The Van Buren press., 1895-07-27


BIT The senss thas silent lips hsve suno.
Our menoFiss silhouette them-
Ne eing them ovsr. We ere youns.
An1 nsyor can forget thsnL
-Julia n. Nay. In Boston Journal
A FALSE IMPRESSION.
] Tho bntler wanted to announce him,
but he said he was IN old friend Of Miss
Morton'h and would dispense with the
1ormality. AZ he entered the library
Il flashed ON him that It was very little
changed; the books and palms and
bric-a-brac were inst IS hS had re-
membered them; over the plano was
the picture he liked and In its sccus-
toned place leaned Margaret's mAndo-
lin; BY the ten table, the table over
which they had had SO many merry
wrangles, was the little low chair she
loved.
He took II all In ut . glance. q wave
Of recollection sweeping over him. One
moment he paused. but the next he
hurried forward to meet the girl who
had risen TO welcome him.
She advanced = few steps, the con.
ventional smile Of greeting ON her lips;
but when she recognised her visitor.
her expression changed, and she ex-
claimed: why, i Is Charlton Meade!
When did you get into town? lam
ever 20 glad to sec you-it has been
ages aimee we said good-by, has 1t not?"
.sCenturies." he responded. "snd II
It has seemed long ia you, then think
what II has been to mel How we'll
you are looking. and where arc the
others?'
s'They have gone to the theater-I
know they will be sorry. Come, take
this chair where may look II you and
zee what time has done to you"
Six years before, when he was
studying under his father, he had been
: constant visitor Ut their house. He
was little more than boy then, tall,
fair fellow who came and went with
her brothers, and who was suspected
Of being an admirer Of her younger
sisters. He had not said or done much
to foster this impression, but she had
heard so many iesting allusions to his
hopeless love for Kate that she had ac-
cepted it as fact.
In those days she had not had much
time to devote to boys, tor she was on
joying the triumphs Of her frst season,
and 30 many men were attentive 10 her
that the tall lad who was always ready
70 do her . service. aud who was never
too tired fss her brothers often wsre)
to act a. her escort, filled but . small
place in her mental horizon. Shortly
after Kate married and went abroad,
Meade was summoned north to his
home, reaching there just In time to
ucee his father die. His death made .
great change in the boys prospects,
and Tor several years he had devoted
his time and energies to winning a
name for himself in his profession.
He wrote south frequently. kind let
tsrx asking many questions about the
household that once had been 90 much
70 him, and now and then one of the
family would reply. From them he
CLEANED that John was ''in cotton"
Phillip mad about sugar." and Mar
garet ''as fond of society - ever" ~
1t u doubtful whether she thought
Of him at all during these years; for
while she had always liked him theirs
was but shadow kind of friendship,
that made little or NO impression on
her.
hut no one would have suspected this
from her manner when she welcomed
him back; there was a pretty earnest
ness about her that intimated that he
had frequently been In her thoughts,
and that she had never quite got over
his departure. 1t was little way of
hers; she did not mean to be insincere;
she always meant what she said to
him.
\ For few minutes latter he had ex !.
planned his presence in town. their con-
verssttcn was upon Indifferent topics,
then Il soos< friendlier strain and
turned upon cid times. He recalled q
great many incidents that she had for.
gotten; but she looked interested and
sympathetic, and he was too carried
away by his own feelings to notice her
silence
do you remember" he said, "the
picnic at Grove and the photograph
Deane took Of us?'
Il should think I did," she respond
ed. II have never quite forgiven him
for his caricature of me; but yours,
recollect, was an excellent likeness
By the way, you have changed very
little. would have known you any
where"
"Would your he said, in ! dissp-
pointed tone. II rather hattered nv
self that looked older.r
"0h, Of course, you look older-six
years could not fail TO make some im
preston" s.-..-.z.
"You are living denial of that
!" he said, ''for. II anything,
you have gone backward"
She smiled appreciatively: THAT is
= very pretty speech, and like pretty
speeches, even when they are not quite
genuine"
''Do you, really? Now to me q com.
pllment Is of no value II It is not sim
,ere."
"Ah! You were always like that
vou would always go deeply into
hings should think by now you
would have grown tired of it,