The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-03-30
~ am sure that my aunt would be
delighted to make your acquaintance,

Mr.. Greysark." :
Accordingly, on the following Sunday,
Mr.. Greysark, instead of performing his
usual weekly duty to society by an afters
no n lounge on the Green, betook him
self to Regency Square, and was ushcred
into the presence of a smiling. grey.
haired lady, who might have stepped
from an ancestral picture frame, and
who received him with the stately ur-
banity of a coursier of the old school.
Being a man of business, Jonathan Grey
sark lost no time in beating about the
bush, but plunged at once IN medias res
described the origin of his acquaintance
with Phyllis, expressed himself in such
happy language, blew his own trumpet
in such n pleasant, unassuming manner,
declared his devotion in such fervid
phrases, IN fact, put matters before the
old lady in such an attractive light, that
she was completely won over.
"Of course, Mr.. Greysark," she said
in reply. ''as I am only the girls aunt, I
have nc direct authority in the matter.
But if Phyllis regards your suit as favor
ably as l do, I can only recommend that
you should address a letter to her
father in London, state the case as YOU
have stated it to me, and abide by his
decision"
"But it is an extraordinary phase of
our acquaintance" said the merchant,
''that l do not know your neicc's sur
name yet"
Perhaps the old lady was struck by
the strangeness of this avowal, but at
any rate she hcsitatcd a moment, seemed
a little confused, and then replied: "Hcr
name is Fleming, Mr.. Grcysark; a letter
addressed to Mr.. Robert Fleming and
given to me will insure its safe des-
patch"
"But would it not be better for me to
call upon Mr.. Fleming myself said
Grcysark. My business experience has
taught me that one personal interview
is worth Il dozen letters"
$50 it is, as a general rule, Mr.. Grey
sark," replied the old lady. But Mr..
Fleming's movements are SO uncertain,
his business taking him so frequently
away from home, that the course 1 have
suggested would, I think, be the bet
ter"
And after a little general conversation,
Mr.. Greysark took his leave, resolved
that he would without delay formally
propose to Phyllis, and if her answer
should be favorable, as he had not the
slightest reason to doubt it would be,
indite his letter to Mr.. Fleming.
Accordingly the next morning. upon
arrival at London Bridge, instead of
handing Phyllis into a Mansion House
omnibus, rs usual, he insisted that she
should walk there with him. And by
the time King Williams statue was
reached he had poured out his soul to
her, and received her ready assent to his
proposal, conditional upon the approval
of her father.
One or two little circumstances con-
nected with his visit to Regency Square
on the previous day struck Jonathan
Greysark as being curious as he sat in
his room Mt the office playing listlessly
with the heap Of unopened letters before
him. OF course he had observed the
old lady's hesitation in giving the name
of FleminGi and her suggestion that
the letter should be forwarded through
her instead of to a direct address was
rather unusual. Perhaps Fleming was
a strange sort of man-undcr a cloud, or
of eccentric habits. At any rate Phyllis
was a lady, us was her aunt; the sur
roundings of the rooms in Regency
Square showed refinement, if not opu-
lcnce; and although money with n wife
was no object with him, he preferred
that the lady honored by his choice
should not be an utter stranger to the
style of life to which rs Mrs. Greysark
she would be introduced. But his
ardent affection for the supplemented.
bright-faccd girl overcame whatever
little shades of doubt or scruple the
above strange circumstance might have
awakened within him, and, after
hurriedly perusing his business letters,
he called Mr.. Penn in, gave him instruc,
lions to show nobody into the private
down to indite the epistle to Mr.. Elem
ing. After much destruction of best
cream-laid note, he produced the follow
ing;
DEAR SIR: It Is with no little difid ence that
l address one who IL a complete stranger to
me upon a subject OF such Importance as that
which now occupies my pen but I am sure I
judge you rightly when ! think that you will
pardon the liberty I am taking by the time You
arrive at the end of the letter.
In short. I wish to obtain your consent to
my marriage with your charming daughter,
Phyllis. AS this Ia to some extent q matter Of
business, I may inform You that I made the
Young lady's acquaintance in the Brighton
train, by which we have been fellow-passen-
gers daily for some weeks past that I then
obtained not only her consent to my proposal,
but the entire appreciation OF her aunt, upon
whom I had the pleasure of calling, with your
daughters permission.
For your satisfaction I may add that, al
though I am not a very young man, I am in
the full vigor OF health and strength that I
am the sole and responsible head OF one of the
best known and most respected business
houses in the city of London, and that 1 am
in a position, which you may verify, il you
please. by the most minute investigation, to
maintain your daughter in a fitting position
as q lady.
The entire happiness of my life, and I dare
add that Of your daughters, rests upon yonr
decision as to whether she should be my W fe