Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-04-03
Mr.. Grimshaw,s Love Affair.

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play! What a different creature! Oh
the many who are accustomed to listen
to him with Difference and respect al
various gatherings of the learned, how
few would have recognized him now!
Mr.. Theodore Grimshaw could never
have been very young, I think. He
was sixty five at the date of this little
narrative, and had friends as old as
himself who maintained that In his
school-days he was not in the least like
a boy, and that in early manhood he
was as little like other young men as
could well be imagined ~ Ef79
Throughout his parchment-like ex-
lstence Mr.. Grimshaw had been ahso-
lutely impervious to the tender passion.
His warmest feelings were those which
he bestowed upon the future of Africa
as colony6 while the interest he took
in the Water Supply Of his neighbor-
hood was stronger than any ever won
from him by blue eyes or brown.
In the calm security of his wealth,
noted ability and driedup temperament,
Mr.. Theodore Grimshaw went to dine
one evening at the house of married
friend-an M. p. of expansive waist
coast and with an unconquerable con-
vlction that the importance which. at
tached to him in the rural district he
had the honor of representing in Par.
lament was equally felt In London.
AS this gentleman kept an invaluable
cook, and gave many dinners, no one
lnterfered with his harmless delusion.
But the M. P. had sister, and she
was widow. The widow was Just un-
der forty and in the possession of much
beauty; which-as the dear departed
could no longer value it-she now de-
sired should be comfort to another.
She thought Mr.. Grimshaw looked
lonely, and it was but a short time be-
fore she convinced him that he was so,
1t seemed that in proportion to his
former callOusness Mr.. GrimshaW was
now to suffer the tortures of love. His
iaiF one first attracted, then -repelled
him /; and it was just three weeks after
the dinner party at which they had first
met that the elderly gentleman, by an
effort of his mighty intellect, pulled
himself together to ask the momentous
question. With extraordinary care he
dressed himself, and was canght by his
seft-stepping valet in the act of grace
fully bowling and presenting q hair
brush to himself In the cheval glass
Could the astOnished man have seen
the choice bouquet with which his mas
ter afterwards ascended the steps of the
M. P.'s house, he would have under
stood better why the hair.brush had
been practiced with.
and, although suffering from such
thumps of the heart as Africa had never
given him, Mr.. Grimshaw felt pleased
at the glow of courage which inspired
him, and fell to business.
If may hope" he softly whis>
pered, and the widow dropped her eyes
and blushed. She had long decided
that his fortune and the carriage it
would enable her to. drive In were worth
real blush. She yielded her plump
hand, and returned the faintest pres.
sure. ....
my life shall be devoted-n
what remains of it," mentally cor
rected the widow, with a critical glance
at the bald patch on her suitor's head.
ITO your happiness" pursued Mr..
Grimshaw.
The conversation then turned on a
place of residence. He had always lived
in London; but-would she like the
country better? .5- t
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 beauti-
full as in London
Thus far sill went well. Visions of
quiet residence where art should render
everything as harmonious and beauti-
full as the home of such woman should
be, fitted deliriously through the brain
of the happy Mr.. GrimshaW, and with
impassioned fervor he flung himself on
his knees snd implored the widow to
name the day. b5I
Silence, save their own voices reigned
supreme. Flowers bloomed in the bal
eony, sweet scents were waited in by
the gentle breeze OF early summer and,
for the first time In his life, Mr.. Grim.
shaw felt young. If he had only looked
less withered, his ardent attitude might
have moved stone.
With gentle hesitation the widow lis,
tened, and would have speedily fixed
an early day while praying for delay
but, in place of her dulcet accents, there
rang cut clear upon the silence q child's
shrill voice from the adjoining room
only divided from this by heavy cur
tains, through which pair of blue eyes
peeped eagerly:
"Come. Nelly! Come and see the
funny old gentleman saying his prayers
to mamma E
An electric battery could not have
caused MIR. Grimshaw greater shock
First. his modification that his most
sacred privacy had been pried into;
next, that terrible word "mammsW
"You have children, then ?n he in
quired, in an aggrieved tone. l,i., p.
"Of course; every one knows have
five p announced, with some petulence,
the fair widow. n
ST did not know it, madam. It Is all
together unfortunate-I-ah-can't bear
children .i.l ..' ...
"Say no more, sir, loftily interrupted
the injured lady, sweeping from the
room. .T tll .s..
All Mr.. Grimshaw's friends can now
recognize him again, and from his calm
and uninterrupted interest in the Colo
nies to be established in Africa, and the
Water Supply in London, the world
reaps rich harvest--or will, some day.
-Argoay. o.lt .5-..--. il, --. o.
A WoMAN's FIvE-MINUTE CALL