The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-01-12


"And you're going to stand aIoof and
let little Miles Bond walk over you?
Now let me tell you that I mean to
make you and Miles executors of my
will; so Td like to keep on friendly
terms with you-don't you see?"
"Thank you; but aren't we friends,
near or apart?"
"'Tis said that absence conquers love-"
she laughed; 'and haven't you heard of
the virtue that resides in propinquity?
If Agnes sees Miles every day, and you
once in six weeks, which do you think
she will be most likely to love best?"
at is not likely that she will ever
love me, whatever happens"
"Who said she would never love you?
Aren't you worth forty Miles Bonds?"
"Certainly not in Miss Peverll's re-
gard"
"Prithee, what do you know of her
regard, Sir Faintheart?"
Every little, to be sure"
ale either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are SMALL
That dares not put it to the touch,
10 gain or lose it ALL"
Haven't 1 put my fate to the touch,
Mrs. Peverill, and haven't | found that
my deserts are miserably small?"
"Dear me! I see that you don't know
that women blow twenty ways of
morning. Who knows but she is cry
ing her pretty eyes out this minute, and
wishing with all her silly heart that
she had it to do over again?"
"Miles knows" laughed Harold.
"Come and see who knows best. An
old woman's advice isn't to be sneezed
at. l refused my first lover myself, be-
cause 1 thought he'd come back and
tease me into it, but he never did.
Served me right, too"
And Harold did as he was told.
He made himself intimate at the Pew
erill's as of old. He was there in sea-
son and out of season. He bore with
the caprices of Agnes and the conde-
scensiOns of his rival. He was often
left to the tender mercies of Grandma
Peverill while Agnes and Miles made
the garden or the river echo with their
songs. He came and went like a
shadow. When Agnes chose to lis
ten, he let loose his enthusiasm; when
she gave him the cold shoulder, he ac-
cepted it without a muTmuT-as if one
should be grateful for any gift of hers
and fell back upon the old lady's unfail-
ing kindness. One day, however, even
Grandma Peverill failed him. She
walked one day from a dOze, and asked,
'Is it really lOve?" glancing after the
two, pelting each other with roses in the
garden.
at looks like it," gasped Harold
"Time will prOve-time, that unlOcks
all secrets aud discloses all impostures.
Miles is of the earth, earthly. He loves
fine society and grandlathers and coats
of arms. 1t is a crime in his eyes to be
born without silver spoon in ones
| mouth.
"'But what is love made for,
! II il is not the same
Through joy and through sorrow,
! Through glory and shame ,"
Then she fell into a dose again. The
shadows draped themselves about her; a
star came out and leaned to look into the
window; a late bird twittered on a spray
near by, and made a sudden gush oil
music through the place; the murmuI
of laughing voices came family toward
them on the breeze. But Harold lis,
tened alone, for Grandma Peverill was
already far away.
A few weeks later Miles Bond anC
Mr.. Helper were engaged looking ovel
the private papers of the late Mrs. Pew,
erill, as her executors. That modes
portion of her fortune which her som:
specUlatiOns had left intact, she had be
queathed to Agnes. Presently Miles
raised his eyes from the paper he haC
been inspecting. IA rascally piece o
business" he groaned, between hi
teeth. Should he quietly light his ciga
with the paper, bury its contents in ob
livion, and marry Agnes, and go on hi
way rejoicing? No; perish the thought
A Bond, of the Bonds of BondhOldeT
who could trace their lineage to tn
COnqueror A thousand times no! H
made desperate resolve, and passed tn
sheet to Harold. 1t was merely a lette
from the late Mrs. Peverill, settin,
forth a certain family matter, which sh
had deemed it wise that they shoul
know, not as executors, but as lovers.
"Of course this will not affect your in
terests," said Harold, filing the pape
away, quite at his ease.
at might not" sneered Miles, "if
, were not Bond, with family credit t
sustain"
, "And yet" said the other, "Shak
speare tells us that
"'Love is not love, which alters
When it alteration hnds.'"
shakespeare be hanged !" quoth th
] quondam lover.
The following week, when Mr.. Helpe
o dropped in to pay his respects to Agne!
t he found her watering her bed of mig
nonettes and pausies.
q "Oh," she said, presently, and ha
, shyly, "the oldest thing has happened
/, l must tell somebody How dea
e grandmamma would laugh If she wei
r here, and say it served me right 1 n
e ceived a note yesterday, (you coul
scarcely call it a billet dOuE, though
y was from Miles, and what do you think
y He says in it-there, turn your eye
away, don't look at me so while te
It yOu-he begs me to release him from a
J., engagement, which, upon close exam
). nation of his heart-under the micrC
y scope, suppose-he finds himself un.
e BILE. to fulfill Now, you must kno
)f that there never was an engagement
n all between US; he just teased my sol
,s out of me to marry him, and promise
is Only to think of it'll A Peverill, a d.
J. scendant of one Rupert Peverill, wi
If figured in the Crusades, Tilted by Mil
e Bond! 1t must be that grandmamma
z jointure disappointed the poor yout
b Motto: Never appoint as your execut'
3, the man whom you wish to marry yol
n heir.n
u "You don't seem to take the affa
much to heart" said Harold.
If Because my heart wasn't concernC
N in it,"
r "What under heaven were you thin