The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-04-14

been attracted by the advertisement in
the Times. lent her BY neighbec.
Brown learned half Of this stegy in .
glance round the room and was e1cour-
aged to persevcre. He introduced him
self to the elder lady and ezerted him
self to the utmsst to remove the untaE-
orable impression he had produced. She
received him with . poife1ess which It
once put him at his ease. and gradually
the daughter was induced to jsin in the
conversation. What may have been
said, do net know, but the interview
lasted for 1t least half an hour, and from
that time Brown became frequent visi-
tor.
Somewhere. under the shadow of the
Wrekin, in Shropshire, there lived Mr..
Silas Brown, retired medical pract-
tisner, . bachelor, and Browns uncle.
When cur Brown was boy, his uncle
Silas took fancy to him. and even went
50 far Is to buy q small piece of ground
in his name in an improving neighbor-
hood. Brown had always shown .
proper sense of his uncle's generosity,
though hitherto he had not derived any
advantage from it, for the old gentleman
persisted in retaining the property and
acting as trustee. He had worked his
way up without help, and he was deter
mined that his nephew should do the
same. It was fine thing for young
man. Besides, by keeping down the
boys income, he would be prevented
from making some foolish marriage, q
tenn which Brown was used to apply to
marriage under any circumstances.
About three months after the adven-
ture of the advertisement, the old gen.
tleman was startled by letter from his
nephew, in which the latter, for the first
time, alluded rather pointedly to ''those
three acres by the new church"
'.You have always told me, my dear.
uncle"-so ran the letter-''to consider
this land as my own. I have no right
to presume upon your kindness. but I
should be very glad if you would allow
me to derive some immediate advantage
from it. The fact is, that I am engaged
upon work-scene laid in Spain-from
which l hope great things, and am COM
PEELED in consequence to keep an amanu-
ensis, which is very expensive"
The elder Mr.. Brown read this letter
with doubtful expression on his face.
sGreat work, indeedr' he said to him
self. "Chateau en- Espagne! I'll 20 to
London and see what that boys doing"
And therefore Mr.. Brown wrote no re-
ply to the letter, but he presented him
self a few days afterward at SO Hamp-
stead Road.
ssOut of town!-noasense, my good
girl, the old gentleman said to Sarah,
who vainly attempted to oppose his en-
trance. s'This is the room, I think?''
and he walked in without further cere-
mony. His face grew absolutely purple
as he did 50; for there was his nephew
seated At table busily writing, and OPP
posite to him was young lady. very sim
ply dressed. but very good looking.
swell, sir?" he exclaimed, in = tone
by no means pleasant.
Brown, as soon IS he recovered from
his surprise, shook his uncle's unwilling
hand, and pressed him into chair. AS
to the young lady, she blushed consider
ably, and seemed anxious to run away.
''Pray, sir, is this your amanuensis?'
Poor Brown hesitated, and at length
said:
eyes sir.''
''Whatp' the old gentleman said in
tone that was so menacing. that Brown
thought it was best to lead the young
lady out of the room, whispering to her
some reassuring words.
The old man wiped his brow. "John,
I can't tell you how grieved am at
what I have seen to-day. That you
should be so lost, not only to principle,
but even to ordinary propriety-
'tMy dear uncle, what do you mean?"
''Mean-why, you won't persist in the
story of that young person being your
What is she doing here,
sir?"
'.It's all over with the three acres,'
Brown thought. II must tell him.
81 admit, sir, that I have practiced
some deception upon you, and yet told
the TRUTH
ssEh?''
81 mean that that lady is indeed my
but that she is also
"Well, STRIP
''My wife"
CHOW it's all over" Brown said to
himself. His uncle was evidently taken
by surprise. He threw himself back in
his chair, and drawing out his small
snuff-box, helped himself to several
pinches successfully. At last he spoke
in a much calmer tone and said gravely:
81 am very glad to hear it"
Brown would have been ill-fitted for
his position as q comic writer if he had
not possessed . profound knowledge of
human nature. Thought he, .'thn is
the proper time to say nothing" In
dealing with ones relations, there is the
great advantage of knowing that their
hearts are in the right place, Whatever
may be the case with the rest of the
world. Uncle Silas is one of the family
md he'll come round by degrees.
Uncle Silas might or might not be
coming round, but in the meantime he
sat in profound silence, using his snuff
,ox at intervals. At last he spoke.
John, I've been mistaken in you
}on't suppose that I object to marriage;
IN the contrary, I approve of it when
prudentlv-not otherwise.