Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1893-08-31

gone face had given her a notion OF
truth the day he called to bid her
adieu before he set off upon his jour
nev, and she had actually purposely
made her lover quarrel with her and
broken off her match on his account.
Tell my cousin, mamma" she
had said, and mamma had written.
But when Tomlnson made no re-
sponse, Priscilla grew angry; when
he did not return or even write to
her, angrier yet.
At last when June, July, August,
September and October had passed
she began to confess that she was an
idiot to throw away a true heart for
one that had no love for her, and
that TOmlinson had worn long face
for some other reason than her en-
gagement.
The consequence was that when
exactly on the 23d of November, as
he had resolved in the first place,
Tomlinson returned home, and to
lose no time hurried to his aunt's as
soon as he had made himself present
able, with the firm intention of pro
posing to Priscilla that very evening,
he stood aghast at the door of the
parlor before a very pretty picture
that dissolved before his gaze-his
Cousin Priscilla with a gentleman's
arm around her waist. He retreated
to his aunt.
who is that2" he asked, pointing
to the parlor.
"Mr. Dinwiddie, said his aunt.
II thought you told me"-began
poor Tomlinson.
"Only lovers quarrel, after all, I"
said the aunt smilingly and quite
unaware of Tomlinson's anguish.
'They've made it up beautifully"
He went away shortly after and
left his compliments for his cousin.
Miss Priscilla married Mr.. Dinwid-
die this time and really grew to love
him, but there was something charm
ing about her Cousin Tomlinson, erect
as a poplar and trim as Quaker,
which was exceedingly to her taste.
His little pink mouth and narrow,
well drawn eyebrows were very,
very pretty His hair was always
parted properly. There was no dust
on his coat. She sometimes contrast
ed him with her husband and wished
that heaven had given her such q
man, but no one ever guessed it, and
the poor young lady seemed very
much ashamed of the silly secret hid
den in her breast.
She was in all respects good wife
and resolutely set herself to banish-
ing her cousins image from her
breast. She believed herself to have
succeeded when 10 years had gone
by, but Tomlinson was still bach
elor and still kept the room he So
cretly called Priscilla's parlor as a
sort Of secret hiding place, where he
went at times very late in the even
ing with fiat candlestick to bewail
his single blessedness and indulge In
retrospection.
But a change was at hand. Mr..
Dinwiddie, who was fond of horses,
bought a fine spirited one in the
morning and rode him out in the aft
ernoon.
That night Priscilla kept dinner
waiting long-indeed forever. No
one ever ate that dinner, for in the
ghostly moonlight. as she sat at her
window, she saw her husbands horse
rush past like some black phantom
without his rider.
The poor fellow lay three miles
back upon the lonely road, prone on
his face, stone dead. And so Pris-
ella at q was a widow.
AS time passed and her grief soft
ened she certainly looked very well
in her cap. Tomlinson thought so,
SO did Mr.. Wincher, who settled her
husbands property.
This time Tomlinson made up hls
mind promptly. OF course 1T would
be indecorous to intrude upon a wild
ow's grief with words of love. He
would wait a year for decency, and
one month over for good measure.
The year and one month would
bring them to Dec. "a, 1S-. He
would propose on the evening of Dec.
"a. He wrote the date down in his
notebook and counted the days as
girl does those between the present
and her first ball.
Meanwhile he made no sign and
kept away, and Mr.. Wincher, being
Mrs. Dinwiddie's legal gentleman,
found it necessary TO call--on bust
ness-very often.
The year tottered away. The
month after it waved and waned.
Once OF twice when they met by
chance something IN Tomlinson's
eyes had revived old fancies in the
widows heart. But at the end OF
the year she remembered he had not
80 much as called once. She gave .
little sigh and looked In the glass.
''Twenty-seven Is not IL" she said
As she pinned on her first white col
Lar and tied ON little white Grape
bow. sI'm sure, at least. that Tom