Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-04-29

Z
reading the contents of the letter to her
friend. But the young man pleaded 80
earnestly and looked SO crestfallen that
she smilingly held out her hand, which
Charles gratefully grasped and carried
to his lips, perhaps trife impulsively,
for she quickly withdrew it.
To tell the truth, Miss Clara seemed
to like the young foreigner, and before
he left she had mentioned the fact that
she and her friend Amalie would meet
that evening at the Court theater, which
would give her chance to return the
pocketbook to its owner. More than
that, Charles, by o few adroitly put
questions, knew the exact location Of
the seats to be occupied by the party.
OF course he was there-a good deal
too early too. The doors had hardly been
opened, and he was for quite awhile
alone in the vast auditorium, Willing
away the slowly creeping time by study
Of the curtain, the chandelier, the carv-
ings on boxes and galleries and by in-
specting everything within the reach Of
his eyes. When the two young wdsnen
arrived. after having sorely tried Char
lies patience, they, Or at least CLARA,
found. to her surprise (?), the young fel
low seated in the stall next to hers and
introduced him to her companion as
"Mr. Berner Ct San, Francisco, who
had found her pocketbook.
=
The phlegm which usually character-
lied every movement of the worthy land
lord Of the Blue Lion at M had all
at once disappeared. Since the receipt Of
the letter from America he knew no
rest. The best DOM was put in readiness
for the expected guest, he inspected the
house from top to bottom, he scolded the
servants necessarily, and never before
had his good wife known him to be such
tyfant and SO hard to please. More
than that, he would go to the parson and
schoolteacher and make them point out
to him the map of America and tell him
about California, and in the evening he
would impart this knowledge to his
guests In the taproom, showing for the
hundredth time the letter and talking
about the rich young relative from the
far west.
His daughter Marie took things much
more quietly. If she liked him, she
would be his wife; if not, she was firm
ly resolved not to marry him, riches or
no riches. In due time, she said to her.
self, she would find one who loved her
and whom she loved in return
x
One day in the latter part Of August
carriage and pair were seen to ap-
proach the sleepy little town of M.
Its sole occupant was Henry Decker,
who alighted some distance from the
place, near the mines, which to inspect
he had come all the way from Ham
burg.
Tired and out of sorts he wended his
way along the dusty highway and en-
tered the town. Reaching the market
place he was spied by the portly host of
the Blue Lion, who leaned against the
threshold in anything but coed humor,
on account of the protracted delay in
the arrival of his long expected nephew.
He looked hard at the stranger. No
body he knew in this neighbcrhood was
SO fashionably dressed. A thought shot
through his brain. The approaching
man was his young relative, Charles
Berner from America and no otherl No
one but an American looked like this.
Quickly summoning wife and daughter,
and running down the steps as fast as
his portliness would admit, he embraced
o-l 1~:ccol &l,o ,kror,r.a,. oy,oofoI1xy
claiming:
eat last! AZ lastl We have been ex-
pecting you for the longest time. How
is your father? Well, hopel But come
inside and rest. Look, here are my wife
and daughter. The older of the two is
my wife, your-wel Of course your
aunt. And now kiss all around, as near
relatives should.
Decker tried hard to unwind himself
from the old mans tight embrace,
which almost deprived him of breath,
but in vain. No chance to explain that
there was mistake At last, all he
could utter was, eff you think, if you
believe, sir, that p
"What the dickensl" the old man in
terrupted. "Of course believe, nay, I
even insist that you all kiss and become
better acquainted. Such is our fashion
among relatives, and no doubt among
Americans also And, my dear boy,
what do you mean by Stirring me? l am
Sour uncle-that settles It'll"
Again the dear boy' tried to open
his lips, but by this time they were
sealed by his aunt's lips, who impressed
a sounding smack on his. Not content
with this performance, the old lady
showed him toward her daughter, whose
cheeks were afame up to her ears IN
the expectation of kiss from her sup
posed kinsman and future husband.
The young fellow looked upon the pic
ture of SO much innocence and lovel1ness
before him. He reflected a moment and
then-blame him who maybe TOOK
Marie in his arms and hugged and kiss
ed her repeatedly.
Henry Decker was not slow to notice
that this was a case of mistaken iden-
tity. He was impressed with the sense
Of the ridiculous situation, and the dear
little girl was so unspeakably pretty and
innocent that ne concIuded since ne was
'sin it'' to let things take their own
course and to await developments. he
talked about America, he teld tfn most
improbable tales about California, and
profting from the confidence reposed IN
him by Charles Berner on board the
steamship he told tolerably straight
story respecting his alleged family al
fairs in San Francisco.
He saw the impression he had mace
on the heart of the unsuspecting Marle'
who never took her eyes eff his race
while he spoke, and his conscience smote
him. He was filled with remorse for his
deceit; but, alas, it was now too late.
He resolved to disclose the whole thing
on the following morning.
A kind fate favored the discharge OF
this onerous task. Toward evening the
old "uncle'' made the proposition that
the young people should take a walk III
the surrounding gardens in order to. as
he indulgingly expressed 1t, give them
a chance to become ''better friends
Henry did not let this UNLOCKED ICE
opportunity escape him. He told her all
he asked her pardon for the deceptien'