The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-05-15
BOOZE TWO.
LADY BE4FTY'S SISTERS.
CHAPTER |.

THE PICTURE
I'm the course of the narrative nv which
my old friend put ms in a position TO relate
this story, ] more than once ventured 10 re
mark that he had surprising acquaintance
with number of facts and conversations
which might lie supposed TO he beyond the
earshot OF an ordinary friend He smiled in
a very peculiar way. and saw a faint streak
of red coming out upon his cheek. Then
with sigh, he answered that ! might be
satisfied that his story was truthful one
How he came to know il fully | need not
inquire. The sadness with which this was
said st me thinking; but for that time |
understood no more
Little Mr. Brent returned home that day
heartily and thoroughly ashamed Of himself
His bitterest enemy could not have wished
him more humbling fall Being a great
man for letter writing, and firmly impressed
with the fatal belief that the large number OF
human complications can be adjusted by cor
respondence, he sat down after his dinner to
write an explanation and apology TO Mrs
Temple. The number of sheets he tore I'D,
the enormous variety of openings which be
adopted and cast aside at the fifth line the
sheets beginning Dear Madam" then My
Dear Madam then Dear Mrs Temple, =
then MY Dear Ms. Temple" falling slIbs.e-
quently into Mr.. Brent ventures to present
his respectful compliments" and besides these
the Il am overwhelmed with eonfusion:7 at
is, assure you. with the most poignant sen
sations of sorrow;" What can | saw What
can urge in extenuation of my hehaviori7-
SO many of these were begun, cast asi,le and
town la-f ubr,,lI find
out what he had been doing, that as the
night wore on the rector gradually began to
look like man who is being showed up.
When, at twenty five minutes past four a. m.
after nearly nine hours of underwriting
head work, the apology was finished. there
| was not left enough clean stationery in the
house for a washing bill; but in place of it
there were fragments Of paper lying on the
| floor sufficient for the manufacture Of six
| full-sized paper pillows. With aching bead,
vet a little consoled withal. the rector Stun
bied up stairs to his weary pillow.
Ii he used thousand sheets for his letter it
| may be safely computed that one thousand
| and one was all that was required for the en-
| tire correspondence Small was the paper
| and few the lines of Ms Barbara Temples
answer
Dear Mr. Brent"-thus it rant have
received your letter Of apology, and cannot
say that it is at all more than the occasion re
| quired At the same time, as you are sensible
Of the impropriety of your behavior, hope
| YOU will now forget it, as shall One stipu-
lation only make The subject of marriage
| or, indeed, any allusion to what passed be-
tween US yesterday-must never be made.
On these terms you are free to resume your
intercourse with my daughters and myself
Truly yours, BARBARA TEMPLE
"A very handsome letter. Mr.. Brent said
| Il shall take her at her word and after
| lunch he drove over to the house with a
splendid present of fruit and flowers, and be
ing received in the usual friendly way by
mother and daughters, and bis character be-
| ing slight one. not permanently impressi-
BILE, be half forgot the misery Of his exit from
the place yesterday. Only when he first
spoke to Mrs. Temple there was trepidation
| in his voice and manner; but she was 50 OBJ
viously determined TO keep her promise that
he gradually grew composed Once only his
courage quite failed him. Caroline, the
student, was reading history, and with that
slight affsctation of intellectual pursuits, from
which not even her mothers lectures could
guard her, she tried to call the rectoris atten-
ton to her lofty employment The question
| she asked him was an unfortunate one. She
was an ardent Liberal, and inquired, in a
pause in the conversation, If be did not think
that great good had arisen from the French
revolution The rector was 50 confounded by
this inapposite interroga ton that he nearly
tumbled Oh his chair