Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-10-18

drawn himself into the pfinc1pai group
!" No. alas Mrs. Chamberlain is in
,bs North. No rural delights that
could urge would tempt her from home
30 near the 18th. don't think the
dsv would DO observed at all in Scot
land II she we're known not to be at
Inyertocher, but would just be passed
over unnoticed."
This was said to Mr.. Burke. who had
intimated, by . smile Of intelligence,
that he, too, knew Mrs. Chamberlain.
Mr.. verriker, anxious to assert his
claim Of prior acquaintance, here broke
in.
Anstey. her cousin, is at Fall
mouth; we are going round to meet
him. He has the Halcyon this year,
westerton's old boat. You know him,
Of course?'
"Captain Anstey? Oh, yes. Well,
I must be going, and wish you very
pleasant cruise. and good luck in the
racing to. morrow. Are you going to
race the Dalcyon, did you say? Tell
Captain Anstey, If you think of it, that
YOU met me here, and that | am not
bit dull; he had better come round and
see."
Miss verey signed little imperiously
TO Harry. that she was ready to turn
homeward, and sailed down the street,
without another glance in the direction
Of Mrs. Briscoe's shepherds plaid
waterproof.
"Ill-mannered, fast chit" muttered
that lady to herself, hastily quitting the
Misses Peach. IF she hadn't tlounced
off, at tangent. about nothing at all
she might have introduced those men to
mo ..i daiessy they would have con-
tributed something handsome for the
infants treat if I had sent Mark Rowe
on board with the collecting book"
Meanwhile Kate had declared that
her other purchases and errands were
Of no account, and that she would
rather finish the afternoon by a good
walk than by poking in the town any
longer to which Harry gladly assent
ed, his disconsolate face clearing rap
idly as they left the streets, with their
hideous possibilities of old friends and
London men, behind, and got into the
open country, where he always felt
himself to be at so much greater adj
vantage. Then with the sea breeze in
his face and the young blood leaPing
pleasantly in his veins, as he and Kate
kept pace together along the fresh
sandy road, he made bold to proffer a
request which had been in his head for
some time, and had now taken shape
as a plan which only wanted the seal
Of Miss Verey's approval.
Next week / want you to come out
for q whole days boating. You said
you would like to see the Giant Stones,
and you have scarcely given the Mer-
maid fair trial yet. Don't refuse me,
for it's my birthday-my twenty-frst;
and you know other fellows have no
end of 8 fuss made over them when
they come of age while | am tied on
to madam's apron-strings for another
four years. I'll tell you what, we'll
take your mother round to Shepstone,
where some tenants of ours have farm
close by the shore, and we can leave her
safely there with her books and order
dinner, and then | can take you for q
good sail, and we can come back and
make a regular feast Of it! Don't
deny me the treat have set my heart
upon! I've been planning it for ever
so long, and "-pathetically-" just
think what lonely life | lead and how
few pleasures ! have"
Kate laughed and turned to look at
the eager young face beside her. Her
own thoughts had been far away as he
talked, but she was aware that he was
proposing some expedition, which
would lose all its charm unless she
countenanced it.
"Oh, yes we'll come, Of course"
she assented. "Any day you like to
settle"
"The day is a particular one" he
explained again. You must not for
get it-next Tuesday, the 22d Of Au-
gust"
"All right. Your birthday is it?
Then I'll be certain to remember it,
and your coming Of age shall be pro-
perly celebrated, promise you, in spite
of your grandmother and your late re-
spected grandfather and all the lawyers
in Lincoln's Inn. By-the-by," she
continued, ado you know that Mrs.
Briscoe has been lecturing me about
making and keeping you idle, and in
terfering with your reading with the
rector? She even went so far as to say
that there was a marked Irritation !
Tell me, Mr.. Tredennick, are you
flirting with me? For if so, shall be
obliged to send for some Of my friends
Mr.. Verriker would do-and get them
to shoot you!"
She had promised her mother she
would treat him quite as boy; and
the careless words meant nothing to
her nor did they need the emphatic
"Good heavens, no." with which
Harry Tredennick repudiated the idea,
half to himself. and with blush on
his brown cheeks, which almost belied
his twenty-one years.
"Then you'll recollect Tuesday;
and l will see you again and arrange
about meeting and all that between this
and then and you'll get your mother
to agree to Shepstone, for want you
for the whole day."
So they parted at the Myrtle-Bank
gate; the boy full of the pleasantest
hopes; the girl with heart so joyfully
resting on a happy certainty, which
had nothing whatever to do with Tor
ferry or Harry Tredennick, that the
latter's cherished plan made as little
impression on her mind as Mrs. Bris-
GOES rude words or Mr.. Verriker's
polite ones. For was not Gerard
Anstey coming south, as he bad limited
he should do, and as she had hundreds
and hundreds Of times assured herself
he would or would not do, according as
she was in a hopeful mood or the re-
verse?
Poor Harry Tredennick! had he
known it, he and his birthday party
had Ettle IN do with fha oirl,o cay