Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1881-08-24

often In tho form Of questions, really u
dueed me tospeak At greater length thar
I had intended,
At parting, l ayowed my intention ol
finding some way 10 hee more 0l lhC
young lady
Hyle stared Ia his usual sheepish man
ner. but smiled assent,
Asl do not mean 10 make q lone
story Of this adventure, l shall briefly
say that, after passing tho diapers Hhoi
once or twice without seeing tho young
lady, l made up my mind aud entered
can hardly say bOldly-to buy q nee's
tie l had made up my mind to some
thing besides meant TO bo long timC
IN choosing this tic, 30 that should
have the pleasure Of q sustained eonyer
RatIon with the pretty assistant but lht
master, q rcd-hcod man with cast III
his eye, came forward tosefye me, Will
Miss NEEDING Il heard him call her by
nAme) waited upon little girl who
bought some buttons aud thread, Ia
spite Of this most cxaspentlnG mishap.
| succeeded IN catching her oye scyeMl
times, and once | wan certain she smiled.
This No delighted mo ut tho moment,
that | bought moro expensive Article
than had intended. hut on leaving tho
shop ! began TO doubt whether the smile
was exactly Il complimentary one No
by tho time | reached bone, lhal work
cd myself into nervous irritation, tho
like Of which | had never before known,
/ told llylo Of my ill,lnck, aud ho Raid
IL was not strange under tho cir
cumstanccs. During our sitting, llylc,
with moro interest than ! lad over
known him show In aly single thing,
asked me, quite earnestly, what my
views were In forcing myself upon the
notice Of this girl, aud what means ]
had TO justify my marriage. This did
not seem 10 DO any business oi his, ]
know, but ii WAS kind Of him to take 80
much interest in tho matter. ! told him
! was better of than hc perhaps imag.
inCd, for had five hundred pounds, left
mo by my father, which sum was out on
mortgage, aud at tho death OF my great
aunt Sarah, who was now eigh,y.ilvc
years OF age, l should have tho little
farm on which she lived, worth about
sixty pounds year. lilo congratulated
mo on being 40 well of, and then
abruptly asked me il anything more had
been heard about tho notes. told him
nothing had come ont yet, but | was
sure tho affair had by no means drop
ped.
Hyle had n couple Of passes for tho
Regents park geological gardens given
him, and asked mo to accompany him
on the following Saturday to bear the
band play. On our arrival we found the
gardens as gay and beautiful as oven to
this day they always seem TO mo, when
the crowd is listening to the orchestra.
We were wandering about in the
interval, when Hylc exclaimed that he
saw man who owed him some money,
and pointing out n certain scat, asked
mo to wait for him thoro for five min
utcs, and was Immediately lost in the
crowd. / sauntercd on towards this seat,
when q lady, turning out ofanothcr path,
met me, and l almost staggered with
surprise when / saw it was Miss Mcll-
ingl / blurted out somctling-I really
cannot now tell what it was / said. |
know that she smiled pleasantly, and
that I then found courage to add some.
thing about the band, and my having
had the pleasure of seeing her before.
It is of no consequence what said ;
it broke the ice, and We entered into
conversation the band recommended,
and explained that was waiting there
for a friend. At last, "a five times five
minutes had elapsed, / thought | was
justified in asking Miss Needing to 60
somewhat closer to the orchestra. We
did so, and / was delighted, a3 our con-
versation grew more general, to find her
rs intelligent as she was beautiful, while
her voice was so low and gentle, yet
broken now and then by clear silvery
laugh, that but what is the use of my
attempting a description of that which
never can be described? 1t was the
happiest hour of my life; yes, and |
think it has remained so; ; and never do
! hear the music floating from the gar
dens that l do not recall the scone,
Harrict's words and the delight with
which I listened to them, as plainly rs
if all had occurred but yesterday!
We went repeatedly to the rendezvous
indicated by Hyle, but he was not there,
nor did I see him in the garden again. l
found that at the establishment"
(which appears to be tho proper term
to use) of Messrs. Plushman & Sergclcy
the excellent rule Of closing on Satur-
day afternoon was observed; the more
readily, perhaps, that in their quiet
neighborhood there was little casual
trade; and this accounted for Miss
Melding's appearance at the gardens. l
was convinced at this time of what the
reader has probably seen before, that /
was very much in love, and though l
could not say anything definite, yet l
went so far as to learn that, on the next
Saturday, the young lady would perhaps
be going to Kensington gardens, and
would leave tho establishment at three
o'clock. This was great deal to learn,
and when I left her in Swanley street |
might have been walking in an enchant-
ed city, so little remained of the gloomy
dull air of the once familiar streets.
I was so proud of Harriet and her
beauty-I had of course learnt her name
by this time-that I tried to persuade
Hyle to meet us, that he might admire
my choice but although once or twice
he more than half promised to do so,
he did not keep his word. But he was
always interested in hearing about her,
as he was in hearing about the forged
notes concerning which latter had for
some time very little to say.
So quiet, indeed, had our firm been,
that 1 began to think the matter was
dropped, when one afternoon, just before
leaving work, Humphreys came to me,
and said in low tone
"You are to go into the governors
room. The solicitor is there, so sup
pose your turn has come"
With good deal Of nervousness 1
Obeyed, and l found our senior partner
there, with MIR. Douglas, Mr.. Spike, our
cashier, and strange gentleman. The
interview was long one, but the gist of
what / learnt was, that the mode of
planting" the notes was found out, or
at any rate suspected. 1t had been done
by the clerk at the bank. Two other