Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1886-11-11
Observation-Disclosures.

i lClACl 1lAC otlu man INK IN liCA
vexatiOn. "HOw dare he write such
I things to me! What business has he
to love me? He never would have
dared to write like this if-if papa was
alive and we had not lost our money"
"YOu may thank yourself for this, u
said Grandma Peverill, looking over her
spectacles with an air of concern. "You
have amused yourself considerably with
Harold Helper, to my certain knowl-
edge. When one dances, one must pay
the piper"
'tI don't understand you, grandma.
l certainly never gave him sign of en-
couragement. have guessed for some
time that he-that he didn't dislike me,
you know; but / never dreamed that he
would dare say as much. Papa's clerk.
Why, I've seen him sweeping out that
office, and his fingers inky as Caddy
Jeliby's."
| "Men are audacious creatures" OBJ
served grandma; "but if you knew that
he didn't exactly hate you, you should
not have accepted him as an escort
when you were learning to ride. When
your papa brought him home to dine,
you needn't to have made yourself so
attractive, need you? You might have
had headache in your own room, or
an invitation out. You needn't have
talked pretty nonsense with him by
the hour, while your father and I took
our after-dinner maps, need you?"
Zone can't help flirting little, grand
MAJ
"What, with ones fathers clerk?
And no doubt one can't help working
him slippers and braiding watch chains
either"
"Why, of course, one gives birthday
and Christmas gifts to all ones ac-
quaintances, even to old Biddy, the
pauper. One doesn't expect them to
presume on that, however"
"And so you think that Mr.. Helper is
presuming when he offers you his
hearts love and all his worldly pros
poets. Why so?"
II think he is presuming, because
the Peverills are not of his order, grand
mamma. They came over in the May
flower; they are decended from Lord
Peverill; they have graduated at col
leges, have enjoyed elegant accomplish
ments ever since the flood, and have
never soiled their hands with the CRIME
of labor; while Mr.. Helpers ancestors
were illiterate mechanics, who mur-
dered the Kings English. Why, his
own father was stone-cutter. I've
heard papa say So"
"And supposing that yours had been
mechanic, what objection would you
have urged?"
"Why, it is not supposable case,
grandmamma-a Peverill stone-cut-
ter!p
"But supposing you were not Pever-
ill?"
my imagination is not bold enough
for such flight. You see, 1 have all
the' prejudice of my class. I would
choose unhappiness sooner than marry
beneath me. l shall probably marry
Miles Bond some fine day, if nothing
happens"
"Marry Miles Bondw repeated grand
mamma, as if she had said she was GO
ing to marry the Khan of Tartary.
"You seem to be astonished, grand
mamma"
eyes, a little. When I was a girl
began the old lady.
| "You loved brocades and brocatelles
as well as your granddaughter"
"But did not sell myself for them.
And so you are really engaged to Miles
Bond, and there's no help for it?"
"Well, not really engaged; | won't
give my word-at least not quite yet.
You see, grandmamma, one hesitates
to rivet the chain, as they say in novels.
And then Miles says he will wait; he
won't hurry me; he'd rather wait q
century in sweet suspense, as he callsit,
than to be refused at once. But sup
pose it will all end one way"
Mr.. Helper accepted his refusal, how
ever, with good grace. He made no
fuss about it; he merely assured her
that her happiness would always be
dearer to him than his own.
"That's the letter of a gentleman" :"
said grandma, "if his father was forty
times stone cutter"
Pshaww said Miss Agnes, tearing il
into fragments; but, curiously enough,
gathering them together as soon as Mrs.
Peverill's back was turned, as if they
were as sweet to her as scattered rose
| leaves.
at would never do" she said, hall
loud, answering some unspoken
thoughts. II should always be banker.
ing for family and money. One must
give up something; it may as well be
love as anything. Oh, if my father
had only beena stone cutter, too!'
Grandma Peverill met Mr.. Helper in
the street later. IT hope you don't
mean to desert u.s." said she, "because
foolish chit of an Agnes doesn't know
when her bread is well buttered. Re-
member it's womans privilege to
change her mind. I refused my first
love myself, because I thought he'd
come back and tease me into it, but he
never did. Served me right, too"
And Harold did as he was told. He
made himself intimate at the Peverill's
| as of old. He was there in season and
out of season. He bore with the capri
ces or Agnes and the condescensions of
his rival. He was often left to the
tender mercies of Grandma Peverill
while Agnes and Miles made the Gar
den or the river echo with their songs.
One day, however, even Grandma Pew
erill failed him. She walked suddenly
from q doze and asked, "Is it really
love?" glancing after the two, pelting
each other with roses in the garden.
ut looks like it," gasped Harold.
"Time will prove-time, that unlocks
all secrets and discloses all impostures.
Miles is of the earth, earthly. He loves
fine society and grandfathers and coats
of arms.n .-.t
A few weeks later Miles Bond and
Mr.. Helper were engaged looking over
the private papers Of the late Mrs. Pew
erill, as her executors. That modest
norton Of hpr fortuna which bor eooj,