Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-06-10

clever or witty, but assure you be Is q capi-
tai husband, and / have grown fonder Of him
than could have believed / would not SEQ
you 80 mopei as sibyl. not II mamma were
to 90 on her knees to us But really Sophia,
Prendergast is more than passable; be Is very
agreeable
aWel, but being agreeable does not make
you love a man, Sophia ventured to say.
@No." Car answered readily; Hbut when
mans character Is such as you approve, and
when his position and prospects are good. and
when he Is agreeable In addition, you ara
safer in marrying him-safer, do you hear,
Sophyl-than you would be in marrying af-
ter the most romantic Of courtships.n
Sophia was silent before Cars reasonable
assertion 5,
Besides, Sophyn-now she came to her
special appeal-@mamma is quite in terror
lest you should refuse Prendergast. She has
taken such fancy TO him With his serious
ways one would hardly have expected that;
but so it Is. Prendergast win be making
mamma a saint one Of these days IL he enters
the family-he has such an influence over her.
1t was not altogether fair to Car TO hold
out such motive to her sister. She well
knew how Sophia bewailed her mothers In
fatuated worldliness; and how, in her gentle,
daughterlike way, she was always trying to
make her mother less of a pagan and
mocker This one sentence of Cars told
more with Sophia than all that had been
said to her before. She was in that melan-
choly mood when women, and men, too, often
make lifelong sacrifices at the bidding of
religion. What if Prendergast did really
make her mother in her last days better
and wiser %omanl She sighed, and looked
up at Car r.septively.
"No doubt Of it, Car said, in kind Of re-
ply to her sis ters glance. mamma will be
the happiest woman in England if you marry
him And she has been kind mother to us,
and we ought to please her If We can. And,
besides, as l said, he may really be useful to
mamma, she thinks SO much of him"
Divided was Sophias heart, and her loyal
will was shaken when she left her sister, Who
could stand such succession of argument
and appeals or, if we choose to bring in new
metaphor, what citadel could resist such
number of battsring rams, managed by that
eminent pagan military engineer, Mrs. Bar
bara Templel Yes; Sophia was feeling the
weakness of her sex: IJnint," ~ yield"
~. EGERToN AND soPHIA--IDIoCY VS. LOVE
As with sad steps she was walking down
the avenue, she was startled by the appari-
tion Of Egerton, who suddenly appeared,
peeping over the top of holly bush. Ht
glanced apprehensively' round, like paid
assassin in a tragedy, and then, coming round
the holly bush with long sc-et Tarquin
strides, he advanced to Sophia's side.
"Come here, he said, in an awful whisper.
And he returned behind the holly bush as
he came forth. Sophia did not know what to
think; but, waving his manner in her esti-
mate of the position, she came to the conclu-
sion that he had got hedgehog, or some
other natural curiosity which he wished her
to inspect; SO she followed him. No sooner
was she at his side than. with three or four
mt,re ssmdye glances, he stopped to her ear,
and, iii d Whisper Of the profoundest caution,
saidt
"Sophiap take my advice, and go and get
married. It's an awfully nice thing. You
may take 1t from me that 1t is not so much
matter whom you marry as the thing It,
self. Do that, and all the rest will follow.
Don't let out to any one that told you"
And then, with an air Of secrecy which
was frightfully suggestive, and the same
long and ghostly strides, he made for the
house, leaving her to resume her path as best
she might.
v. THE REV. ANTHONY BRENT AND SOPHIA
-DEsPoNDENCY VS.. LOVE.
"Miss Temple" the clergyman said, with
melancholy air, not the least feigned, al
though, by casting gloom over his conver-
sation, it greatly furthered Mrs Barbara
Temples ends, 'times have changed, changed
indeed. l had a letter from my son two days
ago."
How that good little heart leaped to hear
it! Percivall he seemed near her once again,
and she would be strengthened now
"How is Percival" she asked gently,
aPrctty well, [" the rector replied; "tolerably
well, may say. But he writes in bad spirits
Littlr wonder; his prospects are very uncer-
tain. don't think he will ever return to
England"
lie meant to come hack when he left"
poor Sophia said, turning sick at heart after
her little gush of pleasure
"That know" the rector answered. in the
same downcast tone sBnt his intention viii
change. if it has not changed already. Per-
cival has to face life of struggle was
very giad to find that YOU and he had qIi,a
broken off from each other"
eve wanted to act prudently," the poor
girl said, o, how delighted she would have
ben he'd the rector, in the remotest way, rec
,gnized that an understanding existed be-
tween them,
1T was prudent he continued @To you
Ench thing could only have meant bondage
and disappointment; and to him - well,
Sophia, greatly as like you, don't really
think Percival would have been SO likely to
prosper had he been still engaged to you"
II could not bear the thought of injuring
hsxr,D - tbe Gl,o I,
edge Of fit of crying, but Mr. Brent, never
man of observation, and now quite occu-
pied with his own cares, did not notice her
agitation.
Il am sure of that y he replied "Of course
that is why you SO wholly detached yourself
from him. 1t is better for both of you. Per-
cival, as you know, has returned to the man
with whom he resided when his health was
delicate. This man Warren-is getting ad-
vanced in life, and wants helper in his busi-
ness Percival, have no doubt, will get
that appointment, for they are very fond Of
him-that is, mean Warren and his daugh-
ter are very fond Of him"
@Mr. Warren has daughter, then2' Sophia
asked
"Yes, he is widower, and she is his only
child. think indeed, know--that she was
rather soft on Percy when he lived there In
fact, one or two rather unnecessary letters
followed him to England laughed then;
notD cannot but think that If Percival man
ages the business well, and gets into the old
mans good books, and and mArries little
Bessie, as he used to call her"
"He called her little Bessie, did hes" Sophia
inquired.
Little Bessie-that was her name, y the rec
tor answered. aHe always called her that.
1t meant nothing, Of course. You see, they
rvay,e a great daa1 toCafiar and Porn;,ua1 oaxh,