The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-01-15


well were really going TO marry Miss
| Achsah!
BY George. he Dan Jackson wouldn't
| allow II! She was too good for him. a
million times too good. She was the pref
test girl in Hartwell IL she was getting
little old. and the incest girl anywhere
| She ought TO marry n big lawyer or a
Motel keeper. or the president of rail-
road To think Of her marrying a mis-
| slonery who had TO get a wife or lose his
job
And she might be giving Leffingwell
her answer that very minute. Dan gulp-
ed off his milk fercely; there was no
time to lose. Something had TO be done
about 1T. and there was apparently no
| one but himself who would or could do
anything. For a minute he gazed de-
spairing about the room; then he looked
suddenly at his cuffs and felt Of his neck
| tie. Mrs. Jackson came in.
! "Dan1," said she, don't you think you
better be clearing off those dishes?"
Dan rose with dignity. Il suppose you'll
have to excuse me tonight, auntie, I've
got to make a call, right away"
| why. Danl. where on earth are you
| going TO make a CALF"
ION my Sunday school teacher" said
Dan virtuously. and Mrs. Jackson men
| tally decided for the second time that
| day, that after all was said about his
breaking dishes, Dan1s heart was in
the right place. anyhow.
| In a quarter of an hour the boy had
arrayed himself in his Sunday suit. dom
| ned red neck-te and high collar and
had painfully written I'D. Webster Jack
| son" in violet ink upon bevel-edged
| card. Then he started stnly down the
| long street toward Deacon Milliccnts, his
| boyish heart still full Of stern suspicion
| and righteous wrath.
| Miss Achsah Millicent sat under the
| hanging lamp in the sitting-room gazing
| abstractedly at a map Of Senegambia.
| She had on her best cashmere-it was
! two years old, to be sure but she had put
In full sleeves that spring and had added
| velvet cuffs. Perhaps it would last until
| well, until she had several new gowns at
| once; then she wondered If they wore
| leg-of mutton sleeves in Senegambia. and
| then she knew she was blushing and She
| glanced umidly around the immaculate
| room. She was all alone in the house.
| The deacon was attending a conference
| meeting I'm an adjoining town Her
| mother had been dead for many years.
| Both mother and father had early conse-
| Grated their daughter to the service Of
| the Lord in a foreign field, if the way
| should be providentally opened The
deacon had told about it in prayer-meet-
| Ing so often that it was
L stunning JOKE III 1tdItWtH So
| ciety, and the girl felt her heart
beat faster whenever her father rose TO
speak, through fear that he might forget
his promise and tell the church again
about that early vow. for thus far there
had never been providentially opened a
way TO its fulfllment.
Achsah Millicent had known many
theological students who expected 10 be
missionaries. and some Of them had been
f,f., - l.tst Of
them had ever askcd her TO marry him
Nor had airy one else For ten years she
had been considered the incest girl in
Hartwell, and rumberlCss young men had
admired her both afar and in tOleralle
proximity, but no man had ever told her
that he loved her No man. that is, OK
cept Mortimer G. Leningwell. who had
used that expression on the previous Sun.
day evening, and had asked her TO ac-
company him 10 Senegambia.
She had requested two days for consi-
deration. and this was the second day.
1t had been a strange experience. not at
all like what she had at times imagined
II would be, If it ever came to her. lie
had not gone down on one knee. nor was
there any lovelight i'm his eyes; ne had sat
quite TRANQUILITY with his knees crossed
and one Of his feet dangling deliberately;
his eyes we're closed as he formulated mis-
proposition. Miss Millicent was conscious
of a vague disappointment here, and yet
she was not sure but Mr.. Lexington would
have looked ridiculous If he had chosen
any other way. AS IL was. he had not
been ridiculous at all, though perhaps
little prosaic. She suspected. however
that he was rather a matter-of-fact per-
son, though she knew he was very bright
and that the professors considered him
an ornament TO the seminary. He would
undoubtedly make n good husband-for |
some one and she herself-well, she was
10 longer a school girl, and ought not |
to expect proposal in the terms OF |
school girls fancy. 1t was enough that |
he had proposed at all. was It not? All |
these years she had been waiting for just |
that, had she not? Really that is OF |
course not so to be acknowledged, even |
TO herself, up TO now. But al last the |
door had been opened and why should she |
stand hesitant before it? Her father |
would praise the Lord for His mercy, she |
was sure; her mother-in spite Of the fact
that Mrs. Millicent had always insisted
that her chief trial in life was TO have a
man around-would have rejoiced with the
deacon had she been alive Perhaps she |
knew all about il as IL was. Achsah
Millcent had never felt so near her
mother as she did in those two days; fun
of soft affection for her and an intense
longing to have her back again Yet.
a
was not concerning parental approval,
but whether she loved Mr.. Lefingwell. |
Did she love him? She was not at all
sure that she did and yet When she
reached this point in the circle Of inner
augmentation during the course OF those
two days she invariably wanted 10 cry.
For she had never loved anybOdy-that is,
any man-that is. not since she was the ]
merest girl-and perhaps she was now
incapable of the emotion that other people
seemed to feel. The happiness of IL might
be meant for other people: she had always
had a quiet, virginia. happiness of her
own. And still, she was not sure. Per-
haps love had 10 grow. like other beauti-
full things. and very likely respect was the
proper soil for it,. She certainly respected |
Mortimer G.. Lefirgwell very much in
deed Like herself, he had been early
TO the foreign field and he
was now expecting to give UP great deal
that was tempting to him In order TO 20
to Senegamba. Those dark faces called
to him day and night, he had said, ard
he had added, with closed eyes, that he
was sure she. too. would obey the CALL
And there were but two days for her
ans wer. Oh, the time was so short! And
II had already expired!
There was a 81 arp, Incorporating
ring at Deacon Nillice nts front door.
Miss Achsah rose unsteadily and one
hand was pressed TO her side, the other
one 10 the table and rested on the map
Of Senegambia. She glanced downward at
It involuntarily. and sense OF her duty
flashed upon her. The providential way