The Penn's Grove record., 1896-10-23

It must have been vely near the quar-.
Ter when ! saw stealing down the gar
den, Der head and shoulders wrapped
tip In a white cloud. my Witch. Al
least l thought so at first. But | soop
saw It wasn't. 1t was someone more
kin and less kind. Nevertheless, as the
form drew near. peering about In the
dusk, / sprang forward, caught her In
NY arms and kissed her. She had no
breath with which to utter q sound.
She could only listen to my ardent
far mor ardent than l ever bestowed
OH neutrality-suspicious. of affection.
my darllngT I went on. II know
you would never have made such a lit
tie fool Of yourself II Il hadn't been for
that malicious catamaran, Aunt Betsey
Jane" The form within my arms
struggled. | was holding her tightly
or my face might have suffered. "But
I'll tell you a tale. dear, about her. I'm
the only living soul that knows, now
old nurse is dead" You couldn't hear
the form breathe, so still 1t was. l
went on: Aunt Be.sey Jane Is 4s
now" the form wriggled--"about
twenty-five years ago"-I could hear
/ er heart beat. l relented-"No, Witch,
will not tell yen that storyl You have
teme to me and / a afford to pity
Aunt Betssy Jane. She was badly used
when she a. young and she can't bear
to see people happy now she " old"
The form muttered. l opened my
arms. want to fetch something, dear.
You shall. Only come back at once, or
shall feel like telling that old tale
about Aunt Betsy Jane"
She scuttied of to the house and in a
minute or two Witch came down the
garden in a very dignlhed n 1
let her come right to the edge of the
water and peer about. l knew sire
couldn't see me. Presently she said,
~anxiously: "Johnr'
My heart jumped. but l didn't In.
tend to give myself away. so l simply
said, "wellp But she didn't intend to
give herself away, either. She turned.
Then l saw that ! had my work cut our
for me.
Stay, Witch; I'm In the boat" l ex-
claimed in a tone of deepest entrenty,
as l scrambled on shore. She paused.
J caught bold of her hand. witch" l
"a ed, reproachfully, "rye been waiting
Ia re for nearly eight hours and Pm so
70 Int l can hardly speak"
That fetched herr A woman will go
cheerfully for hours without a crumb,
do yards and yards Of shopping on q
halfpenny bun and think nothing Of II,
but let q man only say he missed his
lunch and they make as much fuss over
him as If he had suffered the martyr
dom OF st. Lawrence!
You poor thing" exclaimed my dar-
lug. "Come in at nee and have some.
thing to eat"
mo, Witch" I said, family, but firm
ly; you must forgive me-"
Forgive you! OF course l forgive
you. / didn't know you had been here
Ill that time. Do come In at once or
you'll die. / know you will"
But I stuck to my guns and l didn't
70 indoors until / had made Witch
promise that we should be married that
day month. Then l consented to go In
and work mighty havoc among the eat
ables.
Aunt Betsy Jane came to our wedding
and made US a handsome present. Then
she went to live with some friends in
the North. | think the poor old soul
had had some suspicion / knew her
story, and 20 had tried to part us. She
took nv note from Amelia in the morn
ing and kept 1t for a reason. My
earling did not know l was In the boat
until Aunt Betsy came In from the gar
den and told her.
But l have never told my wife n
word. II isn't wise to tell your wife all
the little peccadilloes of your friends
and r~elatives.-St. Paufs.