Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1890-04-19

| tionS to BelleS VlSltlnB us.
The letter of invitation was duly dis
patched, and that of acceptance re-
ceived. Belle wrote:
| 1 have some thing very particular to tell
| you, but shall not enter into particulars until
see you. Now aren't you dying to knowf I
| will tell you just this TO whet your curiosity
| tho more Harry is sure TO be on tho bost OF
| terms with his future brother-inlaw.
'Tsn't it too bad2' demanded my wife;
'just as / had decided who was the nic-
est man we know, Belle has to write
that she is already engaged It's some
horrid fellow, who will never come here
| to live; and I'm sure 1 don't know who
will buy Mr.. Edwards's lawn"
''If he is in any kind of business-and
If he's of any account--of course he is
he could not very we'll pick up and move
here, just to oblige Mr.. Edwards by buy
ing his lawn. Our neighbor is very
pleasant man, and most of his friends
would do much to oblige him, but Bellies
fdnce probably never heard of him."
To this elaborate bit of consolation
my wife paid not the slightest attention,
but purposed her own line of thought.
81 had quite set my heart on it, she
said, plaintively; "and you yourself
know that he is really nice-almost nice
enough for Belle"
''Perhaps if I knew who you had in
mind" / ventured.
"Why, your particular friend, Charlie
Mitchell, of course. Who else should it
be? / don't believe there ever was such
stupid mani"
81 never found him so," returned;
land l did not know tnat stupidity was
any element of niceness."
Although / said this with all the grav-
ity at my command, it was not consider
ed worthy an answer; my wife merely
improved upon nature by fitting her
nose a little higher than usual.
1t was some days before she recovered
from the effects of the disappointment;
but before Belle arrived she had settled
to break the existing engagement and
bring about a match between my sister
and my most intimate friend.
81 am afraid" remarked a few even
ings after she had come to this doughty
determination, "that there are more diff
ficulties in the way of making match
between Belle and Charlie than you
have reckoned upon"
"What do you mean?"
Mitchell dropped in to see me, to-
day about that very piece of ground of
Edwards. He wants to settle down, he
says; and as he has no one dependent
upon him, that can mean only one
thing. He looked pretty sheepish, too,
like an engaged man is apt to"
1n't cly oil oh
it? / hope it isn't that horrid Clara
Manning, but I'm afraid it is. Well,
there's one consolation: he'll soon get
tired of her. And I'm sure if he knew
Belle better, it would all come right
They just seem made for each other"
From this it would appear that she
was not daunted by the prospect before
her; she had two engagements to break,
and another one to make; but she did
not doubt her own ability in the least.
1 had one or two other short talks
with Mitchell which confirmed me in
the belief that he was going to be mar
ried, and that very speedily; but he
seemed to take it for granted that l
knew all about it, so that did not like
to confess my ignorance. Once, indeed,
he said to me:
"Wait until your sister comes, and
then you'll hear the full particulars"
l knew that he had made occasional
visits to the small town where my rela-
tives live, and at once concluded that
his ladylove was some one whom Belle
knew; but l rejoined:
Il reckon Belle will be so taken up
with her own affairs, that she will not
have much time or thought to devote to
Others"
81 hope not" returned Mitchell, with
a queer smile; and just then we were
interrupted.
l duly communicated the result of
these conversations to my wife; for she
closely questioned me regarding my in
tercourse with him. She had been un-
able to ascertain from outsiders the
name of Mitchell's .fance; but as Miss
Manning had simpered and bridled when
the subject was limited at she was firm
ly convinced that her original supposi-
tion was true.
Like wise general, she had her plan
of campaign arranged beforehand. She
had made up her mind to ignore both
existing engagements, and throw Belle
and Charlie together as much as possi-
BILE. was sworn to secrecy regarding
her intentions.
''For ifeither one of them should get to
hear of it-should get even suspicion of
it-opposition would be aroused at once,
and / might as well give up. I am sure
that if they are together great deal,
each will learn to like the other great
deal better than those that they are en-
gagged to now."
With much ungrammatical conclusion
she rested content until Belle came.
/ am afraid to say how far ahead she
had planned for this intercourse; know
that she had written down her projects
for at least three weeks, four or more
evenings in each week; Charlie was to
be invited to the house-without Miss
Manning, of course; we were not sup
posed to know of their engagement-or
asked to be one of party bent on some