The Portland daily press., 1883-08-06

along the coast with friends who were un-
fortunate enough 10 have yacht on their
hands, and taking any opportunity of going
ashore in some town of the British provin-
ces where / could buy them for half what /
could at home.
It was one winter day, however, my
thoughts far removed fromthis incident of
my long-vanished childhood, that entered
street car on my uptown way, and after dis
patching vain expression of thanks to the
universe-the individual who resigned his
seat to me having hurried out upon the plat
form with such an apparent fear of catching
my eye that one might have supposed had
the evil-eye--and after wiping the dust OF
my drapery from the soles of the shoes that
the opposite gentleman offered to the con-
temptation of the public, and after gather
ing my skirts up so as not 10 interfere with
the personal liberty of the tobacco chewing
gentleman on my right, Ibegan, according to
my habit Of old, to look over my fellow
travellers, and draw social deductions from
their little peculiarites
There was nothing very absorbing about
| them: some tired shopping women like my
| self, some tired shop-gitls, too, with their
| aflluence of jewelry and cotton lace
| Young music teacher with her weary roll; q
| fierce schoolgirl, whose empty luncheon
| box foretold an immediate raid upon the
| pantry; bank president, who, not to forget
tn eday of his small beginning, still preferred
| public to private conveyance as he nodded
upon his cane; foreign gentleman, whose
| slumbers made the car balmy if they Were
| not balmy themselves-I soon exhausted
them, and slightly shifting my position, be-
gan to take account of my left-hand neigh
| Dor, who had recently entered--a dark and
| slender man, rather under than over the
the average height, with keen and quiet
manner of his own.
1t was certainly some one / knew. How
| provoking that l must needs forget the
name! And l was cudgelling my brain for
| some association with which might fix him
before | should appear to see him, when
| one of my furtive glances suddenly struck
| spot from which IL ricochetted like bull
| let from stone.
1t was the spot where tiny atom of my
neighbours right nostril had been clipped
out, leaving there the effect of that naughty
curl whose high bred outline by no means
| injured the face, although not adding to any
| appearance of amiability. I started inyol-
unfairly, but as the person turned to see
| why, pretended only to have shigered. and
| pulled my shawl about me more closely
What strange resemblance! | thought; or
was my INDUCED fancy running wild?
| There was the straight black brow. the
| white downeast eyelid with its long lashes
| when | ventared TO look again, the some
what sunken mouth with Its thin red lips,
and the corner of the front teeth gone, the
line OF downy shadow developed, It is true,
into delicate moustsche. Was it-could il
| How absurd | was, always making moons of
green cheese! But indeed there was
something to go upon here, | said again, af-
| ter new survey, and fresh accession and
| impulse of intuition. Could it bet
couldn't be Miss Burne. Was it Miss
Burne's brother? Odd that both of them
should have met with precisely the same &C
cidentsl While was thus amusing myself
the person occupying my thought bent idly
| to brush straw of his gaiter, and doing so
his glove suddenly ripped, and there pro-
truded part of quaint ring on his finger.
/ Surely had seen that ring before! Was it
! gemel-ring of slender wires strung with
| small diamonds, over which the finger had
| grown so that it could not easily be removed
| save by file? 1t made me SILVER in reality.
and before recovered sufficiently to smile
| at myself for letting my Imagination run
away with me, the car stopped for a person
whom knew by sight but not by name, as
Teddy knew Mr.. O'Halloran. He was an
| officer OF the revenue, hardly. know what;
a Custom detective, it may be-
Every woman has a natural antipathy to
the Custom-house officer; possibly he inter
feres with line of business to which she is
adapted. In my case at all events, on that
| udJ vas uACOiuAuOHl} COuSClOuS Ol us
| ike OF the mans work, and a desire to
| thwart it. And with that there all at once
rushed over me sense of some connection
| between his presence on the car and that of
| my left-hand neighbor. | pulled up my
| shawl. There had never been any duties
paid on that pretty cashmere; it had come
over in shawl-strap as one of the wraps for
use on deck Allowing all that my neigh
Dor might be, was ! any better?
turned and looked at him openly, and
then-it was frightfully bold, and it makes
| my heart beat to think / could do it--open-
| ing little parcel of batter-scotches that [
had bought for Katharine, took out one
| and offered it to him. Impressions du
! roydge," said.
| He looked at me from the corner of the
| long-iashed black eyes without a word
| Perhaps he recognized fellow breaker;
he certainly could not have recognized the
old down East voyage. But be took
| the child of the bntter-scotch abb
| sently held it a moment on the tin
of his finger, and filliped it into the
straw. Then the car stopped at some OBJ
| strucLion OF a passing team, the driver be-
gan to swear, the conductor hurried to help
| him, there was a general craning of necks to
discover the cause of the commotion. and
when | turned my head again my left-hand
| neighbor, whether it was Miss Burne. or
Miss Burne's brother, or neither of them,
| was gone.
But, as | make it point generally to have
something to tell from my street adventures
when go home, told that day at the din
ner table what was to me quite an interest
| ing coincidence.