Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-01-09

Slpped OH nef percn.
II mustn't stay longer now. Please
give me the newspaper for mamma. And
may come on Saturday to tea? You
must have cake made expressly for
mel"
"You 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! we'll. On Saturday he would
say something. What? And then he
fell to composing his own speech, and
her answers but he scarcely ventured
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 walked in.
"Why, my dear boy, whore did you
come from? I thoughtyou were shoot
ing in the North for the next three
weeks to come"
II changed my mind, uncle. I may
stay here, mayn't II"
The permission was readily given.
But as the evening drew on 1t became
apparent even to Erasmus, who was fa1
from clear sighted. that something was
amiss. And when after dinner Dick
came to the study, drew his chair close
to the fire, and sat silently gazing into
the flames, his uncle ut last ventured on
a remark.
Nothing wrong, my dear boy?"
"Nothing, except that I've been 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-eh?"
"Well, it comes to this-l'm in love;
There's no good trying to fight it down
I thought I'd see if going North tor a
change would set me up. But it only
made it worse. never cared for girl
before, and thought it all nonsense:
but now / cant live without her. Oh
you can't think what it was, up in tina!
dreary shooting-lodge Oh those great
moors alone, with nothing but the dogs
to talk to, and all day long her face and
her ways haunting me-"
"She ?" began Erasmus again, inquir.
ingly. "She is-what did you say is the
name of the young lady,"
But Dick went rambling on after the
fashion of people suffering from hiI
malady. I think she likes me. l never
thought about anything at first but
n ore fun and chaff, YOU know; and then
it came over me all of sudden that
there is no one half-half like her, you
know. And when 1 said goodbye to
her was wretched, and she looked aw-
fully down in the mouth, too. So think
she likes me. She didn't say anything
we'll, I suppose girls don't; they expect
one to begin"
10 this general observation MIR. Scott
assented, and then in his shy, blunder~
ing way, "You were saying the young
lady's name is? Did you meet her in
Scotland?'
"In Scotland! Why, who did you
think l meant p Rose Dormer, OF
course?"
If Dick could have seen bis uncZe'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 boy?'
We'll, I'm nearly sure Of it. We
were always quarreling--bu then,
that's the way with lovers they say"
and then no went on to give strong
proofs Of his assertions
Mr.. Scott listened very patiently, but
it seemc'! to him that he had never
known before what pain was like. He
tancied he suffered more in that one
half hour than he had ever done in his
whole life. Each word seemed to
scorch and burn his very heart.
Then when Dick had done he said,
"God bless you my dear boy! She is
the sweetest girl that ever lived, and /
know that you will do your best to
make her happy All me! two young
people together
"Dear old fellow!" thought Dick.
"It reminds him of the time when he
was young"
The next morning Dick dressed him
self with care and put a white rosebud
in his button-hole and strobe off TO the
cottage. Erasmus watched him from
che window, and thought how natural
it was that Rose should prefer Dick to
him, and what foolish thing it was
ever to have thought matters could be
different. Yet even these reflections
did not cause his heartache.
Dick returned late in the evening.
beaming and burdened by the necessity
Of pouring out his story to some one
it did not matter to whom. But his
uncle. although very silent Che said he
was not WE'LL toothache') made a
good listener, and this was all Dick
wanted
When the engagement was announced
in the neighborhood every one said how
suitable it was, and how nice for Mr..
Scott to have niece he was fond oil
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
miserably i'll. 1t would be far better
to have every tooth out than to suffer in
this wav!"
One cold December evening, when
Dick and Rose were sitting by the fire
in the twilight, Mr.. Scott, against his
will, overheard scrap of their CONVEX
sation. He was arranging books in a
corner, and they had quite forgotten
his presence.
Glow strange it is, Dick was saying,
meditatively, that some people seem
80 content to be without happiness like
ours. Look at my uncle. The dear
boy never seems to want anything more
than his books"
EDO you know, Dick, answered Rose,
very gently, II think he would have
very much liked things in his life to