The Press., 1888-01-26

I old fashioned and somewhat cumbersome phraseology had been:
 ''In so important matter, my dear Miss Venn, would earnestly desire that you should eschew nasty decision, and I there fore will ask to be permitted to wait in per son at your home for your reply during the early hours of tomorrow evening" | And he went.
 Not altogether to his surprise MT. Venn re- ceived him. It was quite in keeping with his notions of propriety that the preliminaries of the momentous contract should be settled with his future brides father; and, in truth, he was very considerably relieved to have to enter las he supposedD upon purely business discussion and to postpone the ordeal of malS- l ing love. What he should find to say when l the latter labor had to be undertaken it passed his power of conjecture to imagine. | He could only hope that the crisis-and he 1 dreaded it worse than an interview with bis dentist-would by its very severity kirdle within his mind illumination for the road he had so fatuously elected to travel. Mir Venn was 0 rotund little man, with q bustling manner, twinllling dark eye3- the | twinlIling was intensified at this juncture@, l and tho good gift of sound digestion, which renders ill temper on any but tho most inso- le,.t provocation base ingratitIdc to kindly 1 Providence.
 Delighted to sec you ct Gartmore, Mid dleton, nnd-shemi l Lolieve havo noms idea of your clrand. z said hc
 The shipbrolser bowed sI fully cn7acc.cl ! that you wouli unterstaad,F De c..swcve;' And then somehow MM nnnSad, for 10 N ' borne in upon 4tffn that hrNpaa ou tlsc oro . listening to so1up distnrhinw rcvelatio. Nothing could bc wrong ssita le lani, ts.r4. lyl It was a dreadful thought that ,nll , him quako in his boots Certainly Vcnas face wore an aspect of funercal gravity, re- lievcd only by the oddly contra3tel br ..'- ness of his eyes, where couple of imprirU % | sunbeams seemed to be basSinS.
 First let mo express my sense-our sense of the honor Gone to my daughter, nud through Dusa to her parents, by your e !"r of this morning. IT.. Middleton"
 Old Godfrey breathcd a triAo more freely It was tho question he had come about, then, that accounted for Vcnn's solcmnity. The stability of tho famous old banking housc was uli..lp2.red. |. was O ridiculously ob- surd terror that had seized him. But, Middleton, I am sorry"
 "I am afraid 1 don't quite take you"
 And indeed tho inference seemed to be too good to bc true. Never, surely, did prctender await with nor. eagerneSs the verdict of dis missal.
 II repeat that am sorry. My daughters affections arc bestowed already-elsewherc, my dear Middleton. And there has been an odd lnista1o, the oldest mistake, think, I ever knew CT heard of. If had seen your letter should have known, of, course. But you see Dusa is quite unfamiliar with your hand; and then you write as vigorously as as your nephew might do. And was busy; l didn't ask to see the note Dusa told me
 what was in it, and who she supposed it had
 come from, and so, as say, we blundered all
 round"
 Light was slowly breaking on old Geof
 frey's mind. Perhaps the reaction from the dread that he might be taken at his word
 and married out of hand Cso to speak, by c
 highty young miss, quicBened his faculties
 of apprehension. 1t was queer how strong
 was his temptation to re-enact the schoolboy of five-and-forty years ago and threw up hi
 hat at the joyful news of regained liberty
 But there was more to learn. Do gather correctly that you mistool 2 the senderF'
 "Dusa did; pardon rle not unnaturally."
 ''Then Miss Venn could only read that not
 As coming from
 "Your nephew"
 "Possibly may still be within my right
 May ask was its petition then denied" "No, it was granted. And it was at Dusa' request that am here to tell you thia Wi l you sec nef:
 "Not now, not now, thanks" The banker, whose love for his daughte had made him more compliant than perhap his cautious professional instincts justified and who had not withdrawn his consent t the young surgeons suit-a consent given a
 it transpired in error-even when the quarTe at Elgin House stood disclosed, made clea! with few more pithy words what had hap
 pened. And his shrewd insight into hi
 patrons character was vindicated in tn sequel.
 "Have no fears, Godfrey; your uncle vii come round, he had sad. "I am only glaC
 that it was through Dusa that he proposeC to punish you"
 Old Godfrey went home, humiliation swal lowed up of relief. He found his nephew standing in the library, hunting up certain cartoons in an old volume of Punch. Witt . quick nervous tread he stepped to bis side
 'We are quits, GeofF, now," he said. ''l , saved you from one dilemma and you've de livered me from another. I'll not forget tho service"
 , And it was the last reference he made tC his two days wooing.
 1 In the autumn he settled an income of 6OC year, as marriage gift, on Godfrey Mid l dleton's nephew.-W. J. Lacey in Home