Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-11-11

drop that letter il, the box with your pTn
nd should hafe' 1oibusiless D.gte it
batNeo YOU. The law Gakfs,tha haiItn9 of
Won make a pretty mess s, Il q man after
mailing letter could get it back again. Ex-
cusAn2ne, sir. You see Pm busy. Good
day; and the Postmaster, fitting forward
hischair, dipped his pen in the ink and re-
commenced writing, as Oblivious of Farrell
fEanAsx shat moment as il he were in Tartary.
That same afternoon, about two hours and
9A1sta fterward, allowing for the difference
in time, the bell rang at the front door of the
residence of Mr.. Abel Harrison on one of
the1iaest streets Of little city in the ancient
State OF Connecticut. Mr.. Harrison was at
his business. Mrs. Harrison was out shop
ping Miss Grace H4Rrison was out of town
s sa;ssag e Tjss s Gss o = ss sio
"a telegram, MISC Hafrisohc' said the
servant, bringing her UP the fateful yellow
mtseixe. 1t was directed to Miss Grace Har-
risen, but in most families kilograms are con,
sidered common property, and Lucy opened
it without hesitationC ut was signed FARRELL
B4iAbrfdge," and read as follows:
You willIreceive letter from me to-mor-
roYsF> 1t was sent you by mistake. Please
burn Without opening.
Miss Lucy Harrison was extremely devot-
edt04er sister. Her engagement had been
a gEeat trial to her, not more on her own ac-
count than by reason of her anxiety on
Grace's behalf. She had been convinced
fra@ the first that Farrell wasnot the thou-
sass pa ao, s anSd shs
tic. Aeainst him. She would think the same
about, anyiyoung man who had presumed to
claim her darling little sister.
Lucy was however discreet young wom
am. and not word did she breathe that,
evening to her father or mother of the Itefe-'
gram. Next morning at nine with the rest
ofthemail came letter addressed in Far
| rell's hand to Grace, and wisl the post-mark
e1s so Hsy H. hsBf Es!si s sfs hssis
TIE .kisses anagrefints, Yas rtlsrS vas 4
TYss," said en |, "lssSn you burea6
Neter haa sHoaEht ns n Ma a SO Petty Iss
as since she~saVl it, in her LOVERS hands
writing. Lazy h&asfdllawed herr She saMa
her catch it up, look fondlv at it, and then
with a quick gesture press it to her lips. She
| looked around and saw her sister.
| "Just wait till you are in love, Lucy"
she said, busting and ghyly laughing as She
begansto open the letter.
| stop" said Lucy, extending to her sister
what it refers to. You'd better read it first.
| don't know what to make of it,"
/ Grace took the telegram and-read it. Then
she loo looked at the letter fand read the tele-
I'm not to read it" she said in puzzled
means Why did he write it to me if he
| dOesn't want me to read it?' and she re-
6eWiIderment, as # she were bouhd to eS-
| plain the mystery. But the latter answered,
| Struggling her shoulders.
| I'm sure don't know. I don't pretend
to explain such curious transaction. One
thing is pretty plain though, Mr.. Farrell
cambridge would never have stultified him.
| self BY sending such an extraordinary tele-
| gram unless he had some very strong reason
for desiring to prevent you from seeing what
| is in that letter."
! "But how could he write me something
one minute. and then the next be so anxious
to prevent my reading it%' said Grace, ready
to cry with perplexity. ''That's not natur-
| al. It's not bit like farrell. 'ss9{i@ utsln
"Perhaps not" said Lucy. ssYou ought
| to be fully acquainted with his character.
| You've known him the whole of six months,
/ believe; "-she could not refrain from this
sarcasm-"I suppose" she continued. ''we
whisa:xe had svfidsS fofea1 70 people, and
| have. sent some which W Hkhye had torn
up. don'tpretekdto au&athekiddle, hut
perhaps MI. cambridge had an impulse of
| frankness and wrote you some things which
uponsob second thought, after the mail
had gone ont, he concluded he would rather
%ohsI san f 7 think Of e that way. Lucy,
is as if there were two Farrells, one who
| trusted me- and one who didn't. Which Of
| thefff5s myslover"
ssGrace,o said her sister, eff were en-
gagedsto marry man and received a letter
under such circumstances as these I should
readf You can't tell what may be in it.
There may be something in it that will and
indsedpught to make difference in your
| feelings toward him. You must forgive me,
my darlinglittle sister, if I talk plainly, but
thers may be something in that letter which
il you knew. it would make you unwilling to
! marry him."
"Lucy %
s'sYou may cry out as you please" said the
Youl ssef him. BIT kowHi astsf ali You
| knoWRbOut him.1a Ill Il &
tens III not to, YsoSbea 6race.
i ! ".Yes you have: The letter is as much d.
recsed to you as the telegram. He sent it to
l you of his own free will, intending you to
! rcha ft.s He changed his mind afterward, it
i right to read what he wrote meaning it for
your eye. II he had spoken to you instead
/ OF writing to you and said something which
he afterward asked you to ignore, you would
not feel bound to do so even ii you could.
You would have a right to whatever he had
! once told you, however sorry he might be
afterward that he had revealed it. That
wouldsbe Just like this He has told you
telegram to ignore it. The only. difference is
that ,thanks to the quickness of the telegrnph,
you have his first and second thoughts before
y0,Rxbonce, and you can choose which you
will regard. l can't see that his second
thoi1gm has any more claim on Your respect
ooh, 1 ca1pt divide Rim UP that Way, L.fcy,
and think of him as if there were two Of him
oh, why did he do its He has mad made !, me so
Lucy. talked some time longer before she
left Grace to herself, representing to her
that The only course for self respecting
! young lady under the circumstances was
eithsrAoinsist upon and act upon her rigfif
to read letter addressed to hers OF, if she
preferred out of consideration for her dig.
nifty net to read it, to return it to the sender
with his former letters and note briefly
statines that she agreed with him that Sec
ond tRoughtssweHe test, and hesgsd him,te
eonssder ther syga4 Pm q a asf anS But sat
not in love. Her words fell for the most
part On deaf ears, as Grace, with the letter
crunched in her little fist, nervously walked
theHssm or stood holding it before her. and
.fixedlY gazing at it with tear7glazed eyes
almost HE one distrAught. =