Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-01-05

pleasant place. with whiiewashed walls
and a slate floor. As the professor. IN 4
brown study, nearcd the Cai". We truck
his toe on a projecting stone aud looked
up. In the laundry hc saw trim buI
compact feminine figure, with her back
turned toward him and her head hidden
in "a Quaker bonnet. The owner Of the
engaging figure was trtlling that seduc.
tive song of old Scotia, Coming Through
the Rye and keeping time on the slate
floor with a dainty slipper.
what a catching air! And she throws
a good deal of feeling into it for an I'M
tutored servant girl" murmured the pro-
fessor.
What a light touch her foot has, it
would hardly crush a butterfly! Pity that
Priscilla can't sing like that. Al least |
never heard her, and I'm sure she's too
cold. Hum, I'm constrained TO think
there's a witchery about the domestic of
a well ordered household that's lacking
in
Something came over the professor
he was never able to explain ii exactly
and he swept the rear windows with q
searching look. Then he tiptoed down
the garden path and stole over the thresh.
old of the laundry. The figure moved
the tapping foot, as if to turn, and the
song stopped short, but the professor was
not TO be baked. He drew the precious
shape in to him with his long arms and
snatched an n.Platonic kiss over a
round shoulder, and before the first strug-
gle had begun, he declared wildly, to
break the storm Of protest and resent.
ment:
Mary, dear, | couldn't help it, you
did look So tempting"
Professor Pontifex,!!'
1t was Priscilla whom he had claspcd,
not Mary; Priscilla, who had come into
the laundry TO count her lace handker-
chiefs with the family cress upon them;
Priscilla, who was singing blithely and
marking time with her foot. AS she re-
leased herself and with hot color con
frOnted the startled man he fell back
aghast. One effort he made at articula-
ton, but his tongue Glove TO the roof Of
his mouth, and with every faculty stupe-
fed he turned ard fled up the garden
path leaving his glasses shattered on the
laundry floor.
How he ever reached his quarters in the
university building " ith0ut his wits or
his glasses battles one 10 tell. 70 the
professor it was an agonizing blank. All
that night he paced his room IA prey to
awful reflections. His faux pas appeared
all the more shocking 10 him because he
had never kissed "a woman before in his
life, and his first indiscretion had cost him
the sweetest and coyest wife that man
ever had. The terrible scandal If there
had been an unseen witness! Electric
pricked the professors eyebalis,
and he fancicd he already heard the
hooking laughter Of irreverent waos of
the university. The dawn still found him
pacing his room, haggard and feeble from
the tumult in his soul.
His mine was made up, he would re-
sign his professorship and go abroad. lie
began to pack his trunk feverishly. He
had Just pressed down "Sowerby Bot
on a pile of shirts when a rap at the
door sent q shock through his whole ner-
vous system. 1t was a district messenger.
and he handed the professor IA letter.
With a groan he recognized the hand
writing; it was Priscilla s, in severe Ital-
ian script.
"Oh, the degradation he said, with
lips all trembling. Summoning his man
hood he tore open the perfumed missive.
II was very brief.
"DEAR NICHOLAS; After a night OF in
ward struggle ] have concluded that love
you all the better for your display of spirit.
Return. All Is forgiven. PRISCILLA"