Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1880-10-14
Sand so bad II, exclaimed eeOrgie


DIV hair and fabby nose. He was u
powerful man, too, and one unpleasant
to come to open quarrel with. Proposals
In the Browning family were few and far
between-in fact, curiosities so
much luck as the girls described falling
into one day overpowered him.
zone at time; my breath is not what
it used to be-" said he, addressing Katie.
CT he had said breadth it would have
been equally true, as his mother-if she
was to be belleved-always declared that
he was lean baby. MAY ask the
name of your loverG"
"Mr. Snooks," said she, with down
cast eyes and a tlmid smile. She took
up the corner of cherry colored bow
that adorned her gown, and fell to admir-
ing it, through what she fondly hoped
was bashfulness.
"Impossibler' exclaimed George,
angnly.
"What a disgraceful untruthr' cried
Hetty, rudely. "Mr. Shocks proposed
to me last night, and accepted him."
"What is it you say9 o, am going
out of my mind. My senses are desert
ing me' said George, putting he: hands
to her head with dramatic gesture.
''Oris it a dream that he asked me to
marry him, and that ], too, said 'yes'?'
II seldom visit the Clouds said Lily,
with short but bitter laugh. "And l
certainly know he made me noble offer
of his heart and hand, both of which
treasures declined.
"Where2' demanded the other three,
as though with one mouth
"In the laurel avenue"
At this they all groaned aloud.
"Perfdious monsterw said Hetty,
| from her heart.
IAN I to understand" began Mr..
Browning, with suppressed but evident
fury, 'that Observation-Disclosures
scoundrel asked you all to marry HIM
last night9''
ait we speak the truth, yes" replied
the girls, dlsmally.
"He was drunk" said papa, savagely.
II can't believe it, said Katie, who
was disso lved in tears-in fact, "like
Niebe, all tears"-by this time. Moth
ing could be nicer than the way he did
it. His language was perfect, and SO
thoroughly from the-heart."
HE addressed me in most honorable,
upright and Christian fashion," said
Hetty. ~ am sure he meant every word
he said"
She was thinking uneasily OF that kls9
In the moonlight. Could any one havs
seen her? Was old Major Sterne anywhere
about at the moment?
~ certainly considered his manner
strange; not bit like what one reads"
said George, honestly; "but I thought of
the title and the property, and I said yes
dilectly.'
II thought him the very greatest mufi
I ever spoke to- broke in Miss Lilly,
with decision.
III refused him without moment
hesitation, and told him to go home
I'm sure it was we'll did. ! dare say
if he had stayed here much longer be
would have proposed to mamma next, and
atterward to the upper housemaid. ]
agree with you, papa-the champagne
was too much for him."
Ill think he Is fond of me-" said
Katie, in low and trembling tone. His
fingers are not playing with the cherry
colored bow now, but her eyellds have
borrowed largely of its tint.
"Don't be goose, Katie!' said the
youngest Miss Browning, kindly but very
scornfully; "you don't suppose any of us
would marry him now, after the way he
has behaved9 DO have little pride"
"Perheps he Is mad" said Miss Hetty
vaguely. Just at this moment as salve
to her wounded vanity, she would have
been glad to have believed him so.
"No, my DEAR" declared Lily, calmly
"he has no brains worth turning"
"He said something, papa, about call.
ing to-day about four o'clock, p" said Katie
very family.
''Then l shall sit here till FOUR re-
turned Mr.. Browning, IN an awful tone
II shall sit here until five; and then
shall get up and go out and find thai
young man, and give him such horse.
whipping as I warrant you he never go
before in all his life"
"Don't be too hard on him, papa," en-
treated Katie, weakly.
81 sh'an't, my dear, but my whip will,
said papa grimly.
So he waited until five; he waited til
nalPast HVei anu tnen Look up CerLalI
heavy gold-k1obbed whip that lay stretch
ed on the table as though in readiness
and sailed forth in search of Shocks
rooms. And he found them, and Shocks
too-in bed, suffering from severe ca
tarrh, caught, presume, in the laure
avenue.
And no man knows what he did Il
Shocks. But at least he gave him an in
creased desire for his bed, because for {
fortnight afterward he never stirred out
of it.