The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1884-02-02
"You may as well commit suicide a
onca - cold T,,1iat

ACoo, Sdlu NILS. ICIlplClOu.
"There are nineteen old maids in
this block" said Gladys. "We count
ed them yesterday, Dora and I. Do
you suppose there are nineteen old
maids on Lake Molechunkamunk?
"Nonsense," said Mrs. Templeton.
"And besides," added Gladys, the
laughter fading from her eyes, sis it
really the end and aim of all female
humanity to getmarried? Why shouldn't
be an old maid as we'll as another?
Do you think I shouldn't survive it
Wait and see."
| Gladys Garland had definitely made
up her mind on the subject. Within
three days she had purchased pair of
thick boots, a blue flannel suit and a
poke-bonnet of rough straw trimmed
with blue ribbons, and gone out to
Lake -Molechunl,arnunl.
| Uncle Paul was glad to see her. He
didn't live in wigwam, as she had
almost taught herself to believe, but
owned pretty little lodge in his vast
wilderness, shaded with forest trees and
embowered with blue-cupped morning
glories.
He was civilized, and did not assas-
sinate English grammar like the cham
pion hunter in the dime novels. And
he had provided pretty little boudoir
for her, whose pink mosquito netting
set the black flies and gnats at defiance,
and an exquisite engraving of the
Madonna di San Sisto hung over the
broad mantel.
ooh, think l shall be quite, quite
happy here" said Gladys, as she sat in
little boat where the dropping boughs
of the hazel bushes made blots of shad-
ow on the glittering lake, and read
while Uncle Paul fshed.
"Don't regret any of the New York
cavaliers, eh?" said Uncle Paul.
And Gladys stoutly answered:
"No."
But afterwards she asked herself, had
she told the truth?
eff Darrell Vaudeville chooses to
marry Miss Dorrance, let him." she
thought. 81 shall never pursue any
man. Let other girls do as they think
fit"
That very afternoon, however, when
she returned from a long ramble in the
woods with her straw hat full of fragrant
blackberries, she found the little lodge
occupied.
''I am sorry to take you thus uncere-
moniously by Storm" said handsome
middle-aged gentleman, who looked to
be what he was, Wall street broker,
come out into the wilderness for his
summer vacation. "But my friend has
fallen over cliff and broken his leg,
and this was the nearest point of shelter
within a range of seven miles. Per-
haps your husband will excuse us, if"
sBut it is not my husband" said
Gladys, composedly depositing the ber-
ries on the table, ''it is my Uncle Paul.
J He is, fishiro- ND the lake, Rnt if he
! were here he would say as do that you
are very welcome. Where is the poor
man? I'm not much of surgeon, but"
She stopped abruptly. There, lying
on the little chincz-covered lounge,
his pallid face supported by cushions,
lay-Mr. Darrell Vaudeville.
"Miss Garland!" he exclaimed, "I
am so glad"
ssMr. Vaudeville" she uttered, in
the same breath, ri am SO sorry!"
"Because I have drifted here, Of all
places in the world ?" he pleaded.
"Because you are SO badly hurt, :"
faltered Gladys, with the tears coming
into her eyes.
81 knew you were somewhere in this
REGION" he said. "In fact, Miss
Gladys, I was looking for you. But I
didn't expect to find you just now and
thus. 1 thought"
And then he closed his eyes, a
deadly pallor crept across his face.
ssI think he has fainted," said the
Wall street broker.
And Just then Uncle Paul came in
fUncle Paul, who was born chirurgeon
and who understood all the healing
secrets of the glen and forest-and
Gladys heaved deep sigh of relief
1t would all be right now.
A broken leg is no joke, especially
in the back woods, where splints have
to be manufactured out of the most
incongruous material, and arnica can
not be had short of twelve miles.
Mr.. Vaudeville made but a slow
convalescence, yet he did not appear
to regard the detention as unpleasant
The Wall street broker went back to
his stocks and bonds.
s'I think we could easily get you to
Andover," he had said, wistfully.-
"And parlor car from there"
"Oh, hang your parlor cars" said
Mr.. Vaudeville, impetuously, "I'm
doing very we'll where I am now"
"Oh!" said the Wall street broker,
a sudden light of comprehension IRA
dating his dull brain. "Oh, in that
case may as we'll leave you to your
fate. It's the old story of Ulysses ano
the Sirens over again."
Mrs. Templeton came into the room
where Dora and Juliet were remodel
ling their white dresses for theatre
party to the Casino one September day
with flushed cheeks and shining eyes.
"Girls," she cried, ''what do yol
think? Gladys is engaged!, .
tTo some buffalo hunter ?" sale
Dora, scornfully.
"No!" said Rosie; "to Mr.. Mande
vile. He has been up there for
month-at Lake Molechunkamunk."
Juliet dropped her work.
"Tmpossible!" !" she cried. "Glady
engaged up in those wilderness, while
Dora and are left to wither on th'
stem down here in New York! And t.
Darrell Vaudeville, too-the best mattel
of the season -
f "Things do turn out SO strangely!
said Mrs. Templeton, refectively.
And Gladys, the predestined ole
maid of the family, was the first to b.
married after all.
4 "Gladys always was lucky!" salt