Litchfield enquirer., 1878-02-07

such terrified amazement, that 1 thought he
 had gone mad. He afterwards explained that
 he thought had .'@.@ -.f
 q don't understand you," he. gasped aat last. -..-... F.. ..rr... -..}f si t5e-,3.n.- .
 A ray of hope shot into my heart.
 ''Oh tell me, you're not Mormon"
 I was literally painting by this time in an az ony of suspense, for upon his reply my future happiness depended.
 It came at last in the form of an uncontroll
 able burst of laughter. 1 have seen many large men laugh; but never saw any one laugh as Obadiah did when 1 made this an. nouncement. Certainly my experiences with Englishmen on the two occasions when they have offered me their hearts have been very peculiar One chooses the moment when we are SO drenched and blinded with the spray of Niagara that we can scarcely speak, precipi- .tately to propose, and try to embrace and the other. ati.the, very crisis when his happi- ness is secured, and am dying to be pressed to his heart, is rolling on his back on the grass in convulsions of stentorian laughter As soon as he could control himself, Obadiah put my hand to his lips, and then clasping it firmly, and with the tears resulting from the violence of his risible emotions still streaming from his eyes, began to apologize. He explained to me that the women he wanted to go to the south ern part of Utah to find, were the squaws of the Piute Indians that it was rumoured that their skulls were differently formed from the skulls of any other family of the human race, and presented very marked peculiarities when compared with the male skulls of their own tribe-a type quite unknown not merely among American Indians, but among people any where else. At least 1 think he said all this, | but 1 may be mistaken, for was prey to such mixed emotions that 1 could not attend to him very closely Modification at the ex- l traordinary and ludicrouS mistake into which 1 had been led almost overpoWered my de- light at discovering it to be one, while my an- ger with Obadiah for laughing at me so inn moderately was more than counterbalanced by the certainty that he loved me quite as i'm moderately. l never imagined it possible could have been so humiliated and at the same time SO happy. Still, felt rather indignant with him for having misled me into such an absurd position, and made me appear so ridic- ulous. What could this insuperable difficulty have been which had made it impossible for him to tell me that he loved me, and even 1 made him try to prevent me from caring about him, if it were not that he was already mar | ried? What was this awful mystery which raised so terrible a barrier between us? h. deed, before he had done telling me about the Piute squaws skulls, he had gently dropped my hand, a shade of melancholy stole over | the countenance so lately convulsed with mer- | riment, and he heaved deep sigh.
 There was no need of reserve between us | now; we knew we loved each other-for he | could not be mistaken in regard to my senti- ments-so 1 boldly said
 "Dear Obadiah. what is this fearful secret |. that you could not venture even to tell my ia ther; that has made you suffer so much while we have been together, that has beenthe cause of the terrible misunderstanding to which hauo uiotiTo thio I tho ners of his mouth twitch, but suppressed my irritation and went on: ''Tell me, dear, what it is that you feel must keep us apart <? l can bear anything, only do not leave me in this dreadful doubt and suspense"
 @Dear one," he answered, ''it is very simple and there is very little mystery about it; the fact is, 1 have not got any money excepting what l can earn bymy pen, whileyou are very rich; and among gentlemen it is not consider ed honorable for poor man to engage the af factions of a girl who has a fortune, without first discovering whether it would be agreeable to the parents. Now, from what had heard of Mr. and. Mrs. Macgillicuddy, 1 felt quite certain that they destined you either for an American millionaire or foreign nobleman; and as 1 supposed you would not marry with out your parents consent, and as 1 knew that it would be impossible to obtain this-and as, moreover, if it could be obtained, 1 should shrink from the suspicion, either on their part or yours that your fortune had influenced me in the matter-I determined, as soon as 1 felt that our intercourse, which has been so delight ful to me, was leading to danger, to start off at once on my search for the missing skull upon which, 1 may say, our whole theory in regard to our origin is built"
 1 am afraid 1 very nearly said, "Oh, hang our origin!' know felt it for I was so completely puzzled by his novel and ridicu- lous theory about my being rich and his being poor, that 1 could not bother with his other theory. l had never heard of such thing as a man, because he waspoor, thinking he ought to keep away from girl who was rich, or first ask her parents consent, and absurd rubbish of that sort. Why, with us the rich girls are besieged by the poor men, who do all they can to engage their atfections and the girls, as rule, take toerably good care not to mar ry them, though they don't mind getting en- gagged, just for the excitement of the the thing. Edith Persimmon, for instance has been en- gagged five times, and has never been tilted herself once; in every case she threw over the man. The notion struck me as so truly Judi crous that thought would pay off Obadiah in his own coin; and when he had finished his explanation, in tones of great solemnity and propriety, 1 went off into quite as violent convusions of laughter as he had. The fact was, the objection was in reality 80 utterly absurd, that l saw that our union was secured, and felt so happy that l really had something to laugh about
 ''Oh, you goosey '" cried Eall my money is my own, and nobody can prevent my giv- ing it all to you; and don't care about any body's consent ;" and felt inclined to scream with delight and enjoyment. What relief it was. What fools we had both of us had been he, though not knowing the manners and customs of the country, and through inn petuously rushing to conclusions, and acting upon them, which is also one of the manners and customs. However. all Is well that ends well; and when he found 1 had been prepared to sacrifice everything to my love for him-ev- en to being content with only share of him he consented to waive his scruples, and take my money and use it as if it was his own Why, as 1 knew 1 had plenty for both, it had never entered into my head to inquire wheth- CT he had money or not till mamma had asked me about it and this reminded me that 1 had not said anything to him about his family SO 1 remarked
 'Well, now, we may consider all that fool ish pecuniary matter settled; because although papa and mamma may raise objections, I am master of the situation, thanks. to the almigh- ty dollar. suppose, however, you will have to write home to your family about it p
 My experience with Chowder led me to SUD- POcC IAdt t1io "dS du lucNItdUIc part OI Lne performance.
 ''Oh dear, no" he said; ''that will not be at all necessary. The fact is, I.have, 80 to speak, no family to write to; my parents are both dead. My father was a civil engineer and had just money enough to Send me to Eton and Oxford but have had to make my own way since then, as he died Poor man. I have a brother, who is on some Indian railway and some more dlstant relations, who do not trouble themselves about my fortunes" This was great comfort The only thing remaining 10 De oone was to announce it to my respected parents; but they were both out when reached home.
 Mamma" I said, as soon as she came in rom her drive, Il am engaged to be married to Mir. Tompkins."
 As fully expected, she was furious 'Irene!" she broke out, '1thought you were girl to be trusted. You know never inter- fere with your f1irtations: but, in return, I don't expectyou toengage youself in this way | IL n