Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1883-02-23

own at home
Ehat am to do with it hal
sald Nraruin to himself, as he trayerscd ne:
the wintry gloom Of the midnight th'
streets. "Oh, have It'll ~ give it to
Fanny Glen and she can make a ha
Christmas present Of it to her little r
black-eyed cousin" Sc
He laid the doll, rejoicing, on the Il
sofa, and went to bed sinking into
dreamland just about the time that ]
Fanny Cbn was taking the hairptn8
out of he magnificent golden hair be-
fore the dressing bureau in her own
apartment.
"why, Fanny, what ails youf"
cried Dora, her elder sister. "YoG are
cryingF'
"I am so tired" guiltily confessed
poor Fanny.
And she wept herself to sleep
thinking how foolish shehad been, and
that, of course, Martin EllersHe didn't
care straw about her. Why should
he?
Mr.. Fllerslie rose the next morning
full of his momentous resolve ana
made such toilet that the landlady's
little boy seeing him go out with big
doll neatly encased in her pasteboard
box rlpaar his arm, ejaeulated:
The black-eyed little cousin admitted
him. Yes, Cousin Fanny was al
home-wouId he walk into the parlor
And our hero, before he had made up
his mind in whac terms to bestow his
gift, found himself bowling and smiling
to a fair-haired vision in a sunny lit
tie room, surrounded by heaps of cut
flowers.
"How do you do, Mr.. Ellerslie,"
said Fannie, coloring and smiling. al
am making bouquets, you see, for to
night"
Exactly So" said Martin, and then
he reflected how much more appropri-
ate a remark he might have made, and
turned very red.
"Pray sit down." said Fanny.
"I 1t the fact is, Miss Glen" said
Mr.. Ellerslie, plunging in sheer des-
peration into the midst Of his subject,
81 have called--I hope you won't be
vexed-you have only to say SO if you
don't like it,"
Fanny dropped her sprig of hello
trope and looked up in surprise.
al know it isn't of much conse-
quence," went on Martin, turning the
pasteboard box round and round in
confusion, "but if you'll accept-I've
known and esteemed you so long,
and
The damask roses deepened on
Fanny's fair face. 1t had come at
last, then, the proposal she had antici-
pated so long and anxiously.
"Not of much consequence Oh,
Mr.. Ellerslie," she repeated, reproach-
fully.
Would you not care for it ?" he de-
manded, quite obvious in the embar-
rassment of the moment that he hadn't
even named the gift.
"Care for it?" the tears sparkled in
Fannys eyes. "When you know that
love you, Martin"
And she ran straight into the arms
of our astonished hero.
When he went down the door-steps
he was an engaged man, how and
when he hardly knew himself. And
as fate would have it, the first person.
age against whom the tumbled was
Guy Barnes.
Hello" said Guy. "What's up?"
Don't speak so loud, said Ellerslie.
passing his arm through that of his
friend "She's engaged to be my
wife"
WHO is? The divine Fanny, the
fairest of her sex? ?"
"of course who else should it
be-"
But thought you couldn't screw
your C, courage up to the proposing
mark"
q didn't propose
Guy Barnes stared.
"You-didn't-proposel Then how
could she have accepted you?"
mat Just what l can't compre-
bend myself, sud the puzzled lover.
1--WE are engaged-that is certain
but can't for the life of me remem-
Der when or how proposed
"Du' OF course you proposed" oh