Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1886-12-25

| anu Hsau whom she mad known III the long
ago.
! you are thinking you can't say so much for
me" he continued, interpreting her silence,
and faint red crept up under his dark skin.
We'll I've had a hard life. But I've gained
| my point. I've been successful"
! There was a certain defiant Gggressiyencss in
the tone. The hardness seemed to make him
| more of an alien than ever. A wound which
| She had thought long healed wrung Miss
Selina's heart with a sharp, quick pang. Her
| manner became less trcmulous under the effort
| to suppress the hurt, and to the man beside
her she had the effect of growing more cold
What pretty girl your niece is" he said
ef1ccting diversion.
Here, at least, Miss Selma could speak freely.
Yes. Is she not lovely" she cried, with the
hight coming INTO her eyes. "And just as clever
| and good rs she is beautiful She has been
like Il daughter to ME.
And then, for some occult reason, poor little
Miss Prime, blushed sensitive pink again.
"Nell, rcvered Aunt Selma, mine" cried
Mamie, when the two were at home once more,
what think you of my chances with the nabob
Dilberogluc? Didn't he seem to talk to me
prodiSiousy during the latter part of the even
ing? Now, evidently, this is my chance A
very rich old fellow has always been nv castle
in the air has it not? And here is the very
man, awfully rich, they do say, and not so old,
, either
And Mamie stood looking down upon Miss
q
dancing i'll her eyes.
eff you thought you could like him, dear
began Miss Selma, uncertainty. But why, in
deed, should Mamie not like him? He was q
handsome man still, and though he had seemed
harsh to her, and, after all, there might be
reason; Miss Selma would not presume to
judge-his manner his not been thus brusque
to others. He had seemed to admire Mamie
beyond any one present-as how could he help
but do?-and there was no doubt, apparently,
about his having come back to his native town
a very rich man. His return had been wholly
unexpected, but already the facts of it. and of
the long interval of years preceding it, had
been circumstantially noised abroad. Mamie
was made for the luXurics of life; she ought to
have the finest setting, ought this gem of little
Miss Primes. And if she could care for Mr..
Dilberogue. . Miss Selma remembered
that in the olden days it had not been so hard
to care for the handsome, headstrong youth who
then had worn that name.
In the silence of her little room that night,
fresh and dainty with all the immaculate prim
prettness and the beauty of order of an s'old
maids bower" Miss Selma crouchcd along
ON her knees, praying for the happiness of
Mamie, and one other, if this thing was to be-
IL any personal remembrances seltishly OBJ
| truded themselves, and tear fell dropping
down on the well-worn cover of her Bible,
blame her not. Miss Selma, with gentle reso-
lutions, put the memories by. There had been
| many things she had not understood these
| many years back. The blow had fallen on a
| Christmas eve of that long ago, when the fair
| haired, gentle girl, waiting for her bold young
| lover, had been told suddenly that he had left
the town. There had been no sign or word of
| explanation. Selma Prime might conjecture
| that 1t was her fathers purse-proud treatment
Of the penniless suitor-for old Prime was one
| OF the moneyed men of the township and
meant that everyone should recognize the fact
that had stung the latter into that abrupt
unDarture. he friends i,tar
held another theory. Young Dilberoglue had
always been pretty lively" fellow Ii wasn't
to be expected that little shy Selma Prime was
ever come back? Well, she was mistaken, then,
he had cut loose and he was going to ''stay"
cut loose.
''And, as for the coming back, the friends
| and acquaintance were right. Dilberoglue
had disappeared as completely as though the
earth had opened and swallowed him up. Lit
! tie Miss Prime made moan. She had not
| understood; she thought she never should
| But the Master must know: she could leave it
all III His hands. And now, after all these
years, her man came back, rich and prosperous,
and loved her beautiful niece, why this must be
the right thing, too.
If little Miss Primes burden had grown
heavier, i'll her own despite, i'll this time of the
approaching Christuastide, which always
awakened dormant memories, as a hand that
! might be passed over the yellow, long silent
| keys of Il quantity fashioned harpsichord of
ancient days-Nannie formed glowing con-
| trast to her. Never had the girl seemed bri. h
CT or prettier. There was as though q sup
pressed current of something mysteriously Joy
Gus running through all her moods. Every
now and then she would make little plunges at
Miss Selma and hug and kiss her with mis-
chieyous effusion and a warmth and insistance
which would cause the aunt, softly chiding
and YET pink with pleasure, to murmur ''My
dear, my dcar'
You dearest, girlishest of maiden aunts,'
cried Mamie on one such occasion. ''How do
you contrive to blush so prcttily at every little
| thing: ltrcallv makes You quite too charming
| for such very aged person, do Won know that?
| l could not blush that way if l tried. | should
certainly come into my everlasting fortune at
| once. If I could.
You may come into it without" said Miss
| Selma. gently.
AT tins Miss Mamie only laughed. But in
| deed, with bushes or without, she and Mr.
| DilbcroSlue seemcd to be growing the best of
friends. They We're much together, and had
long conversations, the purport of which the
girl never disclosed to Miss selma. But the
latter could only find this natural. 'sWheu she
is ready to tell me, she will speak" thought she
| TO herself.
And SO the short gray days sped on, and the
Christmas tide had become actually, vivid
with punches of holly, and infused with that
| chastened and solemn spirit, that tempered
sense of cheer and good-fellowship expressed i'll
inc magic, Wohufous words, Peace on earth;
| goodwill towards man, which has made it like
no other time that was since time began, in the
| hearts end homes Of this worlds children
And then. on the morning of the eve before
| Christmas, Mamie said:
'To-night We decorate the church, Aunt
Selma. Don't forget that. And you're to stay
little after the others so, for Mr.. Dilberoglue
wants to speak to you"
| Miss Selma had no doubt as to why Mr. Dill
bcroGlue wished to speak to her. He and
Mamie had come to an understanding, and
now he was TO ask her consent to their marri-
| age. Perhaps it did seem to little Miss Prime
| n bitter touch of fate that this should come