The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1885-11-27

DN1h gam t4C Ndil. 1T tIbilitH jidfi
been carefully brushed with a turkey wing
from the neat homemade carpet and
Annie work-stand had been drawn up in
front of the ample and blazing fire of hick-
DRY logs which cracked cheerily in the old
fashioned fireplace.
bountifully-piled tray of red-cheeked
apples and a plateful of cracked walnuts
We're on it, in close proximity to Annie's
coqdettish work-basket made of pine II
by her own deft little hands and daintily
lined with blue silk.
On one side of the fireplace sat Mrs.
Moore, fat, fair, more than forty, and at
peace with all the world. She sat sway
ing backwards and forwards at intervals in
her low ro~cking-chair, knitting as she
rocked, and refreshing herself now and
then with a mouthful from a half-eaten
apple which lay within easy reach just
upon one corner of the table, or touching
in a caressing manner with the tip of her
foot a sleek, lazy-looking gray cat that lay
purring and blinking on the hearth-rug
before them.
Annie sat on the other side of the table
deity drawing her needle in and out a long
piece of white cambria, and with her head
as busy as her hands with contriving some
clever way Of incidentally mentioning the
visit, which she now momentarily ex-
pected, to her mother without exciting
the suspicion of its being a pre-arranged
affair. She would have given a great deal
to have been able to say in an off-hand
manner that she wouldn't wonder if Mr..
Winthrop were to drop i'll, as he was in
the habit of calling occasionally OF Sun
day evenings at about this time. but she
remembered with a twinge OF conscience
how hard she had tried to pursuade the
old lady to accompany her husband on the
promised visit to Aunt Ruth's, in spite of
her forewarnings of a coming spell of
s.neuralgy," which had intimidated her
from yenturing out into the damp night
air, and how she had pleaded headache as
an excuse for not going herself. She knew
that her mother was quite sharp enough to
draw her own differences from these two
facts and the additional one of her being
dressed with more than usual care to spend
an evening at home.
Il shall not dare to tell her now, she
said to herself. Shed be sure to think
that | wanted to get her out of the way, so
that | might have David all to myself.
SO, like a wise little puss. she was silent.
I'll venture my word on it you would not
have wondered at our bashful young far
mer's desperate enthrallment if you could
have seen Annie Moore as she sat sewing
by the fire that frosty night in November.
She had just before supper INDUCED in
what a Western girl would call a fixing
up" a ncat-fitting dark-chintz dress,
looking as fresh as when it first came ont
of the village store. dainty white linen
collar and cuffs aud a %coquettiSll triiled
apron of white muslin and 4 blue neck
ribbon tied in 4 cunning bow were the
chief items of Annie's toilette, but she
looked as sweet and pretty as if hour had
been spent DOMINIC satin, lace and jewels.
Her rich, wavy, solden-brown hair was
carried in shining folds away from her
warm. red cheek and caught up in the
meshes of a silken net at the back.
Eight o'clock and past. Worthy Mrs.
Moore was doing over her knitting. Her
shadow on the opposite wall bobbed about
in a grotesque mimiery as she nodded to
and fro, now crushing the voluminous
white satin bow on the spruce cap against
the back of her chair. now almost falling
forward, while her fat hands at length
dropped listlessly into her lap and her ball
of yarn rolled down upon the hearth.
Puss, espying it, was soon busy in unwind
ing it and converting it into all sorts of
| Gordian knots.
All at once a double rap at the door. an
audacious double rap, which said Let me
in so loudly and impatiently and in such
a self-assured manner that Annie, rendered
nervous by suspense, started up with a lit
tie scream and set her foot on Madam
Puss' tail, who in turn gave vent still more
loudly to her amazement and displeasure.
Allthese three combined, or rather rapidly
| successive. noises aroused Mrs. Moore, and
she started wildly into an upright posture,
rubbing her eyes, setting her cap border and
exclaiming:
"Bless my soul, Annie! What was that?
Somebody at the door? What time is it,
and how and what can it be? So late as
this, too
'It's not very late, mother. Only a little
after eight. I'll go and see who it is, said
Annie, demurely. and at the same time
taking the one candle from the table.
No, Here, Annie, you wind u my ball
and brush mp the hearth while | 60 to the
door. Drat that cat.'
For the old iadg's feet were all this While
struggling in the perplexed meshes Of tho
unravelled yarn.
In her hurry Mrs. Moore forgot to take
the candle with her, and rs she stepped ont
into the small, nnlighted front entry she
unwittingly closed behind her the door of
the room She had just left. Almost at the
same moment she put her hand ON the ham
die of the outer door and, opening, it she
found herself in tho ardent embrace of
pair of stout arms. \ whiskercd face was