The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1882-06-01
A Real Sweet Story.
From Harper's Bazar.

per, ana tney were DOIn OF tneln lmpQl-
sive young people with very little self-con-
troll.
"Iou are false, selfish, untruthful,
manlike man." said she.
".And you suspicious, unreasonable,
unwomanly woman," said he.
"Take back your letters" she cried,
tiinging parcel tied With hyacinth- blue
ribbon on the floor at his feet
81 WILL" he muttered between his
clenched teeth picking up the parcel and
throwing it into the fire, where it blaZed
brightly moment or two and then flew
away in thin uncanny black fragments up
the chimney. AS the last fragment dis
appeared, Rick turned again to Lefty,
with frowning brow, and asked, as he
had asked before, ''Do you still persist in
accusing me Of deceit and falsehood?"
IL do,' she replied, "unless you show
me the charm"
IL will not show it to you," he declared,
with violent emphasis. "If my word be
not sufficient, refuse to give you farther
proof | wonder that you dare insult me
by asking it. And | also wonder how
you, believing me to be false and untruth-
full can be willing to trust your future to
me. And, to speak frankly, | begin to
think we have made a great mistake in
supposing that we could spend that
future happily together, for | am fully
convinced we are anything but
Two souls with but single thought,
Two hearts that beat as one"
(Ihese lines were quoted with most sar-
castle intlecton.) "And furthermore,
also begin to think that perhaps it would
have been better if we had never made
this mistake-if we had never met, in
fact"
"Oh, indeed sir."-with great assump-
ton of dignity. "Have you just arrived
at that conclusion? | have long been
sure Of it, But there is nothing easier
than to part. Your letters are already
disposed of. Tomorrow will send back
your ring and picture. And then, when
| am free once more, | can try to please
my mother tour acquaintance, as you are
we'll aware, has never pleased her), and
in pleasing her may find am doing a
pleasant as we'll as a wise thing for my
self"
care You referring 70 Brougham
Brown?'
II am referring to Brougham Brown" :"
"By heavens" exclaimed Rick, seizing
his hat, "this is too much. Lefty, good
10y forever"
But Lefty began humming an air from
''Patience" drumming an accompaniment
on the WindoW-pane, and vouchsafed no
answer Rick rushed from the room. The
humming and drumming ceased instant
ly, and the whilom performer listened in
tently. Five minutes passed, and still
the street door did not slam. ''He is
waiting for me to come out into the hall
and beg his pardon, suppose" she said,
with defiant grimace, "but WON'T"
and she turned again to the window as
the door shut with bang.
And then she flung herself on the lounge,
kicked Oft her slippers, and cried like
summer shower Rick gone, and gone
'torever' Rick whom she had loved so
dearly, and who had loved her so dearly,
for two long years. And why? Just be-
cause that silly, glgging Lena Varian,
with her pale blue eyes and strawcolored
hair, had chosen to tell fbs about him.
And shaking the tears from her lashes.
she began scoldlng herself as hard as she
had scolded poor Rick. 1.-The idea, Let
ty Lounsberry, of your believing that girl
before him. What possessed you? He
did tiirt little with her. that is true but
all men tlirt little with girls who persist
in admiring them and tlattering them
But he never gave her the little gold pig
-y0W Christmas gift to him-never.
How she got it | can't imagine, but he
would have explained if you had given
him chance" And then the absent
mother, gone to Aunt Emory's for two
days visit, came in for share of re-
proach. ''lf she had only let our engage
ment be known, instead of insisting upon
our waiting until Rick was twenty-one,
and | had not been obliged to carry my
engagement ring in my back hair, the
only place where it is safe from Baby's-
Goodness gracious. Baby" And Lefty
suddenly remembered that ever since
Rick came in to make morning call,
knowing Mrs. Lounsberry was absent
poor fellow he'd have stad away if he
could have foreseen his reception-Ba
had been sitting alone in the dining room
in the middle of the big dining table,
surrounded by all the pickle and marm-
alade jars and fruit cans and catsup bot
ties and Jam pots out of the store room.
For it was the monthly house cleaning
day, and the store room fell to Letty's
share, the foreign help being gifted with
too great talent for smashing and break
ing, to say nothing of an equally great
talent for abstractlng and devOuring both
sweets and sours. Lefty sprang from the
lounge, thrust her feet into her slippers.
and fastened where duty had been call
ing her for some time. Baby sat, as good
as gold, nursing bottle of tomato sauce,
snugly wrapped in a dish towel, in. the
very spot where she had been when Ricks
ring summoned her sister to the door
Only one small flask lay broken on the
floor, filling the air with the subtle fra
GRANGE of garlic. "That won't be miss
ed, said Lefty. "Thank fortune, there
is no worse mischief done" But the
"thank' was scarcely uttered when her
eyes fell upon the last jar Of the famous
peach marmalade, the secret of the max
ing Of which died with grandmamma,
and which was being carefully kept for
Aunt Emory's (Aunt Emory was an old
maid worth thirty thousand dollars) birth
day. There it stood directly in front of
Baby, with more than half of its thick
paper hat torn off, and a yawning cavity
made in its precious contents by little
scooping fingers.
cob, Baby, why couldn't you have tax
en- any jar but that9" asked Lefty, re-
proachfully and dramatically.
But Baby evidently had no excuse to
offer for not doing so, for she kept on
grooming to her bottle doll, while her Sis
ter hastily fashioned another paper hat
and tied it securely over what remained
of the original covering.
Then said Baby, "Rick tiss mice
Rick :"
Oh. that is what he was doing when
she foolishly imagined he was waiting for
her to come and implore his forgiveness
bidding good-by to Baby. She might
have known it, for he had always loved
Baby dearly.
"Yes, Baby nice Rick, good Rick, dear
Rick but, for all that, the ring he gave
me goes back to him tomorrow unless
hear from him tonight. How dare he
wish that we had never met ?"