Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-09-08
CONSTANCE MERRIFIELD.
MARRIED HIS BROTHERS SWEET

1t was the saddest summer that
ever spent abroad. l do not think l
shall ever forget the pathos-the tragedy
Of IT,
After a two weeks tramping tour
through the southwest of England
do not bel!ve that such of you fellows
as have never taken such a tramp in
the summer Will ever know what heaven
means-I found myself again in Lon
don, somewhat freckled and tanned, and
my senses full of the perfume OF the
migionette and wild rose hedges. l did
not intend 10 stay long-Cnly long
enough to glance at accumulations Of
mail and send 4 few cablegrams, and
then be off again TO the streams and
the meadows and the quaint old roadside
inns and the apple-cheeked barmaids
and excellent provender. But where to
go? That was the question.
All. here was a letter on the very top
of the little heap that my landlady had
piled on my mantlep!ece, and that de-
cided me at once IL was from Archie
Trevor, as bright and handsome boy
as ever toed football leather, and who
had distinguished himself enthusiastically,
as well as athletcally at Harvard. I
won't take any refusal he wrote; you
simply have TO come, old chap. This is
the loveliest spot in the world, and, be-
sides. I'm engaged and l want you TO
see the lovel.est creature that ever drew
breath. III expect you any time within
ten days. Ii you don't SHOW up in that
time III come after you.
AS the friend of Archie's father,
though many years his junior, had
been thrown much into contact with the
boy. and since the old gentleman's death
we had been warm friends. Archie in
love. Ell? Well. I felt sure it would be
a serious matter with him. He was
earnest and intense by nature, and had
never played the butterfly with the wo-
men of his acquaintance.
Arches letter was. l perceived, a
week old. but just in three days l found
myself in the quaint little Welsh sea-
port town with the wholly unpTonounce-
able name from which he had written.
I climbed the hill and enqUired the way
10 Rose Cottage, and when l came 10 II
and TO Mr.. Archie it was all | could do
to prevent myself from believing with
delight at the infinite beauty Of the
scene.
The long. white walls Of the cottage
were massed with roses from top 10 bot
tom. Roses clustered over the matched
roof; roses nodded their heads from
the mulloned windows and brushed
your coat sleeve as you walked along
the narrow path. Al the back of the
cottage was a comfortable lawn and
more roses-ever roses countless roses.
And, stretching away in the distance,
like a great sheet OF FURNISHED sapphire,
shimmering the sunshine. was the sea.
Archie leaped from hammock and
grabbed me by the hands. How glad
l am to see you, dear old jack" he eX-
claimed his delicate cheeks flushing
with pleasure returned his greeting
in kind and then for the first time be-
came conscious of the girl standing by
us
She had risen from low chair on
the farther side of the hammock and
she had a book in her hand, from
which she had evidently been reading
to my constitutionally lazy young
friend. l went through the form Of
presentation to her in a sort of trance.
was very tall. quite two inches taller
than Archie. with one of those almost
faultless figures that in girlhood at
least. one finds in England and no
where else. She had light brown hair
on which the sun scattered little gold
fecks. and her eyes were of the deepest,
tenderest blue and big and earnest and
wistful. Lastly, she was dressed all in
white-the only hue for sweet girls
dress in summer-and it is scarcely
necessary to say that I surrendered to
Master Arches fiancee at discretion,
mentally voting him the luckiest dog
under heaven, no matter who she might
be-
That night, as we sat smoking our
farewell pipes. and with that glorious
odor of roses stealing in through the
open windows Archie told me his
story. It was romantic enough. He
had been riding past. three weeks ago,
on his bicycle. and had had a bad fall
at the very moment he had been slack
ening speed to admire the beauty of the
garden of roses. Dorothy (for that was
her name) had seen his ungraceful per-
Torrance and his Intellectual effort to
rise At her commands an ancient
gardener had wheeled him into the
house i'm ridiculous fashion enough,
and the village doctor had attended to
his dislocated knee Dorothy's aunt,
Mrs Brett. sweet old lady, with silver
hair and gold trimmed spectacles, had
in the course Of the next three weeks
fallen almost as deeply in love with the
handsome young sufferer as had her
niece. Yes. indeed, I congratulated
Archie over and over again. The Lord
knew he had no need of money with
his wife. and for gOodness-well, one
Glance into those sweet. honest. blue
ewes was enough 70 tell me OF the beau
ties of this girls character.
Dorothy and I became firm friends at
once Perhaps il was because ] knew
myself 10 be too old and worldly wise
IN Get into any sort of danger 1naS I'D
me 70 associate with this pair OF lovers
so freely. The three of US took long
rambles together through the meadows
ard down the restless and everchang-
inc sea. It did me good on such occa-
sions 70 note Arches almost childish
delight in his fiancee and his happi-
ness After all he was nothing but
how. despite his twenty-seven years:
He laughed the whole day long and
made love to Dorothy as one makes love
to q beautiful spoiled child.
And she? Why. she accepted it all
IN a silent. satisfied sort of way. She
accepted the boys kisses sOberly, with
ont anv show of emotion, and as a
matter of course. I sometimes thought
7 ,,.o,,1a Give 81 600 TO see her tremble