The Newtown bee., 1879-08-13

 But tle sellishness of old age is prover bial, and there they stuck. However, was oppositeto Arabella, and, under the protection of 8 common railway rug, we could, and did, interchange an occa- sional affectionate pressure of the feet an operation that is a little difficult, by 1 the-bye; dangerous through its openness | to the mistake of pressing somebody | else's foot, and exposed to the ridiculous l error of making advances to the foot warmer and other things under the seat. | To do her justice, Arabella had never l been backward in reciprocities of this l kind, but on this occasion she was es- l pecially demonstrative; indeed, as l l happened to possess a corn only less ten- 1 der than my sentiments toward her, her attentions, which.I could not of course, | but welcome, were a little embarrassing. | At last I perceived by the direction of | her glance that they had a particular ob- 1 iect Her eyes were fixed on the vol ume that our railway companion had purchased at the station, and she was 1 telegraphing to me with intense excite ment, '' It is the Bandit of the Apen- nines."
 I declare that for the first moment or 1 two | quite forgot my Arabella in the consideration of this tremendous circum- stance. That a stranger should have actually bought my book, paid, coin of the realm for it, of his own head, with
 out fear or favor or personal relation 1 ship, and then got into the same com partment as the author of that admirable 1 production, was something much more than an undersigned coincidence; it was an incident (remember it was my first | book) calculated to confOUnd the infidel and establish the providential govern ment of the world. "Bu suppose-for everything is possible, however improb- able'-thought I, with sudden revul- sion, that he shouldn't like it, that he should yawn and even go to sleep over it, and that Arabella. who wants to know the opinion of outsiders about the
 Bandit of the Apennines,' should see
 him?" My heart felt cold as a stone.
 It was obvious that my beloved object rwas enjoying the situation; her eyes
 sparkled even more brightly than usual with joy, no doubt, at seeing how l
 was appreciated by the public; but there
 was twinkle of fun about them which
 I didn't like. ''Now we shall see what
 we shall see" they seemed to say.
 The man was not 8 rOmant1c-look1ng
 man, such as would be likely to enjoy a
 high class dramatic fiction; I should
 have said he was a lawyer, or perhaps
 connected with commerce-and not in
 the fancy goods line either. Upon the
 whole, I was relieved to see that, after
 fumbling in all his pockets for paper
 knife, he was about to put the '' Brigand"
 (which was uncut) into his traveling-b bag
 for more convenient season, when, to
 my horror, Arabella's aunt-a good
 natured but Officious personage-pro-
 duced from her reticule the article of
 which he stood in need. He thanked
 her, and proceeded to cut the book, with
 irreverent rapidity, as though it were a
 penny paper; nevertheless. was pleased
 that he cut it all at once, for if he had
 cut as he read, and stopped half wa, or
 even earlier, it might have produced the
 impression that he was tired of 1t.
 $ It is pity" he said, as he handed
 the knife back with bow to Arabella's $
 aunt, that these railway books should not have their leaves cut; but they tell
 me that the reason is that good many of lem don't go off, and then the sheets
 are qssda qgtd fQf R9aeq1lkiigg1 1pHd6Rt99dfsl
 1,la ,,r;th allnrrassad n,irfh at this fright fuI speech. It seemed to me that there was something unnatural and little coarse in a girl of her age possessing
 such a sense of humor; her pretty lips
 distinctly formed the words $ for pack
 ing purposes before they subsided into
 ft roguish smile.
 Then the man began to read, but not
 in satisfactory manner; instead of his attention being at once riveted Gas it ought to have been, for there was most thrilling episode in the first chapter), it was distracted by contemptible objects the management of his railway rug, the pushing of his portm anteau further under the seat, and by the localities on
 the wayside. He must have been mad himself, l thought, to have stared at the i, Hanwell asylum so attentively at the very moment-for knew where he was
 by the pages he had turned over-when ' all his intelligence should have been concentrated on the description of the ' brigand's prison cell. I am not pes 1. simist-I endeaVor to think as well of our common human nature as circum- stances will permit-and yet l could , almost swear that I saw him turn over
 two pages at time without discovering : his mistake, and that in the middle of
 an equal contest between the brigand
 and five officers of justice, that should
 have stirred the blood of sea anemone.
 Then, presuming upon the paper knife as an introduction, he would address , a word or two to Aunt Arabella, as to
 whether she liked the window shut to } the very top or preferred sitting with her face to the engine Gas if that signi- fed), while the heroine, in whose ad-
 ventures he ought to have been wrapped , up, was escaping out of & swindow
 much to small for her, and by rope that swayed with every gust from the mountain side. , It was I alone, of course, who was aware of the extent ofhis enormity, for
 Arabella only knew he had my book in ' his hand, and Arabella's aunt did not even know that; but it was easy even
 for them to see that his attention was
 not devoted to it. Indeed, every now and then he stole glance of a amiration at Arabella herself. which should have objected to at any time, but which un-
 der the circumstances was doubly inn
 pertinent and offensive; as an old man old enough to be her father, forty at the very least-he ought to have been asham-
 ed of himself and as man of business,
 he ought to have been attending to his