Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1880-04-21
GOLD AND GILT,
I'm EARLY SPRING,

!. know III and she could not help think
, Ing, ~ she walked along tho Felt
ham road, aa that keeping compan,
L wcth Tom Dawlish WAC was Just
: plain, honest, hard-worklng young iel
low-was rather vast Of time, an(
,, that marrying him would DO altogether
throwing herself away,
Her reflections came 10 mn end al
the door Of Messrs. BIadbury'S Office
aud shc walked 10, wholly intent OF
the bill she had to pay, n smaft'look'
ing young man received the money
aud when the receipt was made out
and she turned to 20, she found that
the shower that had threatened fol
some time was coming down with
a vengeance.
ooh, dear!'' she said, "and ! have
no umbrella.
"Wait here few minutes, miss; IL
will soon bc over said the smart
young man; and then, having accepted
his offer of shelter, Mary found herself
after u minute or two thinking that
he was ga very nice looking young
gentleman, Gas sae Afterwards describ-
ed him to the cook and that he had
beautiful har-it was so nicely curlcd
and he had little dark moustacho
and wore such pretty blue necktie;
oh! he was very nice looking, indeed.
care you Mrs, Poole's sister," he
asked, after a few minutes conversa-
ton.
Mary flushed as she replied truth
fully, for she was far too gooda girl
even to eqnivocate-that she was not
such a distinguished individual but
only the house. maid and chamber
maid combined. And then he ask ed
what her name was, and with another
blush she told him it was Clara, but
Mrs. Poole said it was to fine a name
for a servant, and so she called her
Mary.
Il shall call you Clara he said =
"shall I 2" he added, with an appeal.
ing glance.
Mary felt her heart beat fastr; some
thing seemed to tell her that herdesti-
ny had come, and she had no words
to say; so he followedup his successful
sally with another one:
"Do you ever get out of an evening
for walk?'
"Sometimes,' she said softly.
"Will you 60 Tor walk with me
next timer"
"It wouldn't be right; youare quite
a stranger, you see, she answered
slowly.
"Oh! we'll soon get over that, you
know. Perhaps you are engaged
thought" Mary's inconvenient heart,
gave a thump which showed that he
meant business. e., matrimony.
"No I'm not; but I'm wanted to be.
Not a very lucid answer; but be Under
stood it.
"Who p he asked coaxingly.
"Well, perhaps l oughtn't to say
his name," she answered slowly; for
this, the most important movement
of her life, as she felt 1t to be, words
seemed altogether to fail her.
"What is he?'
"He's-he's a carpenter" Mary
never felt the truth more difficult to
tell in all her lite. 4
"a carpenter !" he said ina telling
tone Of enquiry, not unmixed with
scorn. "Well, of course ! am not
much better then a carpenter
"Oh !! you are; you are, SIR said
Mary, in her excitement, putting out
her hand and resting it for just
moment OH his sleeve.
Mary.lost her heart to the smart
young man with the blue tie aud we'll
oiled hair. He never said anything
more definite than he said that first
day; but he was always reday to take
her out, and was most particular a.
bout her dress; and the result was
that all her little hoard Of savings went
for more or less ill.chosen finery, and
Tom Dawlish was forgotten. .ss
There was only one thing she refused
to do, and that was she would not
give up her Sunday afternoons to him.
She had always had to take little
Frankly Poole out for long walk on
that day. it being his half-holiday, and
she would never consent of his being
allowed to run wild il KensiHgton
Gardens, as Alfred Hill (tor so the
smart young young was called sug-
gested, while she walked about with
her fine sweetheart. !