Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1877-09-11

tell luto ue1ghtlui revere.
JaSt there, ia that chair. Angie had sa
du,iGg the evening, aud tbero he pictured
her again, finally going and leaning ovei
1t in a caressipg attitude, fondly cheating
himself. Over there had sat Mrs. Nc.
Lane, aud the chair back at once trans
tized him with two critical eyes Till he
was tain 10 look away. The brothers
were there and there.
Bob chuckled with a coy sense of sur
Righteousness as he thought how they
would stare could they see him now
The subtitle pleasure OF clandesiine things
is doubtless partly the exaggeration OF
the personality which takes place as The
pressure OF other minds is Withdrawn.
To persons of Bob's sensitive mental at
mosphere that pressure is painful when
such minds are hostile, and often irksome,
even when th3Y are friendly, il not in
perfect accord ~ that now it was with
a positive vulup, uuus sensation that his
personality expanded ill il filed and felt
| the whole loom.
The tilo burned aud busily flew the
shutlles Ut his isEcy, weaving once again
the onen-VAIied patterns Of the iuiure.
Those oh4llles had li.lle leisure nowadays
tor all the Heb must be unravcled and
Tewoyc". 'hlt though it all might run
the gprin H.. .nI of Angles love. How
rareil y, Il up the fabric, before SO
dull and d'I
The broDze msntel clock sounded with
siivory tinkle the hour of two, but the
sound tell apparently unheeded on the
eur of the dreamer. 1t was full minute
before the impression reached his mind.
There are times when the thoughts throng
so that each new sensation has to take its
place in the cue and wait its turn 10 get
attention. Then he stirred and reused
himself, emerging reluctantly from the
warm, voluptuous atmosphere OF imag-
ination Us one leaves an eneIvating bath.
Ho had been lying thus full hour and it
was high time 10 return to bed. lie left
the library aud started across the dining
room, with hasty step.
PerhapssIon gazing at the fire had
dazzled his eyes, or perhaps his haste
together with an undue confidence in his
skill in navigation by dead reckoning,
rendered him less careful than when he
had come down. However that may be,
light stand which be had avoided then
ho now blundered fnlly upon.
Everybody knows that when one stubs
the toe in the dark, instead of delivering
the blow when the foot is moving slow
est, at the beginning or the end of the
step. it always happens 50 that the toe
strikes with the maximum momentum.
So it was this time. If Bob had be
kicking football he could not have ma ir
a nicer calculation OF force. aal the shock
sent The stand completely over.
1t would have made noise enou "a ANY
how. but it mus, happen thai CO nj
stand the family silver was lail ou, Ia,
breakfast, and the clsngor was similar t..
that OF Apollo's silver bow \, the tine he
let fly at the Grecian host before Troy.
Bob stood paralyzel with horror.
Even he anguish of The terribly y-stubbed
toe vas forgotten in ~ empowering
sense OF tue awful mess be had made.
and the unilnaginable 'as llnnces that
would ensle. As u. b IN. clangor
and clat,er rang thrJIta 80, shat
tering It's sacred silence, lie shrank to-
gether and made himself small. as II he
could impart sympathetic shrinkage TO
the noise. The racket 10 his own ears
was splitting enough, bat he felt, iu sd
dition, as if he heard il with the ears OF
all the family, aud he wilted befor the
conception of the feelings that were al
that moment starting up in their minds
toward the unknown cause of it.
His first rational idea was to bolt for
his room aud gain it before any one was
fairly aroused. But the shock had so
scattered his wits that he could not at
once recollect his bearings, and he re l.
lied, with indescribable sensations, that
he was lost. lie consumed the precious
moments humping himself all about the
room before he found the right door.
IA he reached the loot OF the staircase,
voices we're audible above, and lights
were cleaning down. His retreat was
cut of; he could not get back 10 his room
without being discovered. lie now dis
tinguished the voice OF Mrs. McLane in
an agitated tone entreating somebody to
be careful and not get shot, and the gruff
voices of the brothers responding, and
then their steps rapidly descending the
stairs. Should he go up and take the risk
OF volley while announcing himself
It would make pretty tableau. Pre-
seuting himself in such guise and under
such circumstances what sort OF recep-
ton would he expect from John, who
treated him with uudisguised contempt
in the drawing-room, and whose study ii
was to place him at q disadvantage? lie
might have hesitated longer, but at this
moment the voice of Angie crying down
TO her brothers to be careful, decided
him. lie could not face her under such