Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-06-06

A What different creature, OF the many
who were accustomed to listen to him
with Difference and respect, at various
gatherings of the lear ned. how few would
have recognized him now,
Mr.. Theodore Grimshaw could never
have been very young. think. He was
slxfy-tiye at the date of this little nara
tive, and had friends as old as himself
who maintained that in his schooldays
be was not in the least like a boy, and
that in his early manhood be was as little
IKE other Young men as oould well he
imagined.
Throashous his parchment like exist
encc Mr.. Grinshsw hsd been absolutely
impervious to the tender passion. His
warmest feelings were those which be
bestowed upon the future of Africa as a
colony; while the interest he took in the
water supply of his neighborhood was
stronger than any ever won from him by
blue eyes or brown.
In the calm security of his wealth.
noted ability and dried up Temperament,
Mr.. Theodore Grimshav went TO dine
one evening at the house of married
friend, an NJ. NJ. of expansive vaistcoat
and with an unconquerable conviction
that the importance which attached to
him In the rural district he had the honor
OF representing in Parliament was felt
equally in London. As this gentleman
| kept an invaluable cook, and gave many
dinners, no one lnterfered with his harm
less delusion.
But the NJ. Z. had n sister, and she was
q widow. The widow was Just under
forty, and in the full possession of much
beauty, which las the dear departed could
| no longer value il she now desired should
| Dc a comfort for another. She thought
| Mr.. Grimshaw looked lonely. and il was
| but q short time before she convinced
him that he was SO.
IL seemed that III proportion to his |
former caliousness Mr.. Grimshaw was
now to suffer the fortunes of love. His |
| fair one first attracted, then repelled |
him; and it was just three weeks after I
the dinner party at which they first met |
that the elderly gentleman. by an effort |
of his mighty intellect, pulled himself |
cogether and resolved to ask the mo-
mentous question. With extraordinary
care he dressed himself, and was caught
ny his soft stepping valet in the act of
graceful bowling and presenting hair
brush to himself in the cheval glassl
Could the astonished man have seen the
choice bouquet with which his master
afterward assembled the steps of the NJ.
better why the hair brush had been prac-
tised with.
The flowers were accepted gratefully;
and, although suffering from such beat
ing of the heart as Africa had never given
him, MIR. Grimshaw felt pleased at the
glow of courage which inspired him, and
fell to business.
" If | may hope he softly whispered,
and tie widow dropped her eyes and
blushed. She had long desired that his
fortune and the carriage it would enable
her to drive in We're worth q real blush.
She yielded her plump hand and returned
the faintt st pressure.
My life shall be devoted"
What remains of it," mentally cor
rected the widow, with a critical glance
at the bald patch on the head of her
sutton.
"To your happiness" pursued Mr..
Grimshaw.
of residence. He had always lived i'll
London; but-would she like the coun-
try better?
She would not have him change his
habits for the world; country places were
mostly damp. Yes, she adored flowers,
but where were they SO beautiful as in
London?
Thus far all went well. Visions Of a
quiet residence, where art should render
everything as harmonious and beautiful
as the home of such woman should be,
fitted deliriously through the brain of
the happy Mr.. Grimshaw, and with inn
FASHIONED fervor he flung himself on his
knees and implored the widow to name
the day.
Silence. save for their own voices, had
reigned supreme. Flowers bloomed in
the balcony, sweet scents were waited in
by the gentle breeze of early summer,
and, for the first time in his life, Mr.. |
Grimshaw felt young. If he had only |
looked less withered, his ardent attitude |
might have moved a stone.
With gentle hesitation the widow list |
ened, and would speedily have fixed an |
early day while praying for delay; but |
| in place of her dulcet accents there rang |
out clear upon the silence child's shrill |
voice from the adjoining room-only di- |
| vided from this by heavy curtains, |
| through which a pair of blue eyes |
peeped eagerly:
"Come, Nelly. Come and see the
funny old gentleman saying his prayers
TO mamar'
An electric battery could not have
caused Mr.. Grimshaw a greater shock. |
First his modification that his most sa-
cred privacy has been invaded; next, that |
terrible word, "mama"
"You have children, then?" he in |
quired, in an aggrieved tone.
"Of course; every one knows / have
i've" replied, with some petLlance, the
fair widow.
az did not know it, madam. 1t is al
together unfortunate. I-ahy-cant bear
children"
"Say no more, sirr' loftily interrupted
the injured lady, sweeping from the
room.
All of Mr.. Grimshaw's friends can
now recognize him again. and from his
calm and uninterrupted interest in the
colonies to be established in Africa, and
the water supply in London, the world
reaps q rich harvester will do SO some