Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1884-03-27


for mew
'eYou shall have anything you like, "
he said, with little husky cough that
was habitual to him. Then he opened
his mouth to speak-and shut it again.
By this time she was gone.
All! well. On Saturday he would
say something. Whats And then he
fell to composing his own speech and
her wers-but he scarcely ventur-
ed to think what those might be.
So the day slipped quietly away,
and he was sitting idly by the Kissing
wood fire, when the door was flung
open, and, to his surprise, Dick walk
ed in.
"Why, my dear boy, where did you
come froml thought you were shoot
ing in the north for the next three
weeks to come.
II changed my mind, uncle. l
may stay here, mayp't II
The permission was readily given.
But as the evening drew on it became
apparent even to Erasmus, who was
far from clear sighted, that something
was amiss. And when after dinner
Dick came to the study, drew his
char close to the fire, and sat silently
gazing into the flames, his uncle at
last ventured on remark.
Nothing wrong, my dear boy"
Nothing except that I've oeen play
ing the fool, was the encouraging re
ply
Then there followed long pause,
broken at last by Mr., Scott in his
slow, timid voice. you were saying,
Dick, that you had been-eh2"
well, it comes to this-Im in love
There's no good trying to fight it
down. | thought I'd see if going
north for change would set me up,
But 1t only made it worse. l never
cared for a girl before, and thought
it all such rot; but now l can't live
without her. Oh, you can't think
what 1t was, up in that dreary shoot
ing lodge on those great moors alone,
with nothing but the dogs to talk to,
and all day long her face and her
ways haunting me.
"She2' began Erasmus again, in
quiringly, She is what did you say
is the name of the young lady?n
But Dick went rambling on after
the fashion of people suffering from
Ais malady. II think she likes me. |
never thought about anything at first
but mere fun and chaH, you know;
and then it came over me all of sud
den that there is no one half-half
like her, you know. And when | said
goOd-by to her / was wretched, and
she looked awfully down in the mouth,
too, So l think she likes me. She
didn't say anything-well, | suppose
girls don't; they expect one to begin. "
To this general observation Mr..
Scott assented, and then in his shy.
laundering way, you were saying
the lady's name is --2 Did you meet
her in ScotlandW
In Scotland Why, who do you
think ] meant-Rose Dormer, of
coursew
If Dick could have seen his uncle's
face he would have guessed the whole
story. But, as it happened, he could
not, and Erasmus broke the silence
by asking very gently, "You think
she cares for you, my dear boy2'
well, I'm nearly sure of it. We
We're always quarreling-but then
that's the way with lovers, they say"
and then he went on to give strong
proofs of his assertions.
Mr.. Scott listened very patiently,
but it seemed to him he had never
known before what PAIN was like.
He fancied he suffered more in that
one half hour than he had ever done
in his whole life. Each word seemed
to burn and scorch his very heart.
Then when Dick had done, he said,
God bless you, nay dear boy She is
the sweetest girl that ever lived, and
| know you will do your best to make
her happy. All me two young people
together"
Dear old fellow" thought Dick,
ut reminds him of the time when he
was young"
The next morning Dick dressed Kim
self with care and put a white rosebud
in his buttonhole and strobe off to the
cottage. Erasmus watched him from
the window and thought how natural
it was thas Rose should prefer Dick to
him, and what a foolish thing it was
to ever have thought that matters
could be different. Yet even these
reflections did not cure his Aeartache.
Dick returned late in the evening
heaming and burdened by the neces-
sity of pouring out all his story to
someone--it did not matter to whom.
But his uncle, although very silent
(he said he was not we'll toothache'O
made a good listener, and that was all
that Dick wanted.
When the engagement was an
nouuced in the neighborhood every
one said how suitable it was, and
how nice for Mr.. Scott to have aniece
he was so fond of! Only, poor man.
he seemed to have been suffering so
much from toothache lately OF
course he was delighted about the
marriage, but he really looked miser-
ably iii. # would be far better to have
every tooth out than to suffer in this
way
On one cold December evening,
when Dick and Rose were sitting by
the fire in the twilight, Mr. Scott
against his viii, overheard a scrap of
their conversation. He was arrang-