The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-11-01
A Pleasant Love.

81 have got some news for you, Maggie, "
he said one day, about eighteen months
after he had gained his commission.
''Gucss what it is. "
They were walking along the green lanes
of Pcrlock, listening to the ccasclcss muir
mur OF the sea, as, ut intervals, they had
walked and listened ever since they could
remcmbcr, at any rate, for she was six
years younger than her former playfellow.
"1ou are going to be promoted" she
said.
"Promotcd, you little goose! No one
ever gets promoted in the British army.
Guess again"
"You arc going to marry all hcircss "
There was lump in her throat rs she said
''Wrong again. No inestimable young
person with green eyes, a turn-up nose,
susceptible heart and fifty thousand year,
lins turned up yet. But it's something
nearly rs good. Pm ordered to China -
ooh, Alic !" she gaspcd, ana burst into
tears. 1t was very foolish Of her, but then
she was only sixteen, and had not yet ac-
quircd the praiscworthy art Of concealing
her feelings.
"Why, whatever arc you crying for2' he
asked, and kissed away her tears. He'd
kissed her ever since she was five, and
thought no more of it than if she had been
his sister, or the cat, excepting perhaps
that it was niccr-which it was no doubt
81 shall only be away five years, at most
and when l come back I'll bring you pig
tail, and an ivory tooth pick and a whole
lot of things and"
eyes she said, listening attentively.
"But then you'll be young woman
forgot-and out and all that sSrt of thing.
and won't condcsccnd to speak to n poor
Lieutenant you will have all the sulllrcs
and fox hunters about the place at your
feet"
"Oh no, indeed, shan't Alic," she said
eagerly.
"But tell you, you will I believe you
are born little tlrt, and shall come back
and find"
But she burst into tears again, and put
up her pretty little hand as if to stop his
teasing, which she could not bear Just then.
1t seemed so cruclof him to laugh and joke,
when he was going away for five years
lie did not seem 20 care y bit, and she
could have broken hei heart on the spot,
and would have gladly done so, and thrown
the pieces away so as never to be bothered
with it again. Then, seeing her mournful
blue eyes, he was mcrciful.
81 believe shall come back and find you
just as great little darling as you are now,
and If we've got any money we'll get mar
ried and live Happy ever after, and if we
haven't we'll get married and starve ever
aftcl-unless, Of course, the hcircss turns
up.
"Oh, | hope she won't :" said Maggie,
like truthful little idiot. "Shall YOU ever
write to me, Alic, dcar2"
eyes, of course shall, and I shall ex-
pcct you to write back six pages crossed,
and all that sort of thing, you know.".7
So Alic Granger went to China, and
Maggie waited hopefully enough for a let
ter, but six months passed and none came.
"Pcrhaps it takes longer for letter to get
here from China" she thought, knowing
as little about the means of transit and the
time 1t took as if the cclcs ial city had been
IN the moon. But a year passed and no
letter came. ~
perhaps he's i'll, or it's miscuried,'' she
said, tcarfully, half wondering If itScould
be possible that Chinese hcircss had
turned up and that was the real reason of
Alic's silence. Two years past and never
word. "It's too bad" she said bitterly,
and wondered ruefully if he had married
wife with pig-tail. And the days and
viz hioitlio "ClG DJ1 uiStuAttE,SlC JOllIllcyCu
into womanhood, but no word or sign came
from Alic Granger, and Mt last she gave
him up altogether.
Maggie was twenty years old when her
father died, and the creditors did pouncc
(, down, and she and her mother were sold
/ out. Mrs. Dunlop was offered home in
London by a sister who was well off and
bad tempered, and it was thankfully ac-
ceptcd. Maggie was informed that she
might get her ownliving, which, being pre-
ciscly Maggie's own opinion rs well as in
tcntion, she advertised for a situation as
governess Now Maggie had avery inodet
idea of her own merits, and therefore only
asked for G25 q year and " comfortable
home, 80 no less than five answers CAME to
her announcement that she could teach
English French, music and the rudimcnts
of drawing. ta@ 5ai t%s
one Of these answers came from Wool
wich, and stated that Mrs. Marshall re-
quircd o governcss for her three little girls.
Mrs. Marshall was stiff7nccked sort of
woman, and stared at poor little Maggie
& (who looked almost as child likc" and twice
as pretty as cyer) through double gold
glasscs. Colonel Marshall, her husband,
was, d nice old man with grey head and
an iron gray moustache,. and there was
Z grown-daughtcr, a Miss Pattersoh,i Mrs.
Marshall's daughter by her first husband,
who was real the mistress Of the estab-
lshment, for Maria Patterson had a strong
will, and she was an heiress "a very
nasty hciress, too, poor Maggie thought,
T. y g. L.