The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-12-31

He said no more. 1t seemed 10 me
that he too thought / had lost caste by
what l had done. / was sorry, for / had
taken a strange liking to the boy.
Soon after he took his leave, promising
to come on the following day and bring
his traps" Nosooner was he gone than
Mabel came back dressed for dinner.
"Aunty, do you know it is nearly z,
and you are not dresseds'
sNeyer mind, love-" I said, gathering
up my knitting. Dinner can wait for
me for once. Mabel, the long family
disagreement is at an end. That was
my nephew Lionel"
cat an end?' Mabelcried. "Oh, Aunt
Dorothy, / am glad of thatl Now, per
haps, you win tell me what it was"
/ shook my head and laughed, for that
was a point on which, though she was
very curious, I would never enlighten
her.
"Isn't be handsome, Mabel? What
did you think of him.
II scarcely saw him." she answered
indifferently.
She laughed at me many times that
evening for my absence Of mind, told me
that l took salt to my apple tart at din
| ner and never knew it. and that | smiled
at my tea and at everything.
1t may have been true, for / could
think Of nothing but the message Of
reconciliation after so many years. |
wrote a long letter to Julius, that is my
brother, that very night.
The next afternoon Lionel came.
81 hope you're prepared to have me on
your hands for at least a fortnight,
aunt" said he, as we sat together chat
ting. I'm fact, l shall very likely want
to stay for good-you look SO homehke
and comfortable here
"Armitage hall used always to be
homelike and comfortable enough" l re-
marked, and then regretted the words,
for a cloud came over his face.
"Ah, yes, In my dear mothers time,"
he answered softly.
1T is all this sort Of thing that doesit,
/ think" he said, after a pause, picking
MP my knitting from a gypsy table and
letting two of the needles slip out SO that
an endless number of stitches were in
stantly lost. sIhop8 / haven't done any
damage and he stuck the needles in
aSaSp at random and laid the work down.
A <hese dainty womanly trifes"-
And he Nsised some pretty crewel work
of Mabel's from the wofN basket@
which it lay. He looked at It medita-
lively, then turned his attention to the
basket and its other contents.
The little silver thimble he tried on his
little finger, which would not go fairly
into it, then looked up and caught me
smiling.
Don't laugh at me, Aunt Dorothy.
Somehow the sight Of these brings back
many things. .sThis, for instance" he
said, still looking at the tiny thimble, sis
Just the size of my mothers
He broke of, for Mabel came in just
then. I introduced them at once, Mabel
blushing as though it were she who had
been caught inspecting some one else's
property, Lionel grayely courteous and
perfectly at his ease.
Ireceiyed a kind letter from Julius
very soon after, in which he told me how
glad he was for his son to be with me,
and plainly intimated that he wonld be
pleased If / persuaded him TO stay as long
as he would, for he, Julius, had no in
tention Of coming up to town at all
this winter, and he was afraid the boy
would be bored TO death if compelled to
remain throughout December at the hall.
And SO the fortnight heightened into
a month, and Lionel was still with us.
He escorted Us to theatres, concerts and
the opera. and we had a gayer winter
than usual.
At first I was half afraid he might
fall IN love with my pet, but l o
came to the conclusion that such an idea
was altogether absurd. The two con
versed so httle-for Mabel was a quiet
girl who never talked much. but merely
listened to other people, with her ex-
pressiye eyes saying a thousand things
she would never put into words.
On the whole, ! believe it must be
disconcertirg to amy man, after deliver
ing what he thinks rather a neat speech,
to meet a pair Of eyes dancing with fun
as Mabels often did. She had a gift of
seeing the ludicrous side Of everything,
though her secret amusement never
showed itself except in those black eyes
or the slightly compressed lips.
Consequently it was both a surprise
and a shock to me when, six weeks after
his arrival, Lionel said to me in the
simplest way:
Aunt Dorothy, / am going to marry
Mabel"
l could not speak Tor . minute q
The room turned Eeaal