Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1879-07-23

- w. W~J WS6 "
portunity now to propose, when d
hateful morning he joined the sisters on
tho hotel piazza with an armful of new
books.
"Three Of these are for you, Miss
Edith" he said.
And he wrote her name, in his bold,
clear, characteristic hand, on the ny
leaves Of each.
Susan, looking idly on a. the other
two laughed and chatted, started sud-
denly, changed color, and left them.
She took the book che was examining
with her, and presently she sent a mes
sage to Edith, saying that she wanted
her Immediately.
"Must you GOT Well, come back di.
rectly, and / shall wait here for your"
said Dudley; and, with a smiling assent,
she left him.
But she did not return, and the young
man wondered and waited for nearly an
hour.
At last came a card, with q penciled
message, and full of bewilderment, he
read:
"Mia Armitage hopes MI. Manning
win excuse her sister, as she is particu-
larly engaged for the rest of the day"
Dudley flushed a. he tore up the card,
and walked away, bordering over the
strangeness of the message.
At dinner Susan made her appearance
alone; but when Dudley approached her
to inquire for her sister, she was almost
rude in the curtness Of her replies to his
questions.
Dudley's first impulse was to ask the
meaning of this changed behavior, but
modification and rising anger conquer
ed, and he turned away, with a look of
equal hauteur.
Half an hour later his mood changed.
| He sent q note to Edith, begging for an
interview; but when she returned a
self for having written.
So all that evening he paced up and
down the piazza, in a savage frame of
mind, and finally decided to leave the
house next day, if Edith still refused to
zee him.
Up stairs poor Edith was crying
softly, while Susan packed.
Who could have supposed that they
came from him2" she was saying, for
the twentieth time.
Susan came over to her and stroked her
hair caressingly.
"Don't think of it., darling! Try to
forget It'll" she said, soothingly.
"But, Susan, are you sure?" Don't
you think there could be a mistaken So
many people write alike, you know"
said Edith, with an eager, imploring
look.
Susan shook her head.
"That writing is unmistakable, my
dear sister," she answered, sadly.
Edith threw herself back, with fresh
burst of tears.
"But the dreadful part Of the whole
affair is that he has been 70 dishonor
able! she exclaimed, to think how h
must have listened to our conversation
and pried into all u secrets! So un
manlyl Inever want to see him again.
"Ithink / will put the-stockings il
a parcel, and leave them to be delivered
to him." said Susan, presently.
Edith closed her eyes and groaned:
"Idon't care what you do with them
only don't tell me-"
Early the next morning Dudley wa
awakened by the humping of trunk
outside the door. In an instant h
was up, and dressing in frantic haste
for he had comprehended that his neigh
bors we're leaving.
As he emerged from his room ant
rushed to the stairway, he caught a van
ishing glimpse of two gray travelin.
dresses in the hall below. One followed
the porter, the other turned toward thu
hotel parlor.
Dudley OWNED that this second figur,
was Edith, and seized his advantage will
mastery quickness.
In another moment he confronted her
had seized her hand, despite her resist
ancc, and was pouring out a torrent o
words, half-angry, half-tender, ending
abruptly with:
Edith, I love you. Will you MARI!
met"
"Good morning, Mr.. Manning" inter
rupted Susan, with q charming intons
ton.
But Dudley wasnot to be discouraged
Edith's face had emboldened him.
"Tell me where ! can write to you,
he whispered, entreatingly, and, spite Q
Susan's interpretation, he caught the low
spoken words Of her answer.
And then the omnibus whirled her
away to the station, and Dudley wake
> up and down, thinking Of Edith's Lowell
dark eyes "a they smiled farewell upo
him, and composing his letter.
One week afterwards Dudley Mar
ming and Edith were sitting together i
Mrs. Delancey's elegant library. Bot
looked unmistakably happy, but Dude
: had that air of conscious proprietorshi
which denotes the engaged man.
"Tell me, please, why you acted
: strangely-what had / done to often
, your" he wa saying.
!. Do you suppose abe told him7-Satu
: dan Mont.