The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-06-21


never so confused as to landmarks that no
could not find his own door with perfect
ease. His wife being an invalid, he gem
orally took off his shoes and stole up
stairs, candle Ia hand, with cattle step
4 to avoid disturbing her.
But now let us return to the luckless
little note Mark Spofford had dropped
over the garden wall When Tom Chill
ders had conveyed It to his father the
old man, with his usual suspicious OBJ
stinacy, saw in it all manner of traps
and pitfalls laid by the enemy. The
maid Mary was called. Other members
of the family also were put through an
inquisitorial examination. Kitty CHANGED
to be out at the moment, and the old
man awaited her return with fretful inn
patience. He had already dispatched
his letter to Mr.. Spofford, acting on a
foregone conclusion with his usual inn
petuosity of temper. The moment Kitty
came in from her drive he put the paper
in her hand.
"Here is an insulting note of some
kind, Kitty, that the Spoffords have sent
over the garden wall. It is a disguised
writing or o cipher. Now want you
to see il you can make out its meaning.
Kitty took the scrap Of paper, her
heart beating with a kind Of guilty con-
seriousness. Fortunately the broad brin
of her hat shaded her face, and as her
back was partly turned the old mans
suspicious, prying little ferret eyes
failed to see the flush of sweet and aga
tated color that swept up over her
cheek and neck. The paper trembled
slightly in her hand, and what she did
read thereon were these words, In the
well remembered shorthand she had
learned under Marks tuition:
DEAR XII love you with my whole heart,
and 1t is absolute torture to be So near, yet
never to see you or hear you speak. Why do
you so jealousy guard the window on our side
of the house? Do, beg. contriye to let me
have q glimpse of your dear face. Your own
unfortunate and desperate Marx.
well, said the old man, fussily inn
patient. what do you make Of ity1
How can I make anything of it,
papa? It appears to me to be written in
shorthand"
Every well, very WELL" be returned
testify, taking it from her hand. s1'll
be bound it's actionable, and viii come
under the head Of malicious annoyance.
He folded it lengthwise and put it care
fully in large red morocco paper case
which he carried in an inside pocket of
his coat 81 am going to town toanor-
row, and ! viii take this in to Grundy,
my attorney. He keeps a stenographer.
Mr. Fish is his name
The thought of having this precious
bit of paper placed under the cold, fshy
eye of old Grundy's stenographer gave
Kitty little shiver down her spine.
She must get 1t back at all cost. How
could Mark be SO rash as to con6de this
precious secret he had never before
breathed into her ear, though she had
always known that he loved her, to such
terriblerislks? Mark evidently had grown
reckless, and there was no knowing what
he might do next. Kitty was thoroughly
miserable that evening. She sang her
most dismal songs, and the tones foated
over to Mark in the Spofford garden,
telling him there was no hope.
In the early evening hours Kitty-had
been in attendance on her invalid moth
or, who was still confined to her own
room. A cloud was on Kitty's face,
which the mother eye soon detected.
Kitty, my dear, something has hap
pened. Has Mr.. Rigs"
Dear mamma, don't speak OF him.
He is simply ridiculous. Do you think
can bring myself to marry handsome
suit Of clothes, lined with bank notes,
and stuffed out and padded with self
conceitY
Then there is some one else, my
child" and the mothers languid eyes
began to scrutinize her daughters Blush
ing, downcast face.
Suppose, mamma, you had been
brought up with somebody from child
hood, had known all the good and bad
in him from your earliest years. care
less fellow, perhaps, with not a particle
of vanity, or conceit, or smallness, or
meanness In his composition, but with a
great, generous, warm heart, mamma,
and the best head possible, and genius
that will one day make him known and
honored. And suppose. mamma, you
had learned to care for him away back
before you tucked up your back hair
and put on long gowns, when he dragged
you on his sled, anu helped you with
your lessons, and carried you ON his big
back dry shod over brooks, and when he
even once saved your life as child,
mamma, by pulling you out of pond,
where you would have drowned but for
him. Don't you think it would be I'M
grateful, even odious, to think OF any
other MANI"
Hush" and Mrs. Childers put up a
warning finger and cast a stealthy look
about the luxuriously furnished room.
Don't yen know, Kitty, his father
would never consent, nor would yours?
He has nothing but what his father gives
him, and fear he never will have much.
He is an inventor. They are always
poor Such men contrive, but other
men enter into their contrivances and
make money ont of them. His father
might cut him off with shilling if he
should cross him, for you know what an
obstinate, violent tempered man he is;
how unreasonable and opinionated; how
he has commended with your poor father,
and has generally beaten him out in
most things. Surely, Kitty, you would