Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-01-16

you, but yon asked me question, and +
| have given you - answer.
If FarmdaIe knew little Of this man.
there was less 81 Hiss Denny that i did
not know. rs knowledge Of him could
I ID briefly summed M: That he had rid
den into 1t one night on the down stage
coach. and asked at the postofiicc % Be
shown quiet place whore board could
| be had for q week or so; that the next
morning found him at the cosy table Of
| Miss Denny. beside the clerk of the
village store, hanked right and left By
the manager Of the tannery and the
schooImastcr, and opposite the mis-.
tress of the house, who sat entrencheu
behind thn daintiest Of her house
hold gods: that he had slept.
loungcd and eaten with the air Of
one who, at thirty eight, had thrown
of some great mental or business
strain that had already grown
streaks Of gray in his hair; that he spent
money as freely as need be in the narrow
WAYS and close economies of this small
Ohio town; that his chief delight and
one known vice was to FIRE good hum0rcd
Trades at the urchIns of the ncighbor-
hood. in words far beyond their compre
hension: that he had given to no man
and to no woman one hint as TO his past
or his home, and that the bravest of them
had not cared TO question him.
Laid beside these mysteries. the life of
Miss Denny was an open book that even
the children could read. It's lesson was
pure and simple. Even that missionary
of personal intelligence, who had taken
upon herself the responsibility of being
mother to the shock headed boy, could
find no broken letter in it that venom
would lie upon. s'Know Janet Dennyg"
she would have answered you. sWell, |
should say SO. She was thirty-one last
December, 10th, believe perhaps the
9th--it wasa Tuesday, anyway. Her father
gave up and died ten years ago-didn't
amount to much with his readin' in the
haymow, and a sermonizin' at the wood
pile. Her mother has been gone. too,
goin' on five years. Smart gal. Takes
boarders, and her folks didn't even leave
her the house she lives in. She taught
school once, in the seminary at Mayfeld,
but gave it up to nurse her mother.
Reads poetry not that can see the good
of it, but 'spect she does, or she wouldn't
do it. She always says what she means,
does her own work like the rest of US,
aud makes her own bonnets Heard she
had the chance to marry q jabbering
Dutchman, one of them professors over
at Mayfeld, but don't believe it. 'Twould
take drawer man than a little Dutch
man with long name to make love to
her. She had beau onct, when she
was seventeen or eighteen, but he died
fS>r ~ nd la
kinder quiet for a few years. No, shell.
live and die an old maid. I've always
said that But see here! What did that
dodgin' fellow in the speckled suit mean
by teIlin' my Bill that he come from the
Land of Node My man says there amt
no such place in these diggings; and my
old man has travelled.
Janet had indeed answered his ques
ton with honesty, but she was too much
OF the woman TO confess that when the
argument began to take shape between
them some weeks ago, her position had
been assumed for that arguments sake.
But by dint of much repetition. and the
searching of all the hooks and corners of
her heart for pleas in support of her
theory. she had unconsciOusly become
her own first and most steadfast convert,
and burned with all the zeal Of the mar
tyrs of old.
Had she known-had she dreamed for
moment of the love that had sprung
up in the heart of the stranger who had
halted for rest at her gate, and that he
was only hiding it until such time as
confession should be the most certain to
win success, not all the eloqucnce
and all challenges that his lips could
utter would have led her to
promulgate or defend the faith to which
she had given her discipleship.
She knew il all week later. For the
first time In his life, he called her by the
name her mother had given her. And as
she looked up with flush, in which
there was no touch of anger, he took her
hand, and, turning toward the western
sky, said gently: Janet, there may be
glory and there NAV be storm behind
bank of clouds. God sends his burdens
and bis gifts as he chooses, and we must
take them as they come. Ihave had my
share of each In the years behind me. |
had thought the way was PLAIN ahead
that was approaching the summit Of
hill, and in few wears would begin to
90 down on the other side, new.
sudden, blessed light has shown. into
my heart, and I bless the road that led
me here. love you, Janet. Will you
be my wife2n
1t came with the lightning stroke Of
an absolute, binding surprise.
Though, in looking once, she might
have seen il in his eyes, she might have
heard IL in his voice and felt IL In his