The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1895-11-08

| this time and not to throw away. Crssie
| had always liked Steve a little. even when
| she had refused him; now since he had be-
come ;'number one young farmer she
| liked him altogether. When they arrived
| at the fair that day and when Mr.. Wayne
| was tying the horses, someone in a buggy
driving gray colt stopped at the htchng
| rail near them. Crissie instantly recog-
| niZed the gray colt. 1t was Steve's. Her
eyelashes twinkled in rapid thought.
When he gets his horse tied he'll come
past here she said to herself, and she loi-
| tered near the wagon till Steve should pass.
llspeak friendly to him." she thought,
land he'll stop a while to talk then he'll
want to walk through the grounds with
me-"
She turned and looked furtively back to
see if he was coming: then, to her amaze
ment she beheld Steve helping another
girl out of his buggy
Crissie hurried away from the spot.
Not for anything would she meet Steve
and his girl. All day she tried to avoid
them. Whenever she saw them approach
ing she would hastily lose herself in the
crowd, and for once she was glad of her
small statue. Any of the women and girls,
even the middle sized ones, lowered above
her. She could conceal herself anywhere.
Once, however, in an unguarded moment
she ran right against Steve and Edith Ross.
1t was right in front of some sheep pens
in the live stock exhibit which she had
been looking at, and she had not expected
INJURED Good afternoon" then she hurried
on, not so quickly, however, but that she
saw Steve fix his eyes on her dress mo-
ment, then examine her face searchingly.
ing a group of school girls near by who
were standing OF the door of tent where
tintype pictures were taken. She felt hor
ribly chagrined. In her fright she was
sure Steve knew why she wore the little
gray dress, that she put it on because it
used to please him so-end-. now, here he
was with another girl! Her checks grew
grew hot with the humiliation of it, and
she felt the sweat drops come out on her
forehead under the little curls she had
drawn down because Steve. used to say
they were prettiest that way.
Crissie had no enjoyment that day. She
had somehow lost all interest in the eX
hibits. Even the horse racing failed to
entertain her. She grew extremely tired,
and longed to go home early, lut was
obliged to wait till the rest of the family
We're ready to leave.
Late that night when, cross and eXhaus
ted, she was taking off the gray silk dress,
and tear it from end to end The fair was
all over now, and Crissic went on with
her home duties the same as ever. She
tried hard not to think about Steve or
about his taking another girl to the fair.
She was sure Steve meant to marry this
Edith Ross tit was for her he had been fix
ing up his farm so, she concluded, and she
now desired of all things to Danish every
thought of him from her mind But poor
little Crissie found she could not do this
She could not help thinking of Steve as
she washed the dishes, swept the floor or
fried the pork and potatoes. True she had
refused him once, but it had not been be-
cause she was Indifferent to him personal
ly. And now since he had become so de-
sirable a farmer, Crissie had no objection
to him at ALL while that lurking little affec-
tion which she had had for him was in
creased tenfold. Then there was one 9th
er thing which, think, made Steve seem
great in Crissie's eyes just now. Edith
Ross was tall, good-looking young wo-
man who was wont to have plenty of beaux,
as Crissie knew. Evidently she had chose Il
Steve before the others.
Crissie's mother was a great trial to her
daughter these days. She was forever
taunting her with the mistake she had made
in refusing Steve, and telling her she was
going to be an old maid. Crisse was to
unhappy to be saucy or pert about it as she
used to be, and she had very forlorn little
time of it. Even her father, who used to
pet her SO, was not quite so fond as usual,
she thought.
One day it CHANGED tina. Crissic was left
alone at home There was an "old set
tiers" picnic held on one of the last days
of the fine weather. Old and young alike
were accustomed to attend this pic mic, and
all the Wayne family went except Crissie.
The big farmhouse seemed very still and
except for this everything went on as usual
in the forenoon. In the afternoon there
was big churning to do By this time
the sun shone in hot on the back porch, so
Crissie took her churn down into the back
ward in the shade of one of the wild plum
trees Here she began plying her dasher
briskly BY and by the sound of some one
driving nails near by startled her. The
sound came from the fence that ran in
among the plum trees there and that di-
vided their backyard from Steve McLean's
eighty" Crissie stopped her dasher and
listened with quick interest 1t must be
Steve. She knew he had been putting up
Il new fence there lately He seemed to
take a particular interest in improving
that part of his land which lay along their
backyard. He had grubbed out all the
wild plum trees on his side of the line and
had taken down the old rail fence and was
putting up Il neat, fourb one with Il
barbed wire on top. Crissie went on with
her churning, but her heart was beating
faster. Why had not Steve gone to the
picnic? She had thought he would sure
" be there with Edith Ross; that was one
reason why she had stayed at home her