Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-11-07

.boold think-I was going to Be married this
morninzl Dear mel I wish you were not
troubled with such silly ideas. Miss DAILY
aSillyp
~ would have preferred your thinking /
was going to be hanged he said, techfly, as
he walked away in great haste.
aCross old bachelorR said Miss DAILY, with
. nout as she turned to her books: @it is as
well for the lady's sake, that you ara not
go;no to be married, Maj Crawshaw.
Aud certainly Maj Crawshaw was not
rarticularly amiable on his nephew's we'd
d;ro day. He scowled at the ministers
there were three divines TO tie up young
| Todd and his bride securely; he prompted
Young Todd in his responses in an unneces-
sarily high KEY; abused the bssdle on the
church steps for getting In his way and
tumbling over him, in undue haste to par
t~;cinate in the general distribution Of fees;
and at the wedding breakfast ne was graver
and grimmer than befitted the occasion He
was very thoughtful, also, and made but a
clumsy, spluttering speech in return for some
one proposing the bridegroom's relatives,
and sat down disturbed in temper afterward
at his own miserable failure.
al was never so embarrassed in my life
never. Sarah, " he said to his sister, who was
at his side in purple velvet That fellow
ought to have been shot for Juggling in such
a toast. Ridiculoust"
II don't think you are quite well this
morning" remarked Dowager Mrs Todd.
a was never so well in my life"
EYou seem a little out OF sorts to me-"
II don't know what you mean" growled
the major: @but I'm in ~sorts-heaps Of
them"
GAh! well. We have you TO thank for all
this happiness, /" said his sister in a low tone,
Gfor if it had not been for your coming down
To Battleton, and taking Edwin to town with
YOU. who could tell what might have hap
penedP
The major coughed in his throat but
made no reply.
poor Elwiu would have been snapped up
by that dreadful girl, you may depend upon
il She was more than a match for my
dear boy Shs meant TO hsvc run away
With him"
GShe never meant anything Of the sort
GJohn. how do you knowf" exclaimed his
sister; chow can you tell"
GShe was worth half q dozen Of your cub"
he cried. "She would % have looked at
him-she would n ot nave had him for twen-
ty times his money. There IS nothing IKE
design about Miss DAILY"
II cannot understand how you" began
his sister, when he snapped of her c~onJect-
ure half way.
GNobody says you do understand; don't
try" he cried. miss Daily is a lady, and a
friend of mine, and I'm not going to sit
here and hear her abused. 1t is not likely"
"a friend of yours, John! DID you say a
fricndF
ayes, I did say a friend"
GBless me! you know her, thenl II hope
she il not setting her cap at you instead or
my boy, for she must be a really dangerous
person"
%DUn't talk nonsense"
SBut YOU are o man Of the world, and not
likely, at your age, to be led away easily"
"Never mind about my age, Sarah. What
the devil has my age to do with III" he said,
in the same suppressed and husky key.
"1here are Old fools as well as young ones, L
supposH."
''But you're not an old fool" replied his
sister, dryly.
"Yes, / am. I'm an cd fool to think that
Will you obligc me, sister, by dropping this
ridiculous conversation"
"What are you going to do!'
"Propose the health of old fools in gem
eral," he answered, ~curtlv; and then he
rose, and gave the health Of the clergy and
the officiating ministers-which was very re-
markable.
Yes, he was in a bad temper that morn
ING, and his sisters allusion to his age had
not tended to improve it. He could no for
get that remark; peop'e over the boundary
line will take illusions to their years with a
spasm. It's the one rule without an eX-
~ception.
al was asked this morning If this was my
wedding day" he said, later on to his sister,
when the guests were departing; 80 could
not have looked so deuced old, Sarah"
"Far too old to be thinking of your W
wedding day now, John, | should think" re-
piled Mrs. Todd. who would have been *
tremely sorry for her brothers marriage,
and all the legacies floating away from her
and her children.
"Much you know about that"
They were the majors last words that
afternoon, and they oppressed and discom-
fitted Mrs Todd very seriously. She remem-
bered them, too; they rose wildly before
her again a few months afterward, and she
could only sigh and say, II thought as
much, adding, in moments moro bitter, that
"there was no trusting any man."
Mai Crawshaw dined at the International
that evening. He went straight to the In
ternational, in fact, despite his bad temper
and his bad appetite after a heavy luncheon.
He saw Miss DAILY after dinner hat even
ing. He strolled into the counting house
and told hor all the news; but she did not
appear to be greatly interested, and even an
swered sometimes in m~onoSyllables when he
waited for the answer which he thought his
observations required.
Miss Daily was out of "Sorts" that evening,
as his sister would nave termed it. He
missed the bright, frank smile which was so
natural to her, and the steadfast look from
the eyes was no longer for him. She hardly
glanced up once from her ledgers.
The distant manner OF Miss DAILY troubled
the major more than be could account fo-.
1t was evident that in some way or other he
had given her ~offenSe. unleSs-and this was
the horrid thought which damped and dis
heartened him-she was growing that young
Todd was forever set apart from her. Had
she disguised her emotions so completely as
to deceive him in this wayl Was it possible
that he had been so grievously mistaken in
his estimate of her characterl
He vent away disconsolately. Twice that
day had he gone from the shelter of the
International with a heart exceedingly
heavy. What q trouble and a nuisance at
his years to let the words or the manner Of
a girl-a mere child-affect him in this I'M
accountable wayl What was the use Of it,
What was he thinking about
Was he thinking too much of Ruth DAILY,
thenl-a young woman who could never
think anything of him-who thought so
little Of him, in fact, that only that morn
ing she had asked if it was his wedding day;
strong evidence that she could not have had
him on her mind. or course that was not
likely. he being on his way to fifty and grow
ing iron gray. He had never paid her any
attention, for that matter; and as for "mak-
ing eyes" that process was for lunatics I'M
der twenty, or fools who went on their way
unbluShingly and in a chronic state Of leer.
All, yes, he was a failure; his scheming had
been a failure, too, and she had loved young