Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1890-11-29
PUT TO THE TEST.
now MARY SWEET PROVED THAT LOVE
WAS ABOVE RICHES

lstoA hddAA, Vial
No, indeed, l couldn't! Why,
James, what on earth should | do as
a poor man wife? | have never
been used to work, you know; and all
poor mems wives have to work, don't
they %
Not always, dear. I did not
mean such poverty as that. exactly.
But | suppose they have to be little
Self-denying and do without a great
many things that you might think in
dispensable to your comfort
Yes, | know; and they can't go to
the opera, or buy a new dress when
they want one but when they pass
shop window shut up their purses
ever so tight and hurry on That's
what Jennie Jones does, for she told
me so herself; and Clara does her own
cooking, and minds her own children,
and she hasn't bought new bonnet
for year,
Mary Sweet opened her pretty blue
eyes very wide as she reached the cul-
minating point of her distressing state
ment, and raised them to James Nor
sey's face to meet the answering eX-
preston of Mortified pity she expected
TO find there.
But James only smiled down at her
little grayely in return.
And yet Mrs. Jones appears to
ME to be one of the most cheerful,
cantented persons | KNOW he re-
Joined.
Why, of course she is. It's won
Cerful to see how she bears up. But,
then, she's real love-there are few
people like herr
You talk as if she had great mis-
fortunes to bear up under, Mary 1t
seems to me that my friend Jones has
a very cosy, well-appointed little
home. | never see any evidences of
discomfort or neglect when | go
there.n
oh, James, everything is very
plain and cheap all over the house
| do like nice furniture-don't you ?''
" Most people do dear; but | don't
think handsome furniture, and Brus-
sells carpets, and silk dresses, and
theatre going, and new bonnets are
absolutely indispensable to ones hap
piness-do you ?''
" | suppose you are laughing at me,
you bad man! But if | do like pretty
things | am not bit extravagant,
and you know it.'
+" Not a bit-you never indulge in
81,
stance ~ and he held up the dainty
wrist encircled by glittering brace
let which cost ten guineaS, and which
Mary, seeing in a jewelers. window
the day before, had taken a fancy to
and bought because 1T was such a
love- though her iewel-box was
stored with more of such ornaments
than she knew what to do with. But
then these were 0ld,n and she
was tired of them; and this was some
thing unique, and quite in a new
style, as the jeweler had assured her;
and her friend, Janet Leech, who was
shopping with her, had exclaimed,
Oh, Mary, buy it 1t is charmingly
pretty p And so, without much ado,
the bauble was purchased, and the
bill sent in to papa.
Papa was a wealthy merchant,
who thought his daughter the dearest
little girl in the world, and forgave
all her extravagances because he loved
her so much that he could not deny
her anything she wanted, which came
to pretty much the same thing
Ever since her mothers death, which
had occurred when she was a baby,
he had devoted himself to petting
and pleasing her, in consequence of
which Mary thought, very naturally,
that self-indulgence was the most
harmless thing in the world, and that
it would be very dreadful indeed not
to have at least six new dresses every
season, and as much pin-money as
would supply the wants of some care-
ful housewives for a year.
James Morley, too, thought Mary
/" the dearest little girl in the world,v
which accounts for his having asked
her, about a month previous to the
time of which / am writing, to be-
come his wife at some future day.
And Mary had accepted him, not
altogether because he was rich and
handsome, and admired by all the
girls she knew, but also because some
where down in the recesses of her
foolish little heart there lurked fund
of warm, earnest affection and a true
appreciation of her lovers intrinsic
worth.
It is only Justice to her to say THAI
she could have married a much
wealthier man than James. Mr.. Will
liams had been over head and ears in
love with her for the last eighteen
months, and had repeatedly laid his
heart and fortune at her feet-said
fortune consisting of clear five thou
sand a year, besides expectations Of
nobody could tell how much more
when Harry Clifton, senior-who was
in the decline of lie : should bid adieC
10 this mundane sphere.
But Mary was proof against the
fortune and the great expectations
ard all SanfOrd's vows and sighs, and
PEOPLE thought it very much to her
credit that she accepted Morley in
tead. 1t has been clearly demon
strated, however, that had he been
poor man she could not have made
I'D her mind to do SO. nor is it likely
;hat he would have given her an ep-
lortunity, for he was far too proud
to run the risk of being considered
fortune hunter.
James, dearly as he loved his little
fancee, was not quite blind to her
awn xaaities and weaknesses, and oc-
easioally took her somewhat to task
ar them. as on the present occasion.
when the display of her elegant but
anec essary purchase had led to a
slight iisquisitien on his part on the
tolly ard Bselessness 0f such unpr0fit-
able extravaganza. Mary, half snil-
ng and half pouting. listened TO his
lecture with very good grace. partly
IaecaHse it was so novel to her, and
farfly because. as she said. g it was
so funny TO hear him scold.n
8 But, my darling, I am not dream
ing Of scolding." he replied
lave hardly right to do that yet. and
certainly not in the present case. But
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