The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1885-01-09

II possible ths suxbsxas sysr could b,
content 10 brighten up 20 dull ma dysb-
;colored . ilife q shisi Presently siba
slipped Of her perch.
Il mustn't stay longer now. Please
five me ths newspaper Tor mamma. And
may I, come on Saturday 70 tea? You
muat. hxve o cake uede. expressly fos
md"
"You shall hsye anything you its,n =
he said, with little husky cough thGt
was habitual to him. Then he opened
hin mouth to speak and shut IL agsin,
By this time she. was gone.
Ah! well. On Saturday DO would
say something. What7 And then he
fell to. composing his own speech, sad
her anewers- but he scarcely ventured
to think whsA tbose might be.
So the day slipped qaietly sway, and
he was sitting idly by thS kissing
wood fire, when the door was dung opsn,
and, to his surprise, Dick walked in.
"Why, my dear boy, where did you
come from? I thought you were shoot
fn9 IN the North for the next three
weeks to Gomez"
II changed ny A1;nd, xhsle.s I may
stay here, maynt II"
The permission was readily given.
But as The evening drew on 1t became
apparent even to Erasmus, who was fas
from clear sighted, that something wn
amiss. And when after dinner Dick
came to the study, drew his chair close
to The fire, and tat silently gazing into
the flames, his anels at last ventured on
aremark.
Nothing wrong. my dear bcy7"
Nothing, except that I've been t1sy.
me the fool" was the encouraging re.
Thcn there followed Q long pause,
broken at last by Mr.. Scott In Els slow,
timid voice. "You were saying, Disk.
that You had been-eh?"
!"Wel, il comes to this-rm in love;
There's no good trying to fight it down.
I thought I'd see II going North for o
change would set me- tipi But II only
made it worse. never cared for q kir1
before, and thought it all nonsetissi
but now can't live without her. Oh
you can't think what it was. up in that
dresfy shooting-1odge on those great
md6ts alone; with nothing but the dogs
to talk to, and ell dsy lgns her face and
her ways haunting metz
"She?" began Erasmus again, inquir:
ingly. "She is-what did you say is the
name Of the young LADY,"
But Dich went rambling ON after the
fashion Of people suffering from hil
iinaiady; I think she likes me. never
thought about anything at first but
mere fun and chaff, y6d know; and then
it came over me all of d sudden that
there is no one half-half like her, You
know. And when I said goodbye to
her I was wretched, and she looked aw-
fully down in the mouth, too. SO I think
she likes me. She didn't say anything
we'll, I suppose girls don't; they expest
one to begin"
To this general observation Mr.. Ssott
sssented, and then in his shy, blunder-
ing way, "You were saying the young
lady's name is=s Did you meet her in
Scotland?"
an scotlandl Why, who did you
think I meant?-Rose Dormer, q
eourse?" .
II Dick could have seen his uncle'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?".
"Well, I'm nearly sure of il. We
were always quarreling-but then.
thntS tli6 ~Hy with lovers they say,
and then he went I'd 10 give strong
proofs of his assertions.
Mr.. Scott listened very patiently, but
it seemed to him that he had never
known before what pain was like. He
fancied lie suffered more in that one
half hour than he had ever done il his
whole life. Each word seemed to
scorch and burn his very heart.
Then when Dick had done lie said,
"God bless you my dear boyl She is
the sweetest girl that ever lived, and
know that you will do your best to
people together"
"Dear old fellow!" Thought Dick.
ut reminds him of the time when hs
was young"
The next morning Dick dressed him:
self with care and put white rosebud
in his button-hole and strobe off to the
cottage. Erasmus watched him from
the window, and thought how natural
it was that Rose should prefer Dick to
him, and what foolish thing il was
ever to have thought matters could Ike
different. Yet even these reflections
did not cause his heartache.
Dick returned late in the evening,
beaminesand burdened by the necessity
Of pouring out his story to some one
it did not matter to whom. But his
uncle, although very silent (he said he
was not well-"toothache") made q
good listener, and this was all Dicl
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 of!
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. II would be far better
to have every tooth out than to suffer in
this wayw
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 conver.
sation. He was arranging books in q
corner, and they had quite forgotten
his presence.
"How strange it is" Dick was saying,
meditatively, "that some people seem
SO content to be without happiness like
ours. Look at my uncle. The dear
boy never seems to want anything more
than his books"
do you know. Dick, " answered Rose,
very gently. II think he would have
very much liked things in his life to
have been different. Not that he ever
said ANYTHING to me. But it is fancy
of mine."
Could it be that Rose had understood
dimly something of the pain he had
suffered, something of the sacrifice he
had made? He liked to think so; there
was vague comfort in the thought that
she knew that his own hsppiness was as
nothing to him in comparison with hers