The Mineral argus., 1885-02-12

sOLILOQry THE FOURTH.

1HcTc tu6 Dfe;tktuSt DellI
sOLILOQry THE FOURTH.
Jangle, jangle, jangle! Confounl
the church bells! A fellow can never
sleep on Sunday mornings with their
clanlor!
Back to Edinburgh from the Bebrides
back from the land of mist, and
clouds. and romance. with full deter.
mination to read about, but not visit it
henceforward. Too much fish and
Gaelic to suit me- Three months gone
and the ground covered with Autumn
leaves since I've been dangling in her
train and land l fear I've been making
a fool of myself. Does she care for me
at all? Well, I'm sanguine, self-per-
s'lasive man but putting all that aside,
l think ! am gaining ground a little.
Why am l not ecstatically happy
then? expected to he, andy Jove,
l will he. l have lived quarter of
century without having seen any
woman so beautiful, so lovable
and ] know she's far too good for
me. What concerted idiot / am !!
dare say it's all my egotism, and
she really never gives me second
thought. And yet when pulled that
reckless young scapegrace brother of
hers out of Loeb Maybe, she put both
her cold little hands in mine. and
which 1 could only catch, "Forgive me
i know YOU better now" Pshaw !!
that was only gratitude. And yet. when
/ held her hands. and tried to tell her
how gladly would take far greater
risks for her sake, she did not take
them away, but raised her eyes to my
face so bravely and trustingly that I
troI on air for DAYS afterward.
She keeps my book, too. saw the
leaf on which l wrote that absurd
crotchet thrust into her little silk purse.
She had torn it out and was making o
relic of it. That might be because Of
its oddly, and probably means nothing.
There never WAS girl so proof to fiat
terry as not to preserve such sponta-
neous tribute. She treats me just the
same Us ever-is friendly and cordial
no more. Uncertainty, then, is all I
arrive at -untertainty as to her feel
ings, uneasiness as to mine,
Pretty much the same way felt at
Long Branch. three years ago, when
spent q fortnight trying to determine
whether I was in love with Lucy RO-
mer, and, il so, whether she wouid he
pleased to hear it; at the end of which
time she married young Landless, and,
to my surprise, was pleased to hear
il!
Suppose this was to result similarly !?
think Id better go home. And yet
there will be something lost out of life
when I leave her. IshOuld he wretched,
/ am afraid; but not so wretched as l
would he should she refuse me. Per-
haps not so wretched as l might be
eventually if she accepted me.
Where shall find the concord of
this discord?" Apparently, not in this
bed, for it looks like what Mrs. Part
ington calls a corruption of Mount
Vociferous." Hello, Bools! Bring me
some hot water!
Mr.. Henry Olden, get thee home on
the next steamer.
sOLILoQUY THE FIfTH.
o Lord! o Lord! feel rs if had
inst parted with my immortal soul, not
to mention everything have eaten for
tho past twenty four hours. Seasick-
ness! The man who called it one of the
comic diseases was surely never seasick !
A myriad Of curses on the Keeling, rock
ing old tub. could almost wish shed
go to the bottom!
wonder how Miss Gray and her
mother are standing it Ihope to heav.
en- shall not see her again until
she RECEIVERS, or else I'm done
with romance forever! The old
lady would insist on taking this
steamer. and I think il was o dispense
ton of Providence to cure my malady.
How can man worship when his divin-
ity is white around the lips, and red
around the eyes, with drawn, pinched
look, as il anxiously expecting catas-
trophe.
How could have been such q SIM
pleton Us to dwaddle sentimentally
through a whole Summer, and start
home during the equinoctial storms
A proper termination this for loves
young dream, and all its attendant fol-
lies. Sweet reveries and murmure,1
vows. forsooth! MOonshine all OF it
and, as for poctrv--it is o mockery, g
grinnipg skeleton! o Lord, I'll never
be q fool again!
1 suppose Miss Gray loathes the very
remembrance of all that midsumme,
madness, and I recall it with the same
unbounded satisfaction / derive from
recOllecting q meal of cold pork and
potatoes. Pork! Ugh! I'll never ea'
again! They say this steamer viii
reach New York tomorrow, and l here
register a vow that Iii go back home
and stay there-be a misanthrope