Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-06-02

Just tell him Mr.. Brookes has called
and he will understand"
So saying the girl showed me into {
snug little breakfast room, where the
sunbeams and the fresh morning air
seemed to be vying with each other a.
to which should hold possession of the
room; with such friendly rivalry were
they streaming through two open French
windows, which opened upon tasteful
ly arranged lawn and flowerbeds outside
While noticing these things, the house
maid had gone mp stairs to announce
me; when something like the following
dialogue ensued, please ma'am, Mr.
Brookes is down stairs
"Mr. Brookes, Who is hep" was the
response, in q muffied female voice.
Il don't ma'am," the maid replied.
never seen him here before. But he is q
young gentleman, and says he'll wait
till master comes down"
whoever can he be, and what can he
want. bothering here, at this time OF
day?" continued the muffied voice; and
thereupon the door was shut.
"Now, this was not exactly pleasant
to me; but when l reflected that most
probably Mrs. Robertson wOuld.be unac-
quainted with her husbands invitation
TO me thought it best not to be offend.
ed so l. commenced examining the pic
lures on the walls. They were not very
interesting, and / soon concluded my in.
spectiOn, and looked round for some
thing else to occupy the moments, which
began 20 hang rather heavily. The
newspaper of the previous day was upon
small table by the window. so | took
that up, just to pass away the time, and
j was soon 1istlessly perusing the adver-
tisements. had not been sitting thus
above minute or two when | heard a
slight rustling, as of a lady dress; sim
ultaneOusly came three or four light
footsteps through the window into the
room. and before | could look up from
my paper. or rise from my seat, musi-
cal voice accosted me with "Good morn
ing, uncle; here is your button hole"
| started up in No little surprise at
Ills greeting, which was evidently not
intended for me; and there stood behind
me fairy-like maiden of some sixteen
summers, her brown hair falling loosely
from daintily-shaped head; her CHECKS
agl0w with the healthy morning air she
mad been enjoying, and deepened, too, by
Il rosy blush, when she discovered her
greeting had been unWittingly address
ed to stranger. She was standing be-
fore me holding tbe knot of flowers deS-
tined for her uncle's button hole-how
envied her unclei-a very picture of
health and life and happiness and beau
ty. Her expression of unrestrained en-
joyment had changed in a moment to
one of embal rassment and dismay, mill
5Ied with gleam of amusement in her
bright eyes as the biumOr of the awk-
ward situation we were IN broke upon
Iier. An instantaneous mutual agree
ment seemed to lash between us. We
both broke into a merry little laugh; and
| often wondered what would have hap
pened. if we bad not adopted this course,
if, for instance, the young lady had pass
ed on with a dignified coldness, and SIM
pie apologies and bows had passed be-
tween u.s. Our sudden introduction
was, however, not destined to have this
sudden ending. In few moments we
we're chatting away like old friends. i
iancied my fairy seemed to lie actually
pleased when announced that was
going to stay for BREAKFAST. !. and l had
almost summoned up courage to ask
her to present me in reality with the
flowers she had undesignedly offered to
In', when the entrance of the servant
with the completing dishes for the
breakfast table served as an excuse for
her to leave the room.
She had scarcely gone through the
door when heard again the greeting,
"GOOd morning, uncle" followed This
time by an unmistakable sound, which
made me long more than ever to be that
girls uncle! The door opened once
more. / stepped forward to meet my
employer, but suddenly paused as tall
gentleman entered the room whom l
had never seen before in my life.
He stood looking inquiriEgly at me
after sharp "GOOd morning" l was
too embarrassed to make any response.
Ny first thought was: HE Is some visi
tor" but in few moments the awful
truth dawned across my mind, that this
was in reality the owner of the house |
was in, and by some means or other |
had got into the wrong one. The situa-
tion was tremendous. l am naturally q
cool character; but l was so taken by
surprise and chagrin, that l could only
utter some confused apology about hay-
ing been invited to breakfast by Mr..
Robertson; that had been directed to
this house by some miserable misunder-
standing; that humbly apologiZed for
my intrusion, and hoped he would par
don it. So speaking l made a frantic
dash at my hat, maddened at my stupid
ity, at the loss of my breakfast, and still
more at the thought of never seeing or
speaking again to that charming little
lady, who in less than five minutes |
found was absurdly in love with!
/ said hurried good morning." and
was trying to make CHASTITY attempt to
smile as left the room-when, would
you believe it? That tall dark man
burst into loud langh. l felt ready to
knock him down. knew how my stu
pidity would be gaily discussed at the
breakfast table, before her, and l felt
my discontinue and humiliation deeply
but this open merriment at my expense
maddened me-,
a strange calm succeeded this storm.
1t was caused by some words uttered by
my tormentor. "You really must for
give me; c6uld't refrain from laughing.
My name is Robinson. Your friend Mr.
Robinson lives in one Of the other hous-
es. We frequently get parcels and let
tiers, and even callers come to the wrong
house; bat in all experience we have
never had so amusing mistake so ear
ly in the day as this one"
Now. this explanation toned down my
anger considerably; but the words that
followed were like balm to my troubled
heart "Mr. Robertson will have finish
ed breakfast by now. can not think of
allowing you to go. Do me the favor
of remaining here and breakfastipg with
u.s." So saying, he took my hat out of
my hand, and led me into the room
again. OF course it did not need much
persuasion to make me stop. Two min
utes hfore | had been ready to knock