The Portland daily press., 1880-09-15

wait until evening" and ! thought il was
some plan for trick OF fcoic, as he had
showed marvellous ingenuity in such affairs
| at college was sure of something enter
tanning and hoped in my Utmost heart
that he meant TO tease Spenser
Come tell me-" said l persuasively. and
he laid down his book with CLEAN of fun
in his eyes and doubtful look about the
| mouth.
Its shame il SHOWS. I'm afraid it'll
| spoil the best of il, but Eve great mind to
tell you. 1t is an agony to keep it to my
self. How the rascal has managed to keep
it up SO long don't see. l haven't dared to
look him in the face to-day Halo! what's
that? and | followed him as he sprang to
the window, and saw a sleigh Just coming
up to the door, A young lady iumped ont
and ran up the steps covered with snow.
| while the man drove away toward the stable,
| Dick seemed convulsed, and l thought with
| Joy That the tete-a-tete would be broken up
| The young lady had come into the hail.
but DICK did not go out to receive her. and
| caught me by the arm and held me fast
with funny expression.
The young lady called, ''Boys. where are
| your? but nobody answered.; and then we
| heard her go into the parlor, and Dick went
| to JOIN her, dragging me with him.
The new conner was Enthusiastically Miss
Alice Hallowell herself, and she stood just
inside the door the picture of amazement.
looking at the two people who sat at the
| further end Of the room-Jack SpenSer with
his volume OF poems open in his hand. and
Miss Halloween Tor whoever she might be
in big easy chair with footstool and a
| cushion to lean against, playing with a pink
| rose bud in the most sentimentally invalid
fashion. l forgot to tell you that Spenser
had carried "her'' bouquet of loses from
| Boston.
'Tom you wretch" said Miss Hallowell,
stamping her foot. tom! how dare you?"
Tom, with sweet, tired little smile, put
his hand into the pocket of his Ozark. blue
silk dress, and took out one of his sisters
lace pocket-handzerchiefs, which he held
to his eyes, and then rose slowly and walked
| down the long parlor with short steps and
effective sweep of his long skirts, caricatur-
| ing the young lady whom he had so skilfully
| represented until then. He. paused at the
door and said Goodbye, boys in his nat
ural voice, which sounded strangly grum
| and unladyike.
1t was so absurd that even Jack Spenser
laughed till he cried, and said he never had
seen anything so capitally done in his life.
| he was very good tempered about it, ami
| said he had no suspicion, though there had
been some things which had surprised him.
which he had supposed were ewing to
Miss HallowelFs" being so much with
her brothers. We had stood for a
minute on the piazza before breakfast. and
"she" had made SNOWFALL and thrown it
at bird in a most boyish fashion. He had
thought ''her'' hands rather large, and had
come to the conclusion that the photograph
was somewhat flattering, though he liked
''her'' very much. We all liked him all the
better for owning up so bravely. | do
not know whether he bribed Tom to secrecy
regarding the conversations which had TAX
en- place; at any rate, that young person
| had the grace to be silent.
He came downstairs presently, wearing
his own clothes-a slender, fair-hared boy
OF fifteen, with a wonderful likeness to his
sister He was home on vacation from
his boarding school, where the chief pleas
ure had been getting up plays, and had dis
tinguished himself in the young ladies'
characters. He had alwas been a capital
mimic since he was a little fellow, and it
| was surprising, after we had seen little of
the real Miss Hallowell, to see how cleverly
| he had initiated her ways. The cold was a
reality, and had been a great help to him
| Tor one could not have any suspicion about
his having lost his voice and being obliged
to talk in whisper, when he coughed so
much.
must confess that we found the true
| Miss Alice infinitely more entertaining than
the false. The rest of our visit was so mer-
| ry and we were so charmingly entertained.
that we went back to college the most sorrow
| full persons imaginable, and we We're home
| sick at intervals for month. The storm
| which began on Sunday was so violent that
we were obliged to stay over till Tuesday.
| and, OF course, we felt great satisfaction and
! only wished that it had lasted longer. II
| seemed that a friend that Miss Hallowell
had not seen for a long time was to spend
| Sunday with another friend who lived ten
| miles away, and they had persuaded her
| to stay with them Sunday evening When
| the storm came on she had started sooner.
fearing she might be absent another night.
| and l dare say not feeling quite easy at the
| thought OF leaving her brothers and their
| guests to their fate. Tom had not gone
| with his father on account of his cold. and
| when his sisters absence had been decided
| upon he had laid his plan.
Jack had not much to say about his soci-
| ETY. affairs for some time, and finally con-
| fessed to me that he was sure that a fellow
needed to go into society, but he had
| rather overdone the thing. He and HALO
well and l were fast friends through our
| college course and are fast friends still. Jack
and made other visits at the Hallowel,s,
and perhaps it is no harm to tell YOU that
he and Miss Hallowell are engaged and will
be married in the fall You see all this hap
pened several years ago, and Jack will be
through the law school this year.
Hallowell suggested the other day that
they ought to ask Tom to be chief brides
maid. That young man is in college him
self now, and it is needless to say that he
is one of the brightest lights of class which
is highly distinguished for its array of talent
for music and the drama