St. Landry democrat., 1888-01-28

deserves, will stay and see him safe
/ ly in his carriage"
! What passed between those two
never knew; only during the two OF
| three weeks in which / remained at
Snake Corners was never again an
noyed by SO much as word from
Richard Harding.
1t was two days after my adventure
at the school-house, and Sunday
evening, when Jimpy came up to the
house where / boarded. He was not
a frequent caller, but on few occa.
sions he had come to the house and
had played on the piano for his
! amusement. He always asked me,
| and L always complied much as
would for any of my scholars. But in
all our acquaintance it seems to me
l never failed to treat him as boy.
forgetting that Jimpy was very nearly
as old as myself, and that had
passed my twentieth birthday. Per-
haps it was our relative position in the
school which blinded me; for ought
to have known what was really the
fact that Jimpy was older and more
thoughtful than most lads of his age.
An hour or two passed as usual, and
my visitor made no reference to what
must have been uppermost in the
thoughts of each of us. / mean his
interference in my behalf on the Fri
day previous. At last he arose to take
his leave.
1t was quite early, so early that the
light of sweet and fresh May even
ing had not quite given way to dark
ness. 1t was so fine and pleasant that
l sauntered down the long garden
pathway to the gate. There Jimpy
stopped, the red glow Of an unusually
fine sunset lighting up his face that.
until the memorable moment two days
before, had appeared so plain and
ordinary to my eyes.
miss Leonard" he said, II am half
sorry that was of some service to you
the other evening. Not that, either,'
he stammered. as blush sui
fused his face. 'Of course l
am glad to have been of ever so little
use, but am sorry that the necessity
arose. You see, l am afraid you will
think / wish to take advantage of that
But it is not so. You are going away
soon, and perhaps will never come
back to the Corners. Well. can not
let you 60 without telling you that
love you. All, Miss Leonard, don't,
please don't, be angry. know | am
only poor, stupid country boy, home
ly and lame into the bargain. I don't
ask you for any thing in return and
don't expect it. You will 60 away and
be admired and loved, perhaps, by
handsome and clever men in the city;
and you will seldom think of the Cor
ners and your old scholars. Yet I
would like you to remember some
times that I-Jimpy q shall like that
name, because it was through you
got it), your awkward scholar-lovo
you.''
1t all seemed like a strange, quaint
dream; and long minutes passed by,
during which the stars came out one
by one, ere awoke to consciousness
of the fact that Jimpy stood there ex-
pecting me to say something. Even
then l could only find few words,
which I felt were poor enough and all
too meager for my earnest boy lover.
Il am sorry very sorry, that this is
So" said, and, as / noticed the ex-
preston, half wistful-half disap-
pointed, with which he eyed me, 1
added quickly: IF you were Prince
rich, handsome and clever-it
would make no difference to me. JIM
py. am proud of your acquaint-
ance. You are good friend of mine,
and | can never fully repay you for
your goodness to me. But that you
should care for me other than friend,
am sorry"