Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-03-31
MIR, GR1MsHAW's LOVE AFFAIR,

what q QlnerenC creature! vi tlc many
who are accustomed to listen to him with
Difference and respect at various gather
tngs of the learned, how few. would have
Recognized him now!
MI. Theodore Grimshaw could never
have been very young, 1 think. He was
sixty-fve at the date of this little nara
tive, 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 manhoodh he was as little like
other young men as could well be inn
agined.
Throughout his parchment-like exist
ence Mr.. Grimshaw had been absolutely
impervious to the tender passion. His
warmest feelings were those which he be-
slowed 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
MI. Theodore Grimshaw went to dine one
evening at the house of a married friend
AN NJ. P. Of expansive waistcoat and
with an uncomfortable conviction that
the importance which attached to him in
the rural district he had the honor Of
representing in Parliament was equally
felt in London. AS this gentleman kept
an invaluable cook, and gave many din
ners, no one interfered with his harmless
delusion.
But the M. P. had a sister, and she was
a widow. The widow wa just under
forty and in the possession o fmuch beauty;
which-as the dear departed could nc
longer value it-she now desired should
be a comfort to another. She thought
Mr. Grimshaw looked lonely, and it wa
but a short time before 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 fail
n first attracted, thenrepelledhim; 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
and resolved to ask the momentous cues.
ton. With extraordinary care he dressed
himself, and was caught by his soft-step
ping valet in the act of gracefully bow.
Ing and presenting a hair-brush to him.
self in the cheval glass! Could the aston
ished man have seen the choice bouquet
with which his master afterwards
assembled the steps of the NJ. Prs house,
he would have understood better why
the hair-brush had been practiced with
The flowers were accepted gracefully
and, although suffering from such thump!
Of the heart as Africa had v give1
him, Mr.. Grimshaw felt pleased at the
glow Of courage which inspired him, anc
fell to business.
If l may hope" he softly whis
pered, and the widow dropped her eye
and blushed. She had long decided tina
his fortune and the carriage it would
enable her to drive in were worth a rea
blush. She yielded her plump hand, anc
returned the faintest pressure.
"My life shall be devoted"
"What remains of it," mentally cor
rected the widow, with a critical glance
ut the bald patch on her suitor's head.
ITO your happiness" pursued Mr.
Grimshaw.
The conversation then turned on place
OF residence. He had always lived il
London: but-would she like the countr,
better?
She would not have him change hi
habits for the world-country places wer,
mostly damp. Yes, she adored flowers
but where were they so beautiful as il
London?
Thus far all went well. Visions of
quiet residence where art should rende:
everything as harmonious and beautiful
as the home of such a woman should b.
fitted deliriously through the brain of tn.
happy Mr.. Grimshaw, and with impas
stoned fervor he flung himself on biz
knees and implored the widow to nam
the day.
Silence, save their own voices reigned
supreme. Flowers bloomedin the balcony
sweet scents were waited in by the gentle
breeze of early summer, and, for the frs,
time in his life Mr.. Grimshaw felt u
If he had only looked less withered, hi
ardent attitude might have moved g
stone.
With gentle hesitation the widow
listened, and would have speedily fixed
an early day while praying for delay;
but, i'll place of her dulcet accents, there
rang out clear upon the silence a child's
-I-sI