Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-07-23
. IN POSSESSION

every extraordinary" agreed Ethel
"I never heard of such q thing in my
lifeP'
81 should hope notp' returned Mrs
Fielding. "What would your poor, deal
father have said if, during his lifetime,
young man had come TO propose for
your hand. and, on being refused by
you, had expressed his intention Of stay
ing in the house until you accepted
him? I've not even read in novels"
with fine touch of scorn) "of such a
preposterous notion. Did he-did-did
he seem firm about il, my dear?"
"Frightfully, Ethel assured her
''frightfully firm, and you should just
see what chin he has 1t would make
three of mine"
"What did you say?" asked Mrs.
Fielding.
'What could I say? I've already told
you everything met him, as you
know, at the Marchant-M Mainwarings,
and after our first introduction saw
him almost every day during the fol-
1OWluR 1uG DSlOIO
home he proposed to me, and I-well,
you know what Isaid. He then declared
his intention of asking me again every
six months and didn't seem to care in
the least when 1 assured him that my
answer would be just the same, however
many times he asked me. Well, it is
exactly six months today since the-the
first time / told him that / couldn' t
think of marrying him"
'And he expressed his intention of
staying herein this house-till you
said, 'Yes?'" put in Mrs. Fielding.
Ethel nodded.
"Then," was Mrs. Fielding's deci-
sion, 1--WE must send for the police"
"Oh, no-no-no-nor' calculated
Ethel springing up. "Please don't do
that. He's sure to go. He-he's very
gentlemanly, mother, and I'm sure he'll
behave himself if he does stop. Besides
if he fought the policemen-and I'm
sure he would fght-there'd be such
scandalw
Yes, Mrs Fielding agreed that the
affair would give Market Norbury a
months food for title tattle if the
strong arm Of the law were to intervene.
"Twill see the young person myselfr'
exclaimed the elder lady majestically.
Don't be harsh, mother, said Ethel
blushing little, "because, after all,
you know he's"-
"Head over heels in love with you?
OF course" rejoined Mrs Fielding.
"Of course he is. II he weren't, I
should suspect him of having evil de-
signs on the plate. Leave him to me,
Ethelp
So saying, Mrs Fielding swept mag
nifcently into the drawing room.
But severe as was her tone and stern
her mien Dick Waterbury declined to
bulge. He apologized for the gross rude
ness Of his decision, but nevertheless re-
fused to spike his guns and retire. Dur
ing the alteration Mrs. Fielding dis
covered that he was young gentleman
of %, with an ample income, and a
small country seat that stood sadly in
need of some one to look after it.
Twenty minutes later Mrs Fielding
returned to her daughter.
"My reasoning had no effect on him
whatever" she informed Ethel; "none
whatever. I suppose he must remain.
He may be in more sensible frame of
mind in the morning. Don't let the
servants know anything about the real
state of things, but pretend that we
have invited him to stay here and say
his luggage will arrive in due course. "
The result was: (1) That Mr.. Rich
ard Waterbury gained his point and
staid at Pleasant View. (2) That only
his fixed determination to win Ethel
Fielding would have led him to take
such desperate step. (3) That Ethel by
no means deceived the maternal judg-
ment when she expressed herself indig-
nantly about Dick and his resolution.
(She let slip his name-Dick-sev-
eral times unthinkingly.) az That it
was the general opinion in the kitchen
that the gentleman who had come so
suddenly-without any luggage-was a
imam in possession. (5) That he SEEM
ed to the kitchen very we'll dressed
man in possession. (6) That the gentle
man Immediately sat down and wrote a
long letter, which was given to the
housemaid to post. (7) That he wired to
another address for some clothes (S)|
That the letter was addressed to Mr..
John Blunt Friar's Court, Temple,
London. (9) That in the opinion of tho
kitchen, "Friar's Court" sounded like a
low place for any gentleman's friends
to live in.
=
Dick Waterbury had been with the
Fieldings a week and still showed no
signs of departing from his resolution.
He had soon made himself at home; he
had broken the ice over the dinner table
during the first night of his stay. Mrs.
Fielding and her daughter had opened
the ball by treating him with frigid po-
likeness; but Dick had pretended not to
notice their manner, and ratified on SO
gayly that he effectually dispersed the
cold barrier which the ladies had at
tempted to place between themselves
and their self invited guest.
After dinner he regaled them with
comic songs, anecdotes and news Of the
day which had failed to penetrate to
the Businesses Of Market Norbury. So
very agreeable did he make himself, in
deed, that by bedtime he had quite won
Mrs. Fielding over to his side. Ethel
kept very close to her mother all the
evening, he noticed, and would neither
play nor sing, although she could do
both very nicely. On the following day
his clothes arrived, and on the third
day letter, addressed to him in bold,
masculine hand. He appeared to peruse
this letter with much interest, and the
one he wrote in reply he delivered to
the housemaid with special instructions
Al 49, Hr n t,a