The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1895-12-27
FOURTH COUSINS.
BIZ CHARLES D. WILLARD.
Something had happened

and on his face such an utter abandon
Of joy, that anyone-even q man
could have guessed the truth
Fortunately they had chosen the hill
road, the least travelled of all the ways
that lead down from the Monticello
valley into Santa Barbara, and for the
first half-hour after the event they me,
no one
It was what the inhabitants Of the
Channel City call 8 genuine Santa
Barbara day" The sun shone warm
and bright and soft perfumed breeze
came ont Of the west There was June
In the air, sltho1Sh the calendar was
set for midwinter. The birds sang in
the trees above them, the squirrels
chIrped from the hillside, and their
horses, wandering 8; times from the
road, sank TO the knee in a waving sea
Of flowers
First Of all" she said. breaking the
silence OF a whole minute, you must
tell ny father
Certainly" said the young man.
"Nhos afrsid?"
you have never seen papa do the
role Of the cruel parent" said the girl;
she can be quite a dragon. Asyou are
Q kinsman, however,"
"A nth cousin cried the young
man. with laugh.
well, fifth cousins are better than
nothing, aren't they?"
Truly; how else should we be here
to-day" Then the young man added
with peculiar and significant emphasis;
81 am inclined to pride myself on that
little scheme"
The girl brought her horse to a sud-
den stop and turned her clear brown
eyes, half opened under their long
lashes, upon her companion.
THAT little scheme she repeated,
slowly. Il don't understand"
The young man laughed uneasily.
"Why. Catherine" said he, you don't
mean that you have believed in the en-
tertaining fiction about our great
t-cetera-grandfather?"
"Old Ebenezer Strongl" exclaimed
the girl How dare you call him fic-
titious, when saw his portrait at my
own grandfather's.
"As your ancestor, my dear one, he
is an undoubted reality-but as mine,
regret to say, he is merely fgment
Of your worthy fathers imagination.
In short would fain break 1t to you
as gently as possible-we are not fifth
cousins at all, but just plain ordi-
nary"
Not fifth cousins"
mo, darling; and II you are going
to faint, please fall on this side, with
your head right here on my shoulder. :"
~ won't! Wretched boy, how could
you deceive poor papa SOP"
II didn't deceive him. He deceived
himself. From the very beginning Of
our acquaintfoce he seemed deter
mined to loca& me somewhere on the
Weston family tree, and you aided and
abetted him in the attempt"
Richard Strong, how can youi"
Il have sweet and gentle DISPOSE
ton, and when he asked me II was
not descended from Ebenezer Strong,
Of West Brighton Ceuter. and you
looked at me SO appealingly-"
Il didn't any such thing"
Why shouldn't assent? ! have
doubtless had several hundred ences-
tors named Strong, and / took the
chances that some one Of them rejoiced
In the prsnonen Of Ebenezer. 1t Is
just the sort of name that my for
bears were given TO putting upon them
selves, as 81 effective and continuous
Identification OF the flesh A horsehair
Shirt, now, would be nothing 10 it.
You may laugh, II II pleases you"
said the girl severely, but If papa
had known you were not relative we
should not be riding alone together.
he generally disapproves Of the east
ern people who spend the winter at
the hotel"
II you really feel that l have been
guilty of false pretenses,- said the
young man, drawing his horse little
nesrer, suppose we begin all over
again"
keep your distance, arr' exclaimed
tho girl, steering to the opposite side
of the road. If we are TO star. sfresh.
let 1t be from the very beginning,
three weeks ago"
wow, as to your father" resumed
the young man, 81 think understand
him pretty well, because my one and
only parent, the governor himself, is
constructed on much the same plan.
Wherever he goes he is continually in
search of the lost tribes of the Strong
genealogy. The last letter had from
him in Colorado, where he Is spending
che winter, contained the announce
,uent that he had unearthed four or
i've new cousins-choice specimens, I
doubt not, that he will expect me to
meet and embrace on my way home.
Perhaps 1t was wrong" he contin-
ued, after a moment of reflection, ito
play upon that little popularity Of
your fathers, to get into his good
graces, but you must consider the ex-
traorSnary provocation, dear. 1t
Aeenfed like my only chance-are you
sorry ] took it?"
She looked her answer, but did not
speak it. and then. avoiding the hand
extended to seize her own, she struck
her horse light blow and dashed
down the road ahead.
A long, even canter In silence fol-
lowed, and they were again well into
town before the conversation began
again Then. fearful Of observation,
they spoke in commonplacea
They turned into State street, and
stopped at the post Office, the morn
ing's mail having constituted the chief
cause for the trip TO town. Richard
Strong dismounted and presently ap-
peared with letter In his hand
None for you," he said. This Is