbor, MI.
Packer, Cousin Tomlinson,' she said.
Tomlinson bowel-so did Mr.. P.
s'Any relative of Mrs. Wincher's Pm
delighted to know, I'm sure" he said.
with great EN- phasis; but he did not go.
/ It is etiquette for one caller to leave
soon after the arrival of another. Cousin
Tomlinson knew this, but perhaps Mr..
Packer did not AT all events he sat and
sat, and talked and talked, until Tomlin :
son, rising, said:
"Cousin Priscilla, will you see me to the
door? I've a word TO say to you"
She smiled and went into the hall with
him. He drew the door shut.
s'He pays long calls. | see,'' he said, in
dicating Mr.. Packer.
Something like blush mounted to Pris-
elias face.
"Perhaps he thinks he has right to do
500 she said: ''I'm glad you called to-
night for when a woman of my age takes
such a step, she DOESN'T like to break it to
her friends herself You must do it for
me, cousin. You must mention that am
engaged to Mr.. Packer. He is worthy
man, and respects me very much, and has
fourteen motherIess children, and our es-
tates join, and I am lonesome-O, SO lone
some! And when people at our time Of
life do this sort of thing, what is the use
OF delay ? | shall of course not marry be-
fore the year is out: but then
Poor Tomlinson, he sat down on the hall
chair, and excused the act by speaking of
his late attack of rheumatism. Then he
added apropos Of her late words:
eyes, yes, delays are dangerous"
And then he said, very softly:
swell, well! Goodbye, Cousin Priscil-
la! Goodbye! -
And he held her hand longer than he
had ever before, and for the last time in
his life, and went down the long gravel
path She looked after him.
'He's an old man now, God bless him."
she said '.but how trim and straight he
is"
Then the thought that had haunted all
her life flashed into her heart for an i'll
slant, and W rmed it back to youth.
9'Ah, no fool like an old FOOL she said
and went back to Mr.. Packer, who had
meanwhile refreshed himself with II short
nap, with his head against the paper, and
burst out of it with confused apologies
Mr.. Packer outlived his wife, and Mr..
Tomlinson died before she did He never
made up his mind about her after that
day.