Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1894-04-13
Miscellaneous.
A LOVE AFFAIR.

The girl | am going to tell you about
is rather pretty, and her name is Edith
She has dark hair, and her eyes are blue,
and she dresses we'll. She has been
graduated from seminary Of good re-
pute, and her disposition is amiable to
degree which mere than year ago
brought all the young men of the neigh
borhood at her feet. | think she won
tennis championship in singles some-
where last year, but am not certain
about that. What | can recall among
her most pronounced accomplishments
| will put down here later on. | met
her so long time ago that I have for
gotten the circumstances of our meeting,
but | guess they were of the ordinary
sort. live two doors from her house,
and | drop in to see her and Mrs. Burke
at least once week. Even her marriage,
which hurt me so much at the time, did
not separate us for very long, and think
| have lived to forget my first rash de-
termination never to look upon her face
again | called the night of the we'd
ding, and | have been calling regularly
ever since. | am beginning to believe
that it was a good thing, after all, that
she didn't marry mo
What | want to tell--and it won't
take long to tell it in my dry fashion
is the story of old Brownies courtship.
| make my living by keeping the cash
accounts of big Market street whole
sale house, and Browne is the man whose
desk is next to mine in the counting
room. Our salary is about the same,
and although he is two pears younger
than am, | being 81 cow, we both
have held the same positions for twenty
years, Browne weighs more than 200
pounds, and | weigh triHe less.
Mrs. Burke, who is Edith's mother,
came to me this summer and had quite
a long talk with me about her personal
affairs She said that her late husbands
estate was pretty much entanglod, and
that to keep her present establishment
on Arch street going she would have to
rent some Of the handsome rooms n the
house to boarders. Of course she didn't
want to do that, and of course | deprc-
Gated the plan. but in the end it turned
out that we both had to give in.
Old Browne rented the second story
front room the day after told him
about it. lie had been living away up
town, and he was glad to get little
nearer to the Office, besides enjoying all
the social prestige which geographical
could give him. He moved
into the rooms with dozen trunks and
a wealth of bric-a-brac- which, to my
mind, did not become his age. Mrs.
Burke was glad to accept the reference
to me which he gave her, and Edith
smiled upon him when she give him his
night key.
| thought good deal of Edith, and
every night or two VIC played cards in
her mothers rooms. She and played
partners against young Bob Smith and
Mrs Burke. We were pretty evenly
too, for Bob played stiff
game Of whist, and well, you may
remember that | was one of the Pente.
cost clubs prize team last fall. Edith
and | won most Of the games, though.
for Bob was too Internally lazy ever to
do anything well. And then he never
seemed TO mind it if he lost.
The presence of old Brown annoyed
me great deal, and / don't mind say
ing so About week after he took his
rooms there | found him occupying my
seat at the whist table when [ called.
He was fumbling the cards in his awk-
ward fashion, and Edith was laughing
at him Bob was engaged in giving an
imitation of me telling war story, and
even Mrs. Burke was approving the
ridiculous proceedings. ] coughed, and
that stopped the game, but was un-
comfortable all the evening. But Bob
had the good sense to apologize, but old
Browne simply Uttered for an hour over
what he seemed 10 consider a good joke
on me.
Afer that all my affairs seemed to 90
wrong, and | began to seriously con-
slider whether | shouldn't rent every
room in Mrs. Burke's house myself. 7
was actually contemplating this propo.
sitiou one night in my own apartments,
smoking my last bowl of tobacco the
while, when the colored girl who waits
on the door said that man had called
to see me. [ have few callers, and
thought it might be Mr.. Phipps, the
managing partner of my house, whom /
had invitad IN coma IN 400 mo rnoro than
month ago.
With this idea in mind | told the girl
to delay the man below stairs for mo-
ment while slipped into other clothes
Then the door opened, and old Browne
came ambling 10. | was disguised on
tho instant, but | managed to conceal
my real feelings and invited him to be
seated. He looked all around him to
see if | was alone, set his bat on the
floor and then accepted my invitation
with kind Of sigh.