Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-10-08

Dehf me, now BhOCklnRl " Baid MISS
Lily, frivolously. "Let us hope time
win mend t. I'm not very sure you did
not speak the truth at first. | really
believe 1t Is kind, my refusing you.
And now, Mr.. Snooks, II / were you
should 90 in and say goodnight 10
mamma, because you have been having
a good deal Of papa's champagne, and
it's trying TO the constitution"
Snooks took the hint, bid farewell 10
Mrs. Browning, who, to his heated inn
agination, appeared TO regard him al
ready with a moist and mOtherly eye,
and, taking Wilding's arm, drew him
out Of the house.
"WellP" said the latter, interroga-
lively.
al don't know whether It is well or
ill.," returned he, gloomily. "But l
followed your advice, and proposed to
'em all. ."
"And they accepted youp"
"The most of 'em. But Lily, the
youngest, She"
az always said she was a sensible
girl, d" put in Mr.. Widing, soto roce.
"Did you'll" with much surprise.
"Well, she refused me; sort Of said
she wouldn't have me at any price. So
you see you were wrOnglh
al always knew she was one Of the
most intelligent girls l ever met" Mr.
| Wilding repeated, in q tone so decided
that his companion for once had sulli-
cient sense to refrain from demanding
an explanation.
The next morning as Katie Browning
turned the angle of the hall that led to
/ har fatbar1a gonptur,n (whitbot. a oango
of filial duty beckoned her) she almost
ran into the arms of her three sisters,
all converging toward the same spot
from different directions. Simultane-
ously they entered Mr.. Brownrig's study.
! (He called it library; but that word
is too often profaned for me TO prOfane
| it, SO l shall draw the line at study.)
But to return. Miss Lily, being the
youngest, was Of course the first to raise
her voice.
81 had a proposal last night, papa,
and have come to tell you about it, ~
said she, in tone replete with triumph.
1t is so sweet to the mind of youth to
outdo its elders. But "on this occasion
only " the elders refused to be outdone.
They each and all betrayed a smile of
inward satisfaction, and then they gave
way to speech.
"No!h they said in breath. They
did not mean to doubt or be impolite
they only meant surprise.
"The curate," said Hetty, in a COM
posed but plainly contemptuous whis-
per. 1t was a stage whisper.
"Old Major Sterne," said Miss
George promptly.
"Perhaps Henry Simms," suggested
Katie, with some sympathy. Then
turning to her father she said, with a
conscious blush, 1T is very strange,
papa, but 1, too, had proposal last
night"
"And so had f." exclaimed Georgia
and lletty, in Il breath.
"Eh!" said papa, pushing up his
speCtacles. He was fat and pudgy, with
sandy hair and a flabby nose. He was
powerful man, too, and one unpleas'
ant to come to open quarrel with. Pro.
posals in the Browning family were few
and far between-in fact curiosities-
and so much luck, as the girls described
falling into one day, overpowered him
Zone at a time; my breath is no
what it used to be- he said, addressing
Katie. (If he had said breadth, it would
have been equally true, as his mother
if she was to be believed always de
clared he was a lean baby) "May
ask the name of your loverP"
"Mr. Snooks,h said she, with down
cast eyes and timid smile. She tool
up the corner of q cherry-colored bov
that adorned her gown, and fell to ad
miring it, through what she fondl,
thought was bashfulness.
"Impossible!" exclaimed George
angrily.
"What disgraceful untruth!" crier
Hetty, rudely. "Mr. Snooks proposed
to me, to me, last night, and 1 accepte,
/ him."
"What is it you sayP o, | am goinj
out of my mind; my ysenses are desertin!
me-" said G4orgie, putting her hands u
her head with dramatic gesture. so
is it dream that he askt d me to MARI
him, and that l, too, said 'ye5P''
&" seldom visit the Clouds" said Lily
with a short but bitter laugh. "And
certainly know he m lde me noble offe
of his hand and heart; both which treas
ures declined"
? "WhereP" demanded the other three
as through with one mouth.
, I'm the laurel avenue!"
At this they all groaned aloud.
" Peridious mOnsterl" said Hett
from her heart.
/ cam / to understand began MI
Browning, with suppressed but eviden
? fury, "that this = this - unmitigate
2 scoundrel asked you all to marry hir
l last night?"
elf we speak the truth, yes," reptile
, the girls, diSmally.
, "He was drunk" said papa, savagely
81 can't believe it," said Katie, VIII
was dissolved in tears-in fact, elk
Niobe, all Htears"-by this time. "Noth
= ing could be nicer than the way he di
t it. His language was perfect, and S
, Thoroughly from the-hedrt."
, "He ADDRESSED me in a most honora
BILE, upright, and Christian fashion,
said Hetty. 81 am sure he meant ev
cry word he said"
She was thinking uueasily of that kis
1 in the moonlight. Could any one hav
t seen herP Was old Major Sterne any
t where about at the momentP
l 81 certainly considered his manne
8 strange, not bit like what one reads,
s said George, honestly; " but though
of the title and the property, and l sal
1 yes, directly"
9 "I thought him the very greatest mut
= l ever spoke to- broke in Miss Lily
with decision. al refused him withou
9 a moments hesitation, and told him t
: 90 home. I'm sure it was well did.
5 dare say if he had stayed here niue
4 longer, he would have proposed t
0 mamma next, and afterward to the up
per housemaid. l agree with yor