Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1885-10-07

Tree she was from doubt,
She deftly smoothed the wrinkles of her
snowy apron out
Just the queerest and the dearest little
schOOl-ma' am ever known,
Whose way of teaching boys and girls was
really all her own!
BY THE MEREsT ACCIDEN Mt.
''Mr. Whitney?'
"Sir?" replied the Individual ad-
dressed.
II want you to cross to France this
evening""
Every well, SIR" said Mr.. Whitney,
quietly.
''Or tomorrow morning will do.
Here are your instructions. Read these
papers carefully; make the best
arrangements you can. l may want
the house-you will see all alb out it in
these documents.
Gam l to purchase the premises,
STRIP
mo, no; they have come to me-to
the firm-in consequence of an advance
made by my old partner, who, you
know, died the other day. Take pos
session; see what the place is like;
whether it will do for a summer re-
sidcnce. You know the kind of thing
want to take the children to, and /
can depend on you.
Mr.. Whitney bowed, and said he
thought Mr.. Barnstone might depend
on him. lie took the deeds, made his:
arrangements at the Office, tidied and
tied up the papers on his desk. and
then strolled homeward at 3o'clock to
pack his portmanteau. He was a man
of about 4O-good-natured, trustful
and trnstworthy-a man of whom little
children always stopped to inquire
"the lime, and were satisfied even if he
did not drag out his watch-a man who
piloted old ladies and blind men over
dangerous London crossings-a man
beloved by animals and children, and
who cherished an affection for a cat,
which followed him as faithfully as a
dog in and about his house at Brixton.
Such was Peter Whitney, some
what impulsive man, like his great
namesake-a person deserving of every
confidence in the legal EN- ployment
which he pursued, but not likely to
make a very large fortune in any
thing-he was too easy going as well
as too good natured.
Mr.. Peter Whitney strolled home
wards, first to Ludga*e Hill station to
take a train to Brixt on, where in bache-
lor apartments he. passed his quiet
evenings. He was crossing Chancery
Lane, by the post Office, when young
and decidedly pretty girl, French girl,
stopped him, and said in broken Eng
lish-
'Sare, would you be so kind?-you
look very kind-could you tell me
where [ can fnGl the LincOln's Inn
Fields?''
"Linc oln's Inn, mademoiselle; mais
certain ement; je--'
"A'l! monsieur parle francais," she
excl aimed, interrupting him with a
plf,ased expression.
Then Mr.. Whitney, who was French
scholar, addressed her in her native
tongue, and walked with her few
PAGES in order to put her in the right
direction. So they went through Lin
coins Inn, chatting, and he found that
her destination was none other than
Mr.. Barnstone's office.
Having parted with his young COM
panion at the office, he hurried away to
Ludgatc again. He had learned from
slip of paper she gave him that the
fair foreigners name was Pulcherie
Malias, but he did not inquire her bust
ness in Lincoln's Inn Fields after he
announced her arrival to the clerk in
charge.
"A very pretty girl indeed" MUIR
INJURED this middle-aged bachelor; "a
charming face; and what a pretty name!
Pulcherie; quite fitting too, for Won
der. Malias is not so nice, but it may
one day be changed. All mel!
Thinking of Pulcherie, Peter Whit
ney entered the train; still thinking of
her, he went home, and packed "Pulch-
erie" in his portmanteau. But some
how that young person escaped, for
she was with him all the evening in
the train to Newhaven; she crossed the
Channel with him in the Normandy
and reached Dieppe with him in the
warm autumn daylight, as bright and
fresh memory as ever! Oh, Peter,
Peter! truly thou art in love!
The premises which Peter Whitney
had to investigate for were situated
some little distance up the coast, at or
near a village which boosted small
river and fishing population of am
phibious habits. The place shall not
be more particularly described, but the
river flowed through the valley of the
Ange, and the stream and the increas-
ing village bear the same name.
Fishermen, dealers in cattle-for the
valley is pastoral-lacemakers, these
are the inhabitants, and they follow
their peaceful occupations contentedly.
1t was very fine morning when MIR.
Whitney reached the little village; he
had walked over from Dieppe the day
after his arrival in that town, and
found the people en- fete in the village.
It was q holiday-a holy-day. ap-
parently, for the inhabitants had just
come from the church. and the girls
were dressed in holiday garb, walking
in picturesque groups; laughing, chat
tering, and while avoiding, yet glanc-
ing saucily at the young men, who
standing or seated, also in pairs or
threes, would discuss the weather and
the fishing and the cattle, while always
keeping the young ladies in sight. A
happy, pleasant picture; and Peter
Whitney looked on at the scene with
great delight.
He determined to give himself hol-
iday. too. He could not do business
amid such scene. So he made friends
directly, and inquiries Indirectly con-
corning the premises he had come to
take over and have transferred. He
learned that the house lay away. from
the village; it was mere farmhouse
49, - So &