Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1881-08-11
vcrite in his arms and gave her a
sounding kiss:
will You Do yon mean it g

l say, Bert as the others uplifted-
ly left the room, what made you
take up the cudgels. for the Grigys-
town boyss Was it, quizzically
pinching warm, velvet cheek
was it because of the lad 1 intro
duced to you down In my office last
September A deuced fine fellow,
eh Were yon thinking of him,
Miss Diplomacy ~
'But, blushing furiously, Bert
shook her head with suspiciously
emphatic decision, and slipping
from her fathers arm, ran out of
the room.
So, when city aristocrats were
cfowding to the green gloom of
forest solitudes, or the crush aud
glitter of fashionable Watering
place, the names of Mrs. and Miss
Worthington appeared upon the
hotel register of the Ocean House,
Newport.
And, the same day, Caleb Wor-
thington took a long, glorious hol-
iday, and carried Berthe off to his
native town-a struggling, world
forgotten little place, among the
hills.
And in the long. scented sum
mcr days that followed, the giri
grew to love everything animate
and inaminate round Poppy Farm.
One evening, she loitered in the
great slopirg gardens before the
verandahed, green-shuttered house.
Such gardens !! Not the painfully
regular Dutch diagrams we city
folks boast-priln. concise, box
hedged-but whole sheets of color,
fragrant, luxuriant, bloomful.
A gentleman passing, young,
good-looking, gray clad, paused
suddenly outside the low, rustic
fence. A moment more, and he
had vaulted over and was standing,
bareheadcd, at Bertie's side.
Miss Worthington, lllay | hope
I am not forgotten 2
'Mr. Carlyni'
She held out a little, tanned
hand, a hot glow kindling under
the big straw gardening-hat.
4 have been absent from Grlggs-
town some time,' he said, looking
quizzically at the bright, changeful
face under the shadowy hat; 'but
Mrs. Dent and [ are very old
friends. So, being terribly behind
hand in my visits to Poppy Farm,
L intend now to take advantage of
the weather and atone for my neg
lect.'
Somehow, BERTHE fell to thinking
that night, as she sat in the shadow
of the rosy chintz curtains, of Cor
deha's last scornful words:
Il suppose you'll have some
country admirers in that almost
mythical Griggstown, but don't lose
your heart, Bertie. They're all the
sane, these rustic beaux-awk-
ward bushing, stupid
And then she thought of Reuben
Carlyn's easy, courteous manner,
his quiet, gentlemanly grace.
sAnd if Mr.. Carlyn is a common
country farmer, Mr.. Moon,' said
BERTHE coolly, apostrophizing the
placid, smiling face in the sky
above her, 'I-wcll, | don't really
dislike common country farmers,
that's all =
And, three days later, she wrote
Cordoba a long, rscrossed letter,
saying she was going to marry a
Grig gstown boy and live in Griggs-
town forever.
And Cordelia replied frigidly
that they had always knows she
(Bertie) would disgrace the family.
sYou don't mind being a farmers
wife, pet!' Reuben questioned, ca
gerly.
mind? Of course I mind, sir
But when there is no other way OF
satisfying a troublesome boy-By-
thc-way, when shall l see the
| tarm2 2
soon, my darling.'
Caleb Worttington chucklee
and laughed as he read Cordelia''
letter.
sPack up, Bertie; we must b'
home as soon as mamma, Oul
pleasant holiday is over. Don
look so forlorn, little one-Carlyn'
coming up, too
1t was evening when the tri'
reached the city. The carriag
rolled through the fashionable thor
oughfares and stopped before
great stone mansion. Light
: cleaned from with, lace curtain
fluttered at the windo Hs.
Reuben sprang ont and held hi
hand to BERTHE.
, Bewildered, she passed, with hir
} her father following, up the step
f and into the long lighted parlor.
A little, silver-halred old lad.
> in a dark. rustllnr silk, came brisl