The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1893-12-29
THAT THERE BROWN.

position he commonly burrows under
the doormat and howls until the return
Of his proprietors. But the howls now
heard by myself and my wife were dis
tinctly human, and proceeded from our
culinary department at the passage end.
Something must have happened TO
Looshal We sprang from the dinner
table, and made one bound to the
kitchen door. With instructive delicacy
we listened moment before bursting
In. The outcries never ceased, though
at times they sounded strangely muffled
Had a burglar dropped in for a late af-
ternoon VISIT Was he garroting the
too faithful creature who had refused to
reveal the whereabouts Of the plate
basket lgrasped the soup ladle-whioh
had unconsciously retained = with
nervous determination. We rushed in
quietly.
There was no burglar. Only Loosha
behind the scullery door, with her head
wrapped up in a towel, was giving vent
to bursts Of emotion which might well
have aroused the envy Of the poodle
down stairs. With compassion, slightly
tempered with severity, we questioned
the girl She took some time to coax
out Of the chrysalis or pupa condition,
but finally emerged from the folds Of
the towel and explained. Mother-who
should have known better having but a
brief twelvemonth since inferred her
Second-was now receiving the address,
es Of potential Third, himself wild
over with nine incumbrances. In jus
tice to the aspirant, we may mention
that he was fairly well to do, being a
retired joiner by the name Of Mr..
Brown, In Loosha's bitterest moments
she deprived him Of the prefix, calling
him simply, and for short, That There
Brown"
The fell news had only just been
brought by Loosha's little stepsister En-
incline, though Loosha had had pre-
monitory warning in the way Of creeps
down her back whenever she had en-
eountered the designing Mr.. Brown for
some time past. It had been a-dorning
in her mind, she said, by degrees as
there was something up: and this very
afternoon he had upped and spoke, most
barefaccd, on the identical doorstep
Says he, Mrs. HerInans, will not de-
ceive you, that il WIS just through you
dropping in in friendly way to elp at the
laying out Of her as is gone land her only
buried eleven months) that my attention
was in manner Of speaking drawed to
you; and in homely way, putting the
thing plainly for your thinking over quiet
by yourself, ! viii say you have three and
me similarly nine, and both being unin-
cumbijed, why not make one extra large
table out of your medium and my full
sizedY" Which table, Loosha parenthet.
ically observed would ultimately prove
her deathbed.
We tried TO soothe the aggrieved
handmade by every means in our powel
Being within three days of Christmas
day, and having proposed to entertain
the representative members Of our re-
the wear round, great enmity exists--at
social dinner, the prospect before vi
was overshadowed by Loosha's grief
II matters came TO crisis she would az
like as not take to her bed and remair
there for two days. AT the end of he
period Of sackcloth and ashes she woul(
we knew by previous experience, reap
pear as fresh as paint and quite recon
ciled to the dispositions Of fate But il
the meanwhile what would become o
u.s. ltried to argue. lreminded Looshi
that her mother was still young, activ
and Industrious; and that one could not
while deploring the act Of Mr.. Brown
revile him fer his choice of sucoesso
TO the departed; that that successo
might be called, even now, prett
woman; and that men would be men
no matter how foolish 1t was. woul
huyp pDnt1nupd in tllA strain buE tbn