The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1875-08-05

blackbird. The notion, and Perry'i
transparent noHchalance, tickleC
Tom Grover so immensely that he
burst into open laughter.
well, Tom you might tell US the
> joke, l think" reproved his wife, for
= this unprovoked, unexplained mirtt
, exceeded the liberty of Liberty Hall
"You have heard OF 'COelebs In
search Of a Wife, / suppose ~
! said Tom, still laughing, addressine
Mrs. Gregory. swell, here is Coslebs
in fear Of one. There is a perpetual
conspiracy on the part of his unnat.
; urG! parent to introduce some design
Z ing young woman into the house,
and at such times he takes refuge
with me-"
"Indeed !" said Mrs. Gregory, with
an amued glance at Perry "and tC
thst we owe the honor of Mr.. Vance's
company at present ?"
Precisely; and now he is looking
daggers at me for not having warned
him that in coming here he was
jumping out of the frying-pan inUa
the fire. / shall have to bind YOU
over to keep the peace, Mrs. Greg
ory." ~g.
"Shsll take my oath that Mr..
Vance is in no danger from me ?'i
said Mrs. Gregory, gr&vely.
'iNo, pray don't, - interposed Perry,
calamity, 81 shouldn't wish you TO
perjure yourself"
"Now, now, Perry :" said Tom,
"that sort OF things 3 tempting OF
Providence"
"Just mingle yourself with your
| Va al,
politely put it," retOrted Perry, with q
laugh. ''Is this your Doasted hospi-
tality ?n
But tbough-piqued perhaps, by
that amused smile-he carried it off
bravely in his presence, Perry was by
no means easy in his mind. He re-
preached Tom openly as soon as they
were alone.
"Mrs. Gregory is young" he said, in
an injured tone.
"AlI the better for her." replied
Tom. easily. |---
"And pretty--yOu never told me
that. II had had any idea what
your widow was like, would never
have come into the house, can tell
you"
"Well," said Tom, taking 1t eoolly,
fyou're not obliged to stay, old boy.
This is Liberty Hall, you know, and
whenever you like you can walk out
Of il, and back into the arms of your
darling young person, only 40 need
to hurry on Mrs. GregOry's account,
/ for the wind blows in quite another
quarter. / rather fancy she was in
vited with an eye to Franks bene-
| fit."
Thus guaranteed, Perry thought he
might venture to stay the week ont.
And when the week was st an end,
and a trip to the mountains talked of,
he further concluded that it would be
safer to join the party than to return
to his own home, still, so far as he
knew, under the Wilkie domination.
So he dutifully wrote to his mother
that, as she would not miss him, hav-
ing her own friends with her, he
thought he might as well take the
] opportunity to accompany the Grov-
ers to the mountains, since they made
such point of it particularly as he
wished to see as much as possible Of
Frank, whose business would shortly
take him back to the West-and no
doubt Frank Grover, If he could have
known, would have been deeply
touched and gratified by his disinter-
ested friendship
By this time Perry's fear of Mrs.
Gregory had worn off. Secure IN the
belief that his personal freedom was
not threatened-fOr by long-suffering
this had become a monomainia with
him-he was resigned to find the
young widow as charming as she was
pretty in fact, if by wish be could
have made her old and ugly,he would
not have done il. It is dangerous
playing with edged tools, to be sure,
yet, when one is tolerably certain of
not cutting his fingers, the game is
rather an amusing one, all the more
if it is played with somebody else's
knife. Perry would have been not a
little astonished, if auy one had sug-
gested to him that he was "atten-
tive" to Mrs. Gregory, but to any un-
prejudiced observer it had much that
appearance. He would have argged
that he was fulfilling a guests first
duty, in making himself agreeable to
q young and pretty woman, who had
mo nonsense about her." and who,
moreover, was presumed the property
of another. That was the saving
Il CACuSC
ing over everything, by virtue OF
which he took the first place in
manner which, if that other had had
a well developed sense of his rights,
he must have found somewhat dis
composing. Frank Grover, hOwev-
eF, spent his days in kind of dolce
far niellte OF fishing and smoking, to-
tally Oblivious of any peculiar claim
on him, while the place he should
have filled was supplied by Perry,
with self-sacrifice beyond all praise.
1t was Perry who helped Mrs. Greg
ory up the hill Perry who blistered
his hands rowing her over the lake, in
The glare of the MONDAY sun, to a wa
ter lily patch Perry who sat by her
in the moonlight evenings under the
Potter's shingled piazza Perry, in
short, who, gradually and insensibly,
had become that thing of all others
most foreign to his nature, squire of
danes while the lazy Frank looked
on and chuckled at the transforma-
ton, but pFudently chuckled in pri-
vate, not to arouse Perryis suspicious.
On one occasion, however, the mis-
chief was nearly done.
It was one morning when Mr..
Vance had unaccountably disappear
ed. The others were finishing break
fast, when he entered at last, with q
glow on his countenance made up of
self-satisfactiOn and morning air.
"Three times the breakfast.oeIl did ring !;
Miss Potter thrice was heard to call
And thrice the barn-door fowl did sing,
Yet Perry slumberedsweet through Il all p
recited Tom, as a morning saluta.
ton.
"Ah, I am little late, 1 see,p said
Perry, taking his seat beside Mrs.
Gregory, who had little Cassie Potter
!, on her lap. and was eoncocting a COM
pound of short cake and coffee, with a
|. magnificent disregard of the child's
digestion.
"Oh. don't mention it only an
! hour or SO" replied Tom.
''GO to the ant, thou sluggard %
said Frank.
, 81 have been, but she was not up, /"
retorted Perry, adding, with rather
overdone carelessness. "Ry-the-by,
! Frank, did you notice the colors on
the lake at sunrise ."
"No, L did not" said Frank, en-
phatically. "Did you T' with high
} ly uufiattering accent.
az did, sIr-from the top o: Round
Hill"
/ "Where does the sun rise, Perry ?'
: asked Tom. "In the north or south?''
{ "Just over Larkyns' house,n an
swered Perry, $50 you can calculate
for yourself"
2 "Ah, you heard old Lsrkyns say 50,
{ else I'd bet dozen of champagne yoU
couldn't have answered my question
{ Mr.. Vance, you are humbug, anC
/ for the good CT society at large, 1 think
it my duty to relate little remin'
! iscence Of your youth which will show
you in your true light. Once upon g
: time, Mrs. Gregory, when was con.
$ siderably younger and fairer than
. am now, and as free as Coelebs, here
{ lucky fellow.-It happened that h'
and were together among the noun
e tRins, as it might be here-only II
wasn't. But that Is not the point. II
3 slso happened that one morning
4 arose at daybreSk. Now don't posC
~ - an