The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-11-18


whispered back. When once Ailcen
falls asleep the headache is cured.
Then they parteG-the lady of the house
going TO her own room, the guest to hers.
She turned the key in the lock and sat
down by tho open window TO think. The
evening sunshine streamed down upon
the great elms in the Deanery close; the
iackdaws hyiEg about the tall towers of
THE Parish tas they called the cathe-
dral in Blankhampton) called necessarily
"Jak Jak.' the voices Of some children
PLAYING on the sward below rose up to
her, and little further on there were
two dogs snarling over "a bone.
Generally Nancy Earle watched chill
dren and dogs and iackdaws with de
light, but on that evening she took no
heed of them at all Her mind was fully
taken up by trying to remember what
she had said, and in trying to think what
she should do.
1t was but little use trying 70 lessen
the cnormity OF her idiotic blunder, in
trying to minimize the meaning Of her
words They seemed TO stand out before
her in letters Of fre-"Aileen tells me he
| is too charming. and that the name suits
him well in spite of his being so ugly
Yes, that was what she had said-''in
| spite of his being so ugly What n fool
| she had been to say IL. What q fool
and how i'll bred t. say such thing of
one officer of regiment TO another
| Why, surprising that his name really had
been PaunccfOrth, and Beautiful Jim
quite another person still he might have
been his best friend. in which case he
| TOD ftt -
had done for himself Oh. fool. fool,
that she had BEEN
And what should he do nowg What in
the world should she-nay. could she dot
For it was not only herself whom she bad
involved by her stupid and thoughtless
blunder, but also her friend, Aileen Adair
| Oh. what must she Go for the Oesty
She did not find the question 10y any
means an easy one 10 solve. and while she
was trying to do SO, she perhaps not IN
naturally found herself thinking about
Beautiful Jim himself How well he
had taken it, how pleasantly he had passed
it off, and how delicately he had conveyed
to her that if She did not Ike 20 meet him
| afterward she could just send him post
card to say he was not TO come to the
tennis party Qg the following Saturday.
What fine fellow he was In every way,
and how ferycntly did she wish that an
unlucly fate had never led her into max
ing those unfortunate remarks. However,
dinner time came. and still she had not
solved the problem Of getting over the
| difficulty of meeting him again.
Il must, she SAID, when she found her
self back in her room for the night, Il
must do something-yet WHAT
AT last, however, she decided that II
would be best to write TO him-and-and
say-well, to be accurate, She did not
know exactly what But she thought she
| would do il before she slept or tried TO
sleep. So she got out her writing case
and began to wrIte-which was quiteeasy
at first, for she got as far as "Blankhamp
ton Deanery, July j..-My dear Mr. Beres-
ford, without any difficulty whatever
But after that she came 30 a standstilland
did not know what TO say next What
could she say2 She tried ut least a dozen
sentences, but, somehow, none Of them
either looked right or graceful, and she
wanted her letter To be both.
At last. however. she completed a letter
, wi ich she thought would do. IL ran
thus:
"MY DEAR Mr.. BEREsFoED-I feel
must write you line to say how sorry |
am for the stupid mistake | made today
II it was not that b. my thoughtlcss'
ness, have involved Miss Adair in my
folly, | should just 60 home by the CARL
est train tomorrow. But | can't 60 away
and leave her to bear the brunt Of my ut
ter foolishness so can only ask You 20
forgive me, and TO try TO forget that ever
said what did. ! am so sorry. ! can't
say more. Your very apologize
NANCY EARLE
Miss Earle read this cffusion over and |
thought it would do as well as anything |
she would be able to concoct; then, wo
man like, she added postscript, and, wo-
man like. the postscript contained the |
whole salt and SAVIOR of the letter
"PS-After all, IL ispretty good proof |
that didn't sec much amiss with your |
looks. n T."
On reading This production over Miss
Earle thought it would 90 very well, and
was wonderfully comforted by the con
clusion. Then She went 10 bed and after
lying awake for little time thinking il
all overland particularly over his looks
and general air-shc fell asleep and slept
as young things do. until the morning
sunshine was streaming through various
chinks and crcvices into the room
When she had read the letter again and
satisfied herself that IL would do, She
went down stairs, and cautiously opening
the door which led into the close, slipped
out of the house and went quickly along
the road TO where post box was let into
the wall only few doors away; into this
she popped her letter and fled back. feel
ing very guilty ard scared more a. if she
had been robbing the box instead Of add
ing TO its contents
Fortunately hot a soul saw her, and she !
was able to put her sailor hat. which she !
always wore in the garden. in its custom !
AIRY place in tho hall before any of the
family came down 10 breakfast.
Meantime a pOstman had come along
with a bag and had cleared the box, so
that it was already one stage further on
its way toward its final destination.
In due time it was sorted out from
among its fellows and tossed Oh 10 the
heap for the infantry barracks. And be.
fore it had waited very long the post
corporal made his appearance, and after