Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1889-12-20

Avn uS niStlf luc r, III SJLlt
alarm ale is not Lucia's only chance. YOU
know"
Tramlay looked inquiringly; his wife ap
/ peared embarrassed, and averted her eyes.
"Okl You mean Marge, | Supposed Well
if Lu should really want him wouldn't likJ
10 make her unhappy by saying no. But
really, my dear"-here the merchant put hi.
arm around his wife-"really, now, Soat
you think that q man who was bosss a
yours quarter Of q century ago is rattle,
mature TO he the husband OF an impuisivs
l girl"
Young wives can't live on impulse alone.
I said Mrs Trarnlay. ''Mr. Marge has means
Not to any great extent, that any one la:
been able to discover" interrupted the mer
chant.
"And he has social position, which Is Of
I more importance in New York than any
thing else" continued the wife He knows
many prominent people whom we DO not, and
if he were to marry Lucia it would improve
Margie's opportunities. We haven't gone into
society as much as We should, and I'm afraid
our daughters will have to suffer for it"
Don't trouble your head with any such
fears" said the husband, with more than his
usual earnestness Girls like ours-bless
theml-aren't going to make bad matches
"Besides," said Mrs Tramlay, retracing
her thoughts, "Mr Marge DOESN'T look the
east bit old: he is not the kind of man to
grow old. l can't see that he appears day
older than he did years ago"
"Bless your sentimental hearth said the
merchant. ''He doesn't, ehl Well, it does
you credit to think 50. and i. doesn't make
me jealous in the least
"If the cDp1Dnnv continued NJ,
Tramlay, "Mr. Marge Will be as much tie
gamer as you or young Hayn, won't her
Certainly"
"Then he'll be that much better of than
this young man you're so fond Of"
"Yes, if he does nothing foolish in the
mean time; but have my doubts Of the
financial stability of any man who can't
pass stock ticker without looking at it.
Wall street exists solely for tue purpose Of
absorbing such mems money"
"Mr. Marge is no fool, said Mrs Tramlay.
lies no wiser than some veterans who
have had to leave their millions in the street
and live on their children forever after"
1.-THE Improvement company has only about
forty acres, believe you saidi"
"Just forty"
"And two thousand an acre Is the most you
hope forl"
aYes."
"That would be eighty thousand dollars;
four into eighty goes twenty times, and"-
"If I'd known you'd such head for bust
ness would have asked you to put a house
keeper In charge of the family, so could
have your services at the Office" said Tram
lay.
Twenty thousand dollars would be very
hffIa n To IN
York-and In our set"
Twenty thousand, and salary which I
must soon increase in simple justice; also,
expectations from his fathers estate in the
course Of time. / don't remember to have
told you, though, that the young man was
long headed enough to suggest that his IA
Their should buy options on the continuation
Of the ridge-there are several hundred acres
in all, distributed among different farms
and the old fellow has worked it so sli1lfully
that we have the refusal of it all, for year,
at trifling outlay in money. There's genu-
inc city business capacity In that young
mans head-ehP'
ut appears So" Mira Tramlay admitted.
This admission might have been of great
comfort to Phil could he have heard It, but
as he never received any information, except
through bis alternating hopes and suspi-
cions, he was obliged to remain in doubt.
His principal hope, aside from that based
on Lucias willingness to devote any amount
Of time to him, was obtained through the
manner Of the head Of the family. Tramlay
was communicative as wise merchants usu-
ally are to their employees; he was also con-
f1dential; evidently he trusted Phil implicit
", for he told the new clerk all his business
expectations and hopes, instructed him care
fully regarding every one whom the young
man was to see for business purposes, and
threw much important work upon him. It
seemed impossible to misconstrue the purpose
Of all this; at the very least, It implied high
order Of respect; and the respect Of possible
father-in-law was not an ally to be under
rated. Besides. Tramlay frequently put Lucia
In his charge when abe was out for m even
Ing; and ttis implied . still higher order Of
trust
But. after all, the hopes that were strong.
est and most abiding were formed in the
Tramlay parlor, while Lucia was apparently
only acting the part Of listener. The young
man occasionally found himself expressing
bis own opinion freely, and to great extent,
On subjects that interested him, and the dow
Of language was interrupted only BY badly
concealed yawns from 4ra Tramlay and
4argiA Where to them could be the inter.
sss IN the latest campaign against the Indi-
ans, Or methods OF ventilating school rooms
Or the supposed moral purpose underlying
England's continued occupation Of Egypt
Such questions were fit only for men, thought
1rA Tramlay and her. second daughter. the
mother sometimes said, after excusing her
sef from impromptu lectures on these or
kindred topics, that the young man from tho
country loved to hear himself talk, and Mar
gle half believed that Phil only began what
she dsnominated 'harangues" in order to
clear the room. 20 that he might have Lucia
to himself.
But to al that Phil said, no matter how
heavy the subject. Lucia listened patiently,
attentively, and often with an air Of interest
6omettmes she attained sufficient grasp of .
statement to reconstruct it, in words, though
not in facta, and return IL to tho original
maker, who IN the blindness Of blin immedi-
ately attributed it to Lucia's mental superb
GRITTY to the remainder Of the family. Had
b seen her afterward perplexedly pinching
her brow a. she appealed to cyclopedia or
dictionary to make his meaning clearer, he
might have revised his opinion as to her in
tellect, yet he would have been tho surer Of
3 what to him just then was moro desirable
! than the collective Intellect q IL world -