The St. Johns herald., 1890-05-22
UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
How Cyrus winterbots0m Won She Object
 of His Affectiof;s.

of His AffecticTs.
 Ire voice of the yOung nan had 8 tremulous, vibrant qual ty, and |; z lex like that of a June sunset SD cad eve bis face as he took the vacan5 seat av the side of the young won&n and greeted her joyfully
 This is an unexpected pleasure, Miss Beane," he said. Il did not know you were on the train. 1 am not presuming too much, l hope, in rejoicing in the anticipation of de ightful trip instead of the long, tire some journey of half day that l had resigned myself to suffer when l came aboard"
 Certainly not, Mir. Winterbottom, " she replied, and the observant young man noted an increasing quickness in the huttering movements of the feathers and fummadiddles on the travelling hat of his fair companion not due altogether to the jar of the train.
 ''Her heart is beating faster" he said to himself, but even in the rapture that thrilled his frame and tingled to the ends of his fingers at this discovery he felt he had taken sneaking ad- vantage of her and learned something he had no right as yet to know.
 For months Cyrus Winterbottom had carried in his heart the image of the lovely girl who now sat by his side. For months he had hoped that the time and the opportunity might come when he-but let us not ant!ci- pate.
 The train thundered along over rocky gorges, around the base of pre- cipitous cliffs, and down into spacious valleys upon which the promise of a glorious spring was already showing itself in 8 landscape that glowed and smiled beneath the ardent rays of the sun; but the young man needed not the panorama of surpassing loveliness that was unfolding itself on either hand. He had something better to look at.
 Miss Vanilla" he said, with beat ing heart, as he braced himself with a superhuman effort, "this may seem an inopportune moment for the coufes- sion l am about to make, but I am inn pelled by a feeling can no longer re- sist. My heart hungers for"
 "Tickets!h
 It was the conductor who spoke.
 A shade of annoyance crossed the brow of the young man at the inter- ruptlon. He produced his ticket. handed 1t to the official. and in g. few moments resumed:
 ''l wa, about to say that I have car ried in my breast 8 burden can bear no longer. It is foryou to say whether I must suffer still heavier one or whether life shall have a new meaning for me henceforth. Vanilla Beane, love"
 ''Caramels, peanuts, figs, gumP" in quired the t:ainboy.
 'No!' said Cyrus, shortly. Have you ever felt that the time must como. sooner or later, Vanilla. when"
 "'Life of Jesse James?' ' suggested the train-boy. returning to the attack; magazines. latest railway guide, Robert lls-'"
 "1 tell you I don't want any thingr' exclaimed the exasperated young man. "May tell you what is in my heart, Vanilla? No, sir; I don't know what the next station is, sir, and 1 don't tcare!-I have looked forward to the time, my own Vanilla. when I could summon the courage to tell you how inexpressibly dear to me you are, and to ask you if you will be my wife. Will"
 There was sudden crash. A bro- ken rail had thrown the train from the track. The car rolled down the en- banknent. At the first wild lunge of the coach Vanilla Beaue had seized the young man about the neck with convulsive clasp, and though the pas sengers were cavorting and plunging from floor to ceiling and ceiling to floor in the careless, unstudied free dom of motion and absence of all cere- mony that may always be observed in an affair of this kind, she did not lose her self-possession.
 "Cyrus Winterbottom, she shouted into his ear, with the resolute, fear less, let-no-guilty-man-escape voice of 8 young woman attending strictly to
 Bang!
 "Will-"
 Thudi
 "Be your"
 Crash!
 Little"