Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1876-10-25

lowing day, which will be Friday. Will
that suit your"
"If you really think it's all right
Friday will suit me as well as any other
day; but"
"All right-there, that's settled. Now
I'll 60 and have the advertisement in
serted. By-the-by, you may as we'll
let me have five pounds If you have
them handy, for 1 want to pay the
newspaper people, and I'm rather
short"
Maiden generally was short; never
theless, Harcourt handed over the re-
quired sum, and with a careless eau
revoir!" he to k himself off.
The next day the following appeared
among the "Wants" in the leading
daily papers:
w complished. and Of prep0ssessing appear
ance. 10 take the entire charge OF gentleman 5
household References exchanged Salary fsU.
Apply Friday, between II and 2. ground floor,
NJ. =, Essex Court, Middle temple.
On the Friday morning the friends
had breakfssted together, and tine laun-
dress had just cleared the table, when
Maiden said, "There's eleven striking
We shall have a rush of them directly ~
At that moment faint tap was heard
at the door of the room.
''Hallo, there's one of them! The
laundress must have left the oak open.
Come in"
The door opened, and in walked a
young lady, dressed in a neat black
stuff costume, with small felt hat,
from under which fell a quantity Of
golden brown hair.
As she entered the room, her gaze
was timidly directed towards the car
pet; but she had scarcely arrived at the
table in the centre of the room, when
Maiden suddenly exclaimed, "Confound
il! Nellie May, by all that's unfortu-
mattel"
Nellie looked up in astonishment a.
the speaker.
For a moment she was unable to utter
a word, and then, recalling her ener
gies, she said, "Mr. Maiden, what does
this mean? I came here in answer to
an advertisement. l neither expected
TO see you-Nay, sir, any explanation
of your conduct is unnecessary, AL
low me to take my leave. l wish you a
good morning"
And, with a dignified bow, Nellie
passed from the room.
Scarcely, however, had she reached
the front door ere a mist seemed TO
come before her eyes, and, losing all
her strength, she would have fallen to
the ground had not Harcourt, who had
followed her from the room, supported
her round the waist.
The fresh air and the knowledge of
her position brought her to herself once
more.
Coloring deeply, she gently removed
his arm from around her waist, but, as
she did so, staggered and almost fell
again.
Offering her his arm, Harcourt said,
ANU" ihO W SEC you W a Ndo, -hiSo
May"
"Thank you"' replied Nellie, CRATE
full for his assistance. 81 have not been
very well lately, and the sight of Mr..
Maiden recalled some unpleasant re-
collections"
Calling a four-wheeler in Fleet street,
Harcourt carefully handed her in, and
still more carefully did he note down
the address which she gave the driver.
About fortnight previous to the in
sertion OF the advertisement, Mrs. Rich
ards, a widowed sister of Mr.. May,
wrote and invited Nelly to spend few
weeks with her.
As Mr.. May had noticed that his
daughter had lost her color, ard had
not appeared very well lately, he accep-
ted his sisters invitation with graft
tude, and Nellie was dispatched up to
town.
While staying with her aunt, she had
observed the announcement, and acting
upon Mrs. Richards advice, had deter
mined to apply for the situation, with
the result related.
The next morning, about twelve
o'clock, as Mrs. Richards was employed
with some needlework, and Nellie was
at the piano, the servant OF all work
opened the door and said, "Please,
marin, here's a gentleman as wants to
see Miss May"
And, closely following this announce
ment, in walked Arthur Harcourt.
who, bowling to both ladies, turned to
Nellie with a smile and said, 'YOu
must pardon my intrusion, Miss May !;
but could not resist calling to inquire
after your health, and also to explain
and apologize for the cruel hoax Of
which you were yesterday the victim"
He then proceeded to explain how
Maiden and himself had fabricated the
advertisement that had attracted her.
Before Harcourt had finished his COIL
fession, Nellie hal glanced more than
once at his handsome person; and when
he finished, she determined that il was
her duty to forgive.
By the time he had brought his visit
to conclusion, Mrs Richards had dis
covered that she had formerly been ac-
quainted with Mrs. Harcourt, ATthur's
mother. so, when he rose to take his
leave, he received an invitation from
the elder lady to repeat his visit, which,
if eyes speak the truth, was certainly
not negatived by the younger.
On his return to Essex Court, Har-
court found Maiden seated in his arm
chair, enjoying a cigar, to which he
had helped himself from a box on the
table.
Walking up to the fireplace, Harcourt
leant against the chimuey-yiece, and
steadily observing the smoker, observed,
81 have but now returned from Miss
Mays, where 1 have been to apologize
for Yesterdays business"
80! been to see little Nellie, have
you ?" replied Maiden, with indiffer
ence. "Ah, she's not bad sort. but