The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1883-02-23

them with a Oke of o en-. Facts pld
you ever hear anything more ridieu-
lous? Now they are living in fine style
in Paris.,'
| Splendid just like a storyp' sad
Tilda but then, / would go to the
ends of the earth with oneI loved !"
g All then, my sweet girl, 90 with
mel am rich and well connected, and
but come to think of tiny money
and my watch are gone, and my mother
is sick waiting for me-
"Of course, would not 90 with you
under any circumstances said Tilda,
mildly.
"But if I come again TO woo, per-
haps to win you in the regular ortho-
dox style perhaps you would not OBJ
ject?'
Tilda, with averted face. blushingIy
replied that she could not tell.
g Ard you will accept this diamond
ring one that belonged to my mother,
and is a family heir-loom-to remind
you of me, while / am gone?'
Tilda's eyes opened wider; she
thought she had never in her life seen
anything SO splendid as this pure, white
stone encircled by emeralds,. which she
allowed him to pla on her finger.
1t certainly was no harm, she
thought, to allow this, and as he sug-
gested that she might let him have only
enough money to carry him home, it
seemed to her that her father could not
object when he learned bis name, if
she should let him have the twenty dol
lars in the old money-box, that he had
put aside for taxes, particularly as the
young man promised to return it in
the first mail after he reached home,
with five dollars for interest.
So she went to the bureau, opened
the box and gave him the money. He
took it with profusion of thanks. and
gave his name as Edgar Montague. As
he left the door, he stopped and kissed
her, declaring that he should return as
soon as the illness of his mother would
allow him, and gain her fathers con-
sent to make her his bride. A
Itseems almost Incredible that any
girl could be deceived by such disgust
ingly abrupt love-making and gross
compliments But Tida knew nothing
of the world, and her book heroes and
heroines Were OF this character.
B tNo.sooner had Mir. MONTAGUE gone
than came Patty, one of the .neighbors'
daughters. "Mother had a speil,'' she
said, "and could she borry some
camphire?'
ooh my, what a splendid ringr' she
cried. &
"lt's my engagement-ring, said
Tilda, proudly; " or just as good. The
gentleman who gave it to me lives iti
New York, and 1 never saw him before,
but he fell in love with me at first sight,
and l shall probably marry him right
away"
Away went Patty with her budget of
news. In a few hours, every neighbor
within half mile knew that Clotilda
had diamond ring" and was going
to be married to New York gentle
man.
Tilda was awakened from her dream
of magniicence by the arrival of her
parents and her brother. Mrs. Fry
went upstairs to remove her bonnet,
and then gave shrill and terrified
shrek. An earthquake and cyclone
combined would hardly have created
more confusion. q
Her husband and Tilda and jim
rushed upstairs. A scene of confusion
met their eyes which will not soon be
forgotten. Every drawer and closet had
been sacked and their contents thrown
about the floors. Somebody had dressed
himself in Jim's best broadcloth and
left n their place threadbare, dirt
crushed clothes and a shocking bad hat
The old gold watch, an heirloom, all
Tilda's little trinkets, valuables of every
kind, were gone.
Tlda remembered the noise she had
heard upstairs, and resolved not to
mention her diamond ring or more
of the conversation of the young man
her father friend-then she could help.
But she forgot that simple Patty knew
all about it, and that Patty was the Cos
sip OF the neighborhood. In forty-eight
hours, everybody in the country was
talking OF the r0bbery, and laughing at
the silly girl who had confded in
smoothly-spoken rogue, dressed up in
her own brothers clothes, and had even
lent him money out OF her father desk.
AS for the ring, that proved to be
utterly worthless. Poor Tilda! Never
was a girl more thoroughly mortified.
In the confusion the book she had ben
reading was taken up by her father.
He la d it aside, and the next day,
after show NO her it's character, he took
it b tween the tongs and threw it in the
fine, declaring that if he ever saw any
more such trash in the house he would
shut Tilda in her room and keep her on
bread and water for a month.
TIL ~upshot OF the whole aH;air was
that the tramp, an ACCOMPLISHED villain,
who had already served his time in
States Prison, was soon arrested, and
poor Clotilda suffered the severe morti-
tication OF being obliged to identity him
in court Even he, when he saw her,
burst into coarse la Oh, while the
long-faced Judge and the lawyers had
all they could do, as she told her STORY,
to suppress their smiles.
But the cruel lesson Nfficed, Ro-
nance had lost its attractions for her,
and sensational nov Is and strangers
are just now both alike repugnant.-
Houtb'S Companion.