The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-05-06

/ conscious OF bis enemies, and even asked .JanC
/ Peters to dance, but she tossed her head. anG
! informed him her card was full, with such al
air Of impertinent superiority that join
/ laughed and turned away to find another
partner.
/ Miss Deane and her father spent a long sum
mer at the Hyssop House. for Edna hated to
| go back 10 their stuffy city clearinghouse,
and they had no other home; they two were
! alone in the world, and Mr.. Deane liked to be
/ free TO travel so that he would not keep house.
Besides, Hyssop was pleasant little town
| among the hills, and whatever gayeties were
abroad Edna shared; she was pretty. bright,
well dressed, and well-bred: the few Young
men in Hyssop all admired and liked her, and
she enjoyed liking and admiration quite as well
as woman should John Hackett called as
often as any one, and Mr.. Deane took a great
fancy TO him; he was an intelligent, kindly
young fellow, paving Difference TO age which
is uncommon in these days, and which pleased
Mr.. Deane peculiarly.
As the summer went on, however, John OBJ
served that the old gentleman's manner toward
him changed; he was no longer cordial, no
longer ready TO converse, to borrow books, TO
play cribbage with him; and if he came to in
vite Edna to drive with him, unless he saw her
first, he was sure to meet a refusal.
John wondered very much at this change in
their friendly relations; he would have tried to
solve the riddle in the only legitimate way to
solve such problems by direct inquiry, but for
the fact that Miss Deane herself was as sweet
and friendly as ever. II she was a little shy,
and her pretty bushes came and went more
swiftly than before, that did not at all dis
courage John, who was heartily and thorough
ly in love with her long before summer had
gone, and who began to hope she did not al
together dislike him.
II John Hackett had not been absorbed in
this new and joyful emotion, he might have
seen that other people besides Mr.. Deane
hi.
The clergyman of the church he attended
bowed to him now without a pastoral smile
upon his long serious visage; Deacon Griswold
eyed him from under his shaggy brOws in a
way to have daunted a less absorbed man;
several old maids frowned at him, when they
met him, with a frown ofvirtuous reprobation;
and more than one young girl of Jenny Peters
class looked askance when they met, and re-
turned only cold slight nod to his pleasant
greeting
He was a busy man and a happy one just
now: nothing could trouble him much, and
being peculiarly unsuspicious by na5ure, he
did not dwell on the chill of his social atmOs-
pherc as a more conscious person would have
done.
There was another person besides Mrs. Green
who had seen Johns visitors that night.
AlOnzo Filley had risen from his pallet in the
inner Office at the same time Mrs. Green went
to her window, and proceeded to the fru<t Of
like her that it was day; so he too beheld the
dubious circumstance, and Judging other peo-
pie 10y himself. put the worst possible CON
struction upon the matter However, as John
was a regular bOarder at the Hyssop House,
the clerk knew his business better than to talk
Of what he had seen; his anger on the night Of
the dance had made him incaUtiOuS, but his
sense forbade him to say ANYTHING more.
But what he did say was enough to confirm
Jane Peters opinion Of John and his Z" gOin~s
on She told her story to seven dear friends,
adding her own ideas as to the persons and
purposes Of the visitors to the bank window;
and BIZ the time each of these seven, all Of
whom were pledged to profound secrecy, had
told the tale to fourteen more, under like
pledges, these suggestions were incorporated
into the scandal as facts, and the legs of the
lie increased in due proportion as each of the
fourteen lent her aid to spread it with great
reserve and caution.
It was but a few weeks after that June night
that Mr.. Pratt, Lucelas cousin. who kept the
Hyssop House, had occasion to say TO Mr..
Deane, in answer to some particular inquiries
of the gentleman, that nobody in Hyssop had
anything to say against John Hackett; and
having borne this testimony, he walked into
the office with pleased and amused smile on
his face, and leaning up against the desk, said,
q Wen, guess John Hackett's in luck"
"Eh!' said AlOnZO.
Why, old Mr.. Deane's been asking about
and so forth. Looks mighty
like a weddin' ahead. JOhn'll have to ask me
tot for the good send-off give him. Fact is,
there want nothin' but good to say, though"
" HIM. grOwled Alonzo. Still water
runs deep they say"
Lord. now. 'Lonzo. did you ever hear man
or woman speak against him in your lifel"
" Well, | shouldn't want to swear | hadn't"
said the clerk, mysteriously.
''Why, what on earth be YOU limiting at?'
4 - 6
gossip as far off, and hunt it down as peril
as any Of that much belied race, the
old maids.
Il don't say nothin'. I know where my
good lies. 'Tain't in telln' tales out O. school,"
replied Alonzo. "But that Deane girls
pretty girl an a good girl. l should hate to
hev her come to grief anyway. Tell you what,
Mr. Pratt, You must step over and ask Lucelve
if she don't never hear nothin' said agin John
Hackett. Don't mention my name, for the
lands sakes. / don't want John Hackett a
Duzzin' round my ears; an faint none of my
business anyhow"
Pondering deeply, the landlord made his way
10 Lucelia Pratt, who was his cousin, that very |
evening, and put her to the question. She was
4 busy woman, and q deal of talk flowed past |
her ears without affecting lodgment in her
brain; but, after some effort, she did recall |
Mrs. Green's half-re4ted story. And the next |
morning, finding AlOnZO in the inner office |
ilOut. vi. ldlb iblNl NM INT
well. I'm free to confess l see the same |
thing, Squire; and see more. Betwixt YOU |
an me an the post, | see John Hackett come |
Dut an 60 off with them two females; an |
never see him come back, neither"
Alonzo, with the true gossip memory, forgot |
20 state that be went right back 10 bed and to |
sleep himself!
Well, wouldn't never have believed it if |
Miss Green had been the only one that see il. |
sha'S 70
'he might ha' made half. It's safe to allow
for women-folks' stories always, l |
guess; but sence you see it too, why, there
INIT no dOdgin' of it, as l sea-
shall you tell the old MANI"
dono; really I dOno: Seems as if had
ought to; but l guess won't-nOt unless he
sks me, anyhow. | like John Hackett first
ate; | should hate to do him harm. Likely
,nough twas the fust an last time of trip
i'm"
But he had done John harm: fer coming
nto the outer office to get his New York pa
yer, delayed over night by late train, and
wanted so early because he was going into
)artfOrd-Mr. Deane overheard this last SEN
ence, and it was enough. He was both proud
nd obstinate. 1t was enough for him that
Ohm Hackett was even suspected of evil; he
hould never have his daughter Edna. He
would break off the intimacy; he would take
Ter away, to Europe, if necessary, but some
HcIt Oub u Luls lCllON ; itdCll rTOIu JIls
rose the GOODNESS John had noticed in Mr..
)eane's manners, and Edna, with the quicIness
f her sex, had also perceived it, but laid it to
Ter fathers habitual jealousy of any one she
eemed to like, which she had experienced often
efore. 1t was a consciousness that she did
Ike John Hackett which called the blush to
er face and the shyness to her eye.
Things did not seethe silently very long.
dina showed more plainly to her father than
o her lover how much her feelings were inter
sted; and taking advantage one day of her
bsence in hartford at her dressmaker's, Mr..
)eane called on John at the bank, requested
riyate interview, and to the poor fellows as
enlistment and dismay forbade him TO pay any
Irther attentions TO his daughter. In vain
ohm begged TO know the reason. Mr.. Deane
rev pompous and dogmatic as fast as he grew
ngry. He did not choose to give reasons for