The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-05-22

" SeASu AohAlJ iOl u nOIu6ub Oh
ner fathers gray locks, then she sat
down unbidden to the piano.
On the strength of my blood rela-
honship, distant though it was, for
we were really only third or fourth
cousins, | was made 2 member of this
family from t5e first, and Maggie
treated me al a brother. / was not
entirely pleased with the latter ar
rangement, because many days had
not passed ere | concluded it would
be a pleasant pastime for me to make
love to Cousin Maggie. But weeks
still postponed; it became a sine die
kind OF a probability. Maggie was
constantly with me when out of doors
my companion in all my fishing and
shooting trips. But she carried not
only a rod but even arife herself; she
could give me lessons in casting the
1y-and did; she often shot dead the
seals that | had merely wounded, and
her prowess in rowing astonished me,
and her daring in venturing so far to
sea in u broad. open boat, often
made me tremble for our safety.
A frequent visitor for the first two
months of my stay at RI was a
young and well to do farmer and fisher
who came in his boat from a neighbor-
ing island, always accompanied by his
sister and they usually stayed a day or
two. was not long in percelvlng that
this Mr.. ThorfortA was deeply in love
with my cousin; the state of her feel
ing toward him it was some time be-
fore | could fathom, but the revelation
came at last and quite Unexpectedly.
There was an old ruin some distance
from the house, where, one lovely
moonlight night, | happened to be
seated alone. | was not alone, how
ever; from a window / could see my
cousin and Thorforth coming toward
the place, and thinking to surprise
them, / drew hack under the shadow
of a portion of the wall. But / was
not to be an actor in that scene, though
it was one l shall never forget. /
could not see his face, but hers, on
which the moonbeams fell, was panied,
half-frightened, impatient. He was
pleading his cause, he was telling the
old, old story, with an carnestness and
e~loqnence / had never heard surpassed.
She stopped it hi last.
"Oh! Magnus,n she cried. s'Oh!
Magnus T~horforth, / never dreamed it
would come to this! Oh! what grief
you cause me, my poor Magnus. my
poor Magnus, my than friend!"
What more was said need not be
told. In a few moments he was gone,
and she was knecling on the green
sward, just on the spot where he had
left her, her hands clasped, and her
face upturned to heaven.
Next day, Magnus Thorforth went
sadly away; even his sister looked
sad. She must have known it all. |
never saw them again.
One day, about a month after this,
Maggie and | were together in a cave
close by the ocean, favorite haunt
of ours on hot afternoons. Our boat
was drawn up close by. The day was
bright and the sea calm, its tiny wave
let's making drowsy, dreamy music on
the yellow sands.
She had been reading aloud, and |
was gazing at her face.
81 begin to think you are beautiful"
I said.
She looked down at me where | lay
with those innocent eyes of hers that
ALWAYS looked into mine as frankly as
q child's would.
s.im 4 sure continued, "that /
shan't commence making love to you,
and perhaps / might marry yea. What
would you think of thatp"
sLove!" she laughed, as musically
as a sea-nymph, sloveP Love betwixt
a cousin and a couslnP Prepos-
terousiw
II dare say" / resumed, pretending
to pout, s.you wouldn't marry me be-
cause I'm poor
sPoorin she repeated, looking very
firm and earnest now. elf the man /
loved were poor I'd carry q creel for
him. I'd gather shells for his sake;
but / don't love ANYBODY and don't
mean to. Gomez
So that was the beginning and the
end of my love-making with Cousin
Maggie.
And Maggie had said she had never
meant to love anyone. Well, we never
can tell what may be in our immediate
future.
Hardly had we left the cave that day,
and put off from the shore. ere cats
paws began to ruffie the water. They
came in from the west, and before we
had got half way to the distant head
land, a steady breeze was blowing.
We had hoisted our sail and were run
ming before it with the speed OF 3 gull
on the wing.
Once round the point we mad a beam
wind till we entered the ford, then we
had to beat to windward all the way
home, by which time it was blowing
quite a gale.
1t went round more to the north
about sunset, and then, for the first
time, we noticed a yacht of small dimen-
sions on the distant horizon. Her in
tention appeared to be that OF rounding
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