The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1877-08-11

|
was not aware of this [ dare say she
thought he had come at my request with
the new anthem | had promised to send,
and she ran down to the parlor at once,
not even stopping to put down the vial
of medicine she happened to have in her
hand.
| Good evening, Mr.. Goodwin" said
she-nothing more nor less; and then
she stood quietly awaiting his message,
very pale and interesting, I've no doubt,
from grief and watching.
know Timothy's great warm heart
swelled with compassion for the afflicted
young thing, but even to express his SYM
pathy he would not touch so much as
the hem of her garment till she gave
him the right, much less would he take
her hand
"Pm afraid you're hardly prepared
for what Pm about to say, Miss Sparrow"
he began, pacing the room, and probably
hurting the words at her as pebbles
from sling. Pm aware it isn't Gus
tomary for man to declare himself on
SO short an acquaintance, but Pm a
plain, raightforward fellow, desperately
in earnest"
Fancy the little sopranos wonder
ment. | seem now to see her baby
blue" eyes opening each moment wider
and wider.
"Till now | never met any woman
whom / wanted to marry" Timothy
went on, "and | am forty years old.
When at middle age love comes for the
first time to men of my temperament, it
is no milk-and-water sentiment, Miss
Sparrow | feel that | could give my
life to make you happy. Will you be
my wife?"
"You don't mean to say you charged
upon the poor girl in that merciless
way?" broke in, cutting short his mar
rative.
He looked aggrieved and sorely puz-
zled What had he done amiss Hadn't
he acted the part of a gentleman in
avowing his feelings? Wasn't it more
honorable to tell her his intentions
openly than it would have been to try to
steal her affections unawares?
But how did Miss Sparrow take it,"
"That's what troubles me-" said my
wretched friend. She seemed offended,
and would have run away if / had not
put my hand on the door and begged her
to hear me through. / assured her /
would not press her for an immediate
answer, but she only burst out crying,
declaring l had no right to say such
things to her; she would tell her father.
AS if | should object to his being told
Indeed, should have spoken to him
myself on the subject this morning had
not DR.. Pillsbury said he was too i'll to
see strangers. | tried to explain this to
Miss Sparrow. | implored her tc tell me
how | had vexed her, but che broke
away from me and rushed out of the
room. / can not understand her conduct
| [ might have known that such bright
young girl couldn't fancy an old fossil
such as |, but am l so bad a fellow, Hal,
that she need feel insulted by my love?
| would have went barefooted over burn
| ing Goals sooner than have wounded her
as | have DONE" And 50 on, and so on,
| till the cock crew.
! ventured second time to hint that
he had merely been too precipitate in
his wooing, but he shook his head in
credulously, and finally went away as
mystified as he came.
At our next meeting the little soprano
asked me in shy, conscious way if my
friend was quite well. Had I ever
fancied his brain effected? / might have
answered with a simple negative. | shall
always think little better of myself,
Steve, because then and there, in the full
bewitchment of Miss Sparrow's presence,
had manliness enough to speak good
word for Timothy-to tell her that,
spite of some eccentricities, he had the
finest brain, as well as the warmest heart,
of any man of my acquaintance.
=" did not see her again for months,
as she withdrew from the choir to devote
herself exclusively to her father, whose
sufferings were becomings were becoming
daily more intense. These were not so
much from actual pain, as from extreme
nervousness that opiates failed to relieve
DR.. Pillsbury often spoke of the case
| the doctor who boarded here then-and
one day he appealed to Timothy to 90
with him and try his magnetic powder
upon the patient. A queer look came
over Timothy's face, but he went at
once, and was able to soothe the sick
man simply by the laying on of hands.
After this while Mr.. Sparrow lived, he
went often, and comforted him greatly in
his last hours, not only by his mesmeric
influence, but indirectly by keeping those
boys out of the way. The money he
spent at that time in taking the lads to
panoramas and menageries would have
constituted him life member of mis-
sionary society.
You can see the natural result Hav,
ing proved blessed narcotic to the dy-
ing father, Timothy ceased to be an irri-
tant to the daughter. An irritantl
Timothy couldn't irritate her, and she
couldn't irritate Timothy. | have stud
led them curiously the three years OF
their married life, only to arrive at this
conviction And you took them for
bride and groom? No wonderl since
they still feast with undated relish on