The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1893-02-16
,nly afford to give him two doliars .


"DEAR Phil:
"You was kinder impolite IN your last but
thought Ide furgive you just once Mrs. Randoi
warnts Man to Fix the ferniss. dolls week
Do you warnt the job' You come up here twice
q day Cawdially yours,
"DELIA"
Della always omitted her obnoxious
second name in her correspondence.
The next day she received a note
from Phil:
DEAR DELLA df you'll excus the familyar.
ity).
my BUSINESS is now changed from Odd Jobs
to Groceries and provisions, 2083 Market St
All orders from Mrs r. promptly attended to-
No time for Fernisses. Saw Miss Sullivan Of
Dublin today. She sends love. Never felt so
we'll in me life Your obt scrvt
'P. CROWLEY"
The tears were in Delia's eyes when
she told Mrs. Randol that tho man
whom she had proposed as Il furnace
fixer would not come. She was too
angry to recommend Phils groceries
and provisions.
AS the twilight Of that day came on,
Della sat at the kitchen window. sew
ing She was putting on a button for
little Jack Randol, while he looked on.
This was just the time Of day that
Phil Crowley used to drop in; but he
had not appeared since the night be-
fore the ball. ''l don't care; hope he
won't come" said Della to herself and
her eyes, which were not quite dry,
showed how little she did care. Brid-
get came in, and Jack asked for IL piece
of gingerbread.
"Oh, wish ye was married. said
Bridget. She did not mean that Jack
had arrived at suitable age = matri-
mony, but only that she wis ID him
omewhere else. Before long, she
yielded to his persuasive powers, and
he departed with his button securely
fastened on, and his gingerbread in his
hands.
Della looked up from her work, and
out Of the window She could see down
a narrow alley to where it joined a
larger one, and thus she could, as it
were, take an ins tantaneous photo
graph of every one who passed along
the main alley. She heard footsteps;
two figures passed. They were Phil
and Miss Sullivan, Of Dublin. His arm
was round her waist. Della did not
shrek, as actresses do, when their low
ers desert them. She only left the
kitchen and went up to her own room.
1t was more than week before Phil
came to call again. Della had been
schooling herself to the proper coldness
Of manner every evening that he did not
appear; and now, when he really did
come, she felt disposed to melt How
ever. she nerved herself to the encoun-
ter, her little heart, I don't doubt,
humping uncomfortably as she en-
tered the kitchen.
Good evening, Della" said Phil.
Good evening"" said Della. 81 hope
you've enjoyed the last week and
half" She stopped and bit her lip.
Neither spoke again till Bridget had
gone out to see to tho furnace. Then
Della took little package from her
pocket "I've got some things for you,
Phil" she said, her sternness Of man
ner having entirely disappeared. 81
thought ye might want 'em back, now
ye don't como here no more" Her Dyes
began to glisten. There's those let
ters ye wrote from Narragansett last
summer when We was drivin' the hack,
and here's the bangle and the earrings
ye gave me last year" Here she trem-
bled for moment before her last Of.
fort 81 thought Miss Sullivan, Of Dub
lin, might like 'em, an poor girl like
mes not fit for 'em; an'-an'-an'
hope you an Miss Sullivan-will be
happy-an'-an'-" here poor Della
broke down and began to cry.
Phil came up and took her hand.
"Why, Della, child, dye care for me a
little bit, thin? I hadn't no idea of it."
He was going to put his arm round her,
but she withdrew.
mo! Yc mustn't" she said, looking
at him with cleaning eyes, "Shs
wouldn't like it."
Della" says Phil, "just listen to
me-" Then he goes up and whispers
in her ear: Nellie Sullivan's my half
sister,"
Poor Della is perfectly aghast. "Oh,
Phil, Phil" she says. "an' I've gone
an shown ye that don't quite hate ye
arter all"
"Yes, me little girl" says Phil, "an'
] shan't forget it now l knows it; but
ye can't think the tin .thousandth part
o. me that l do O. you" Then, with
the eloquence which characterizes his
race, he went on: "An' | pray the Al
mighty God an all the blessed saints
ye may niver suffer like l did for the
next twenty-four hours after We sent
me away"
''Twinty-four hours?" said Della.
"Why, twinty-four hours arter that
was the night O. the party Why
wasn't ye unhappy thin? Sure, | was
cross enough to ye."
"Ah, ye sweet thing, don't " see
that that's how | began to think We
might care just "a bit for me srter alp"
says Phil. AN now good-by, Della,
an before long ri hope TO see W Mrs.
p Crowley"
Fine groceries an provisions" says
Della. "Well, Phil, guess I'd better
say yes, if it's only to change me last
name. Crowley amt very fashion
abls"-here Phil looked a trifie abashed
but it sounds Christian an that's
more'n can be said of McGonigle."-
Robert Beverly Hale in BOstnn Rudpat