The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1889-08-01
was rustic and ignorant; but ahl she was

so pretty
How far they rode in this lazy way,
wholly wrapped in conversation, is not
known. How far they would have ridden
is uncertain, II Nancy had not sent a mis-
chievous glance straight into the gray
eyes and inquired
"Why, where docs that patient Of
yours liver
The doctor laughed frankly, coloring
nevertheless.
al see you understand the ways that
are dark and the tricks that are vain
pretty WE'LL Miss Nancy. And now /
don't dare to tell you what was going
to do before you spoke"
"What was i'll" queried Nancy, curl
Gus and conscious.
at was, +" said the doctor, bending his
own face closer to the curl-shaded one at
his own side, "that wish | had the
right to keep you with me always. Miss
Nancy, will you look at me-will you let
met"
Nancy turned her face away
"You do not answer me, Nancy"
urged the doctor.
sun Sut TtUldlHtu SlitUI.
The doctor was perplexed. lie was
not used to deal with young ladies who
could not find words to say ny or nay.
If the truth must be told his greatest
difficulty in his flirtations with the softer
sex was to find the measure of their
tongues, and to keep them within the
limits of becoming mirth" when he
made myriads of them blush 10y popping
the question in that crafty way which ex-
presses n great deal and yet means so
very little.
"Come, pct" he urged, this time TAX
ing Nancy's delicate little hand within
his own, and giving the keenest of keen
glancos direct into her glittering orbs,
which were strangely excited in the in
tensity of their fire and restlcssness.
Nelly was suffering from what novelists
call revulsion of feeling, and moralists
a twinge Of conscience. Her heart mis-
gave itself, and her better nature told
her, in trumpet tones, that she was play
ing false to the dearest interests of her
own impulses.
Il was this silent but powerful monitor
which kept her in state of complete be-
wilderment, which she dared not COM
nit herself on the instant to a word,
even, which might not be recalled in the
future.
Her hand felt tender press from the
doctors. Much against her will--she
forced herself to do it-she returned it
and leaned her head on his shoulder,
drawing at the same time long, melan-
choly sigh.
"Silence gives consent" muttcred DR..
Gray to himself He had no notion
what was passing in Nelly's mind. He
could not read her soul in her eyes, even
were he a physiognomist, since they were
fixed on the ground, and defied all his
efforts to attract them upward. 1t was
to her a moment of bitter reflection,
which pride and self-esteem stifed on
the instant.
II was well that the doctor did not
guess why, amidst Nancy's bright
! bushes. her lips quvered and her eyes
/ flied with tears. She had made up her
mind to accept the doctor; but in this
decisive moment the thought of John
/ Armitage sent pang, cruel in intensity,
/ through her heart. Then came the
memory Of their yesterdays quarrel, and
/ Nancy faltered, with a struggling smile
/ IL don't know
She did know when, in the late
twilight, she and the doctor walked to.
gether in the dusky sitting-room at home
where her father was DOING and hel
mother knitting, to ask their consent anc
their blessing
Dear mc!n said the good farmer, rub
bng his eyes. "Two such pieces of news
in one days curious hereabout. l hearC
only an hour since that Johnnie Armitag,
is a-goin' to Australia TO farm on his owl
account. thought, too, that he anC
Nancy fancied each other, but here She
wantin to marry another man. It's curl
ousm
Nancy had taken her hand from tn
doctors arm and had sat down in tn
window. She heard, mistily, comment
and congratulations; she answered qucs
tions, laughed Mt jokes. She walke'
down to the gate with the doctor when h
left, and stood there under the hlacs, hi
arm about hcr, replying to his tender talk
but when he was gone, leaving n farewe
kiss on her lips, she rushed upstairs, an
threw herself ON the bed in n perleC
agony OF sobbing that she could hardl
stiic in the pillow.
The story of the next week is hack
ncyed. Such happenings are too con
mon. Nancy came and went like gho'
of herself; but the whole town W;
gossiping over her engagement, an
T her evidences of trouble were ascribed
the "queerness of girl Just engaged.
: Old Mrs. Armitage ran over one afte
noon to tell the Evanses that John WI
going on Monday, and she hoped
would manage to call and bid them goo,
by; and cried because her pet son w
y going away, and was cool and sharp
. Nancy, evidently suspecting that she W
the cause.
l., Pcshaps light natures suffer most owe
"A whelmingly. Often in the beautif
a June days Nancy, all alone, in sol
= shadowy, grassy place, with sunbear
shimmering above, would wonder in
dim, childish way if she would not sd