Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1888-03-17

"No he is not"
ooh, beg your pardon, Jane; thought
he was"
An enig1natic dialogue, but we perfectly
understood each other. And hoped that
had made Lily understand l had no interest
in Mr.. Bird, for young girls jump SO rapidly
at conclusions where young men are con
cerned. Not that Lily was in the habit of
jumping after young men in any way-I do
not mean to convey that impression. Lily
was full of spirits, but good girl in every
respect, with not an atoms worth of the
ordinary Margate jetty girl in her constitu-
ton; not she. Sbili, curiously enough, l was
deceived in and by Lily Brian. had no idea
she could have been SO cunning or so easily
deceived. One morning when l walked
down the jetty | found TO my intense aston
ishment Mr. and Mrs. Brian Lily, George, the
eldest Master Brian and Mr Goode, all talk
ing and laughing with Nh Bird, and taking
it in turns to peer through his telescope at
some object on the far horizon. 1 walked up
slowly, and with bushes on my cheeks, | am
sure, in my surprise.
''Jane, my dear, here's gunboat," said
Mr.. Brian, as | approached; this gentleman
has been kind enough to allow us to inspect
it through his very powerful telescope Look
here, child"
Mr. Bird did smile a little, in a sheep faced
and embarrassed kind of manner, as be
glanced toward me, but he did not say a
word when Mr.. Brian handed me the instru-
ment He even let Mr.. Goode focus the in
strument for me without interfering in any
way, although fancied l heard him grind
ing his teeth.
Its a capital glass, sir" said Mr.. Brian to
him. Mr.. Brian, being of genial turn, was
always disposed to be friendly with the first
stranger whom he encountered out of town.
Eyes, it's good glass.
clad it long, sir: Would you like to dis
pose of it nowE was the insinuating inquiry.
at belonged to my father" was the reply,
therefore it has not a money value to me.
1t was his present when l was one-and-
twenty, and l shouldn't like to part with it,"
Another birthday present, l thought
Heavens, if he were to lose this tool
"Certainly not, certainly not" said Mr..
Brian, Il admire your good feeling, sir
George, you hear that he said to his son,
who was lacking in filial sentiment, and was
at that identical moment sucking the bare
knob of his stick as if it were an egg.
George nodded and then winlled at me. A
most Objectionable lout was George, and Mr.,
Bird scowled ferociously at him, and from
him to me.
inspected the gunboat, or tried to inspect
it, for the object glass was very misty with
/ little transparent worms that seemed to be
wriggling and dancing all over it; returned
the telescope to its owner, who said: "Thank
you, ma ann very quietly, and with his look
of sadness highly developed again.
Still he remained remarkably non-obtru-
OIL ha Il at n
sation upon me in any way, and presently he
was walking down the jetty with Mr.. Brian,
and talking and laughing as if he had known
him all his life.
l thought all this was a new and deep laid
scheme of his, but /: was really Lily Brian
who was at the bottom Of it all, or who at
least induced her parents and brother to say
from that day Good morning" to Mr. BirG
and even to shake hands with him. Hence l
was obliged to say "Good morning" also
when he directly addressed me, and to be-
come by degrees On speaking terms with him
again, and almost to forget that umbrella
question which had been bone of conten-
tion-a whalebone of contention-between
U.S. Not that the umbrella was Off his mind
in any way for he had been introduced to
Capt Choppers on one occasionally Capt.
Choppers express request, as that gentleman
wanted to borrow his telescope-and to my
astonishment | heard Mr.. Bird say, five
minutes after the introduction,
''You see it was not for the value of the
umbrella, but because of the associations con-
nected with it. hope you understand, cap
tain
Il understand perfectly" was the reply;
"but that was no reason why you should
have kicked up such an abominable uproar,
sir"
Capt. Choppers had borrowed the telescope,
and was now dominant aud rude.
The time was drawing toward the end of
the holiday when Mr.. Bird and were friends.
may remark actually friends, although 1
will say very firmly, and despite Lily Brian's
opinion, nothing more than friends. Mr.
Birds holiday would expire few days before
our own, learned, and, though l would not
have owned it for untold wealth, was sorry
he was going back to London. He had in
formed me of his position by that time, and
of his prospects for the future, or of some of
them. He had given up the business, and his
fathers business before him, of carver and
glider in the Goswell road; he was very clever
at his trade, felt sure, for he had been Of
fered the post of superintendent of work by
an eminent firm in Oxford street, with whom
he had done business for years, and at a very
respectable salary indeed.
He was exceedingly communicative the
last day of his stay in Margate; we were sit
ting to~ether under the shelter of tie veranda
o 51e re2reshunert room, with the band play
iSf out il the rain. We were alone for o
wonder; tho Bri2ns vc.o on the rocks in
se,.rch Of anemoaos Y, Il The exception Of
LIZ, who had left mo L~.t al hour ago, with
an injunction to como homo il il "Foured,n
Gal with an umbrc,t, . shelter nc, G3 l had
vel1urcl out withou. own. GAc had seen
having very sAorg e5 Of her own-Mr.
Geoffry Bird advanciAs down tho jetty, and
had made some trivial L5ole excuse to leave
mo ''to give the poor fellow @ chance, as she
told me afterwards And there he was sitting
by my side, cool and comfortable, and with
the rain coming down il big drops and start
ling and confounding the pleasure seekers.
81 shall be quite the gentleman soon, Miss
Neild," he said, with laugh, land with a
soul above shop keeping, only want few
friends about me to make life worth living,
L -