The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1895-06-22
HARMLESS HEZEKIAH.

don't know anyone for whom ! am
sorrier than | am for Hezekiah Heston.
Hezekiah was good fellow and always
was, but he never seemed to have the lucl,
a real good man should have and very
often does not.
But have been particularly sorry fol
him since that Kitty Clone affair Kitty
was by all odds the prettiest girl in town
and Hezekiah, like most OF the counting
men in that vicinity, fell in love with her
She was tawny-haired, with swapping
black eyes and tongue that was as two
edged razor, but she was as bright as q
dollar in basket Of chips and she had
only to smile to have retinue of men a,
her back
l stood closer to Hezekiah than any man
in the town, and practically knew his
inmost thoughts. In fact, was the only
one he confded in after the Kitty Clone
affair." Kitty, before that, being little
nearer to him, he thought, than | was.
He conided the whole sad story to me,
and cannot refrain from telling it now.
For some subtle purpose not at the time
apparent, Kitty had indicated very
plainly her preference for Hezekiah, and a
happier man no one ever saw in our
town. But preference, merely, was not
what Hezekah sought, and he let her see
that quite early.
1t began to happen one moonlight night
on her fathers porch, where the honey
suckles clambered over the roof and the
sweet wild rose vine entwined the corner
Through the trellised vines, the silver
shafts of the moon shot that soft night in
June and fell in sifted strands over Kitty
and Hezekiah sitting in the mellow shad
ows If the nightingale had been indigo
nous to that section, | am sure it would
have added its liquid notes to the music
in Hezekiah's heart. Kitty was enough
for him, and she sat close beside him,
and every word she spoke was a birds note
TO him.
''Do you know, Miss Kitty" he said,
tentatively, for Hezekah was not rash
lover, and he had not mentioned the sacred
subject of love to her, although he had
thought up a thousand ways by which he
might. "Did you know that had some
thing to say to you p
"Well, she twnkled, 81 should hope
you had, Mr.. Heston. | am sure | don't
want to do all the talking"
Il couldn't listen to you il you did,
am sure" he replied with hating help
lessness of manner that men sometimes
have in the moonlight
"That sounds so much like sweetheart S
talk, !" she twittered.
Perhaps it is" he ventured doubt.
fully.
But am sure you don't want to talk
such nonsense to me, " she protested.
"Why not 2" he asked so promptly that
he frightened himself.
because" she answered, 1--WE have
known each other so long that it would
sound silly for you to say such things to
me-"
Must man select a stranger if he
wants to confide to woman all that is in
his heart % he inquired with gravity
that made her laugh.
ooh, suppose not. Still, it does not
seem quite natural for you to make love to
me-"
''If did what woull you say?
81 really don't know, Mr.. Heston," she
said, tucking her head down and perhaps
blushing
"You know" he went on with more
courage "that have recently come into a
fortune. of something like $4,000, and
81 thought it had come into you," she
interrupted with pleasant little bird note
of chuckle.
Hezekiah was just stupid enough and
slow enough to be delighted with such
flashes of feminine wit, and Kitty's bright
ness in this respect was always charm to
him. He liked it now, but with shade
Of reflex action, for the dash of it had
dazzled him when he was on the path to
telling her what was in his heart.