The Press., 1893-09-28

rearranSeQ ms SnaDDy DelOn81ngS he LOOK from his box a little old fashioned da- guerreotype of his mother and gazed upon it in silence for some minutes. When finally he spoke. his voice was tremulous and tender.
 ''lndade an yer b'y's in great throuble, mammy, dear. Ye always said l was the biggest fool O tLe dozen, an sure l want to take back me sassy contradic- tion."
 He drew his sleeve clumsily over it. wiping tear from the face of the pie ture, and hobbling across the room placed it open upon the shelf that served for mantel.
 He did not go down stairs that day. Though cleansed and clothed, he was not assured of being in his right mind. He dreaded to meet Carlotta lest she should detect the insanity that possessed him and despise him as he despised himself for it. Of course this nonsense would die out in time, and he would be just the same old Woona to her as of yore, and when the time and the right man should come he would do his best to have her suitably married. It was absurd that right here at the onset he should be hay ing trouble with himself
 For three days he felt constrained to put off ''till tomorrow" his going down stairs. While he could not treat with this delicate thing without notifications of himself and surroundings it was yet only a something to be surely overcome. A few days punishment and fasting would restore him to himself. The fast ing, it is true, he practiced only because he could not eat, and the banishment on a similar principle, yet he counted on this discipline, with time and resolution, to quell a passion which could bring him only ignominy and to the girl. should she suspect it, but embarrassment and arrangement from her best friend. But she should never know it.
 In a few weeks at furthest Socola would press his suit, for was there not every reason to expect haste? He was old (old men are always in a hurry), a widower (who ever<knew widower to daily with a proposalD, and he came from Sicily, from Palermo. that warm cline of impatient love and ardent adorers
 In few weeks Carlotta might have need of friend. Socola was rich. The Di Carlos one weakness, in Pats eyes, was love of money. The signora had laughed when the old man tried to kiss Carlotta. It was bad omen She would favor his suit.
 It was on the morning of the fourth day that little Pasquale reappeared at the head of the stairs, bearing this time in his hands half worn shoe. Back wud ye nowl'' exclaimed Pat, anticipating the application.
 "Who's a-talkin bout orders?' drawled the pert boy. Give fellow time to talk, won't you? My maw sez, she sez Clot- ta's feet's on de groun, an somebody haf to sew Ter shoe."
 The old shoe, torn and muddy, which the boy laid in Pats hand, bearing the unmistakable impress of the physical vigor and indiscriminating step of a 1 growing girl, was neither small nor shapely, but Pats hand trembled visibly as he touched it, and he felt so queer that he was frightened. He seemed to see | Carlotta standing in the flesh before him. ''An my maw sez, she sez if you'll sew | it righd away, cause Clotta ain't got no more shoes, an"-
 "All right. Tell Ter she'll have. new shoe built around the patch I'll put on it, an-of wud ye now" As the boy disappeared Pat turned the shoe about in his hands slowly, and per ceiving the trembling of his fingers ex- claimed:
 ''The divil's grandmother Sure an l wouldn't know mesilf from shakin Quaker or quakin Shaker, Pm that rat tledl But I'll kiss the fut av Ter ony- howi'' And he laid the old shoe against his lips with a caressing movement. It needed many stitches, and Pat was still at work upon it an hour later when
 he heard the signora trudging up the stairs.
 Hello, Meester Pad, ma come talk
 weeth-a you" she began while still in- 1 visible. Coda so much-a troub' haf
 to spik weeth-a you" And as she finally reached the landing she exclaimed, look | ing about her: "Name O Godl We'll, l swea'l Pasquale ees-a tell me you was-a
 pud on-a plenny style up here." Cross ing, she dropped into seat at Pats side, | putting the baby which she carried upon the floor before her.
 '.Fo' God saguel Never was-a see you so ine-a biffo'. B'lief you goin ged-a 1 marry, Meester Pad"
 "Arrah. thin, l mays we'll confess. 1 Carlotta an mes plannin to shtep over l to S'int Alphonses some fine lnornin an run across to Algiers for weddin tower an back again be the Magazine market l fir bridal breakfasht. Sure an we're only tarryin for me mother-in-law's per mission.
 This bravado helped him immensely. He had said the same thing substantially 8 hundred times before, but not for a | long time. Instead of laughing, as of l Jore. however, the signora grew serious. "Dthaz-a just-a fo' wad Tm-a goin-a talk weeth-a you. Meester Pad. Of-a coze know you god-a nobody fun-a nor I theen: you haf to mague 8 lila fin some time; bud know sometheen? Young gal ligue-a Clotta ees-a god-a no senz. C'lotta b'lief thad. She thing you eez-a low weeth-a her"
 An who sez sho doas?' .sI anna sho'-sho'.s b'lief thad." An who sez she does?'' he repeated with keen vehensence.
 Nobody, only 'erselve ees-a say it. An who did she say ut to? She nivel
 said it, ma'am!''
 | My God, you thing-a me I'm hari
 C'lotta sez to me, sez don'-a lov'-a nc man bud-a just-a Woona. Wad you call-a
 thad?"
 "Begorra, an suppose she loves her
 father betther yet. Who the divil shud
 she like betther nor me, she that's afthel cutt'n Ter eye teeth on me thumb nail?'