Litchfield enquirer., 1880-01-01
was standing, flushed with the compliments of

was standing, flushed with the compliments of her song, talking to our hostess near the piano As approached from behind l could hear that they were speaking about me, and 1 caught a few words distinctly. Ipaused to listen. IL '-swas very wroug, but twenty is an impulsiye age. 6 s
 - Oh, a averynice young man indeed, Lucretia was saying; land we had'a most enjoyable journey down. He talked so simply, and seemed such an innocent boy, so took quite fancy to him." (My heart beat about two hundred pulsations to the minute. ) ''Such a clever intelligent talker too, full of wide Eng llsh views and interests, So different from our narrow provincial Canadian lads" (Oh, Lu- cretia, 1 feel sure of you now. Love at first sight on both sides evidently ) "And then he spoke to me so nicely about his mother. l was quite grieved to think he should be travel ling alone on Christmas Eve, and so pleased when heard he was to spend the Christmas with you, dear thought what should have felt--"
 E 4 listened with all my ears What could Lncretiab be going to say? BY
 Ft'If one of my own dear boys was grown up, and passing his Christmas alone in strange land" tfE s.s < @Ireeied. The room swan before me. It was too awful So all that Lucretia had ever fell, was mere motherly interest in me as 7 solitary English boy away from his domestic turkey on the 25th of December {! Terrible, hideous, blighting fact! Lucretia was mar ried!
 The rector's refreshments in the adjoining room only went to the extent of sponge-cake and weak ciaret cup. l managed to get away from the piano without fainting and swallow ed about quart of the intoxicating beverage by tumblerfuls. When I had recovered sui fciently from the shock to trust my tongue, l ventured back into the drawing room. It struck me then that had never yet heard Lu- cretia's surname. When she and her brother arrived in the early evening Mrs. Pritchard had simply introduced them to me by saying: q think you know Tom and Lucretia al- ready" Colonial manners are SO unceremo- nious.
 joined the fatal group once more. "Do you know" said, addressing Lucretia with as little tremor in my voice as l could easily manage, ''it's very curious, but have never heard your surname yet"
 Dear me-" cried Lucretia, '1 quite forgot. Our name is Arundel" ~....
 "And which is Mr. Arundel ?' continued. ', .'I should like to make his acquaintance" T "Why," answered Lucretia, with puzzled expression of face, ''you've met him already. Here he isl" And she took a neighboriDg young man in unimpeachable evening dress gently by the arm. He turned round. It re-
 
 in that tall and gentlemany young fellow with the plain gold studs and turndown collar my rough acquaintance of last night, Tom him. self
 saw it in & fash What fool han been! 1 might have known they were husband and wife. Nothing but pure piece of infatuated preconception could ever have made me take them for brother and sister. But Il had so fully determined in my own mind to win Lu- cretia for myself that the notion of any other fellow having already secured the prize never struck me.
 It was all the fault of that incomprehensible Canadian society, with it's foolish removal of the natural barriers between classes. My mother was quite right l should henceforth be high and dry conservative Tn all matters matrimonial, return home in the spring with heart completely healed, and after passing cor rectly through London season, marry the daughter of 8 general or a WarwIckshire squire with the full consent of all the contracting parties at St. Georges, Hanover Square, With this noble a.! d moral resolution firmly planted in my bosom, made my excuses to the rector, and his good little wife, and left Richmond forever the very next morning, without ever seeing Lucrela once again.
 But, somehow, have never quite forgotten that journey from Quebec on Christmas Eve; and though have passed through several London seasons since that date, and undergone increasingly. active sieges from mammas and daughters, as my briefs on the Oxford Circuit grow more and more numerous 1 still remain a bachelor, with solitary chambers in St. Jamess. 1 sometimes fancy it might have been otherwise if 1 could only once have met a second paragon exactly like Lucretia.-J drbutJLUOt Wilson. in BeLOrGUiG.