The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1897-04-08
She sat on the floor.

I AoftO cNS VfS vic JtOOT.
were so young that they were somewhat
governed by them instead, of following
the dictates of their hearts, like the |
wiser Mrs. Peytee.
Nevertheless, thanks to natures con-
tempt for the theorizing of her children,
they had made some progress in their
knowledge each of the others state of
mind.
l Everybody knows that weddings are
contagious When Harry that afternoon
on the gallery listened to the discussion
of the coming festivity at old Harkins',
he had what he took-perhaps had bet
! ter say mistook-for a small but happy
inspiration. He made up his mind at
once that on that night he would declare
himself to Charley. He would take her
to the wedding in the only buggy that
was to be had in Overtonia. Harkins'
place was two miles from the hotel ON a
| rough road. 1t was strange if coming
home that night he could not find fe-
licitous moment for-what he was going
to say and what he was going to do-for
decisive steps, let us say. An evening
buggy ride exactly suited his ideas of
proper occasion for serious lovemaking.
He had regretted more than once that
life on the mountain offered so few such
opportunities, but the roads were so bad
that in the public mind only some def
mite necessary end justified recourse to
travel ON wheels. In the fullness of his
heart Harry embellished his little plan
with various decorative features. Among
other things, he thought that he would
send off at once to Nashville for an en-
gagement ring, so as to surprise Charley
with the promptness of its appearance.
No really grownup person, with brains
enough to learn from experience, would
ever have dared to tempt fate by such
Grass confidence as this, and more pen
etratingly tactful youth would have
known that Charley, even if she accept
ed him, would not be altogether pleased
by this particular form of foresight
But Harry was, in fact, but boy
and one sure to be generally astray as
to what men have been pleased to chris
ten the mysteries of woman's heart,
though l dare say, if women had been
managing the worlds affairs and liter
ature for the last several thousand
years, we should be hearing Just as
much about the unfathomable mysteries
of mans heart, the fact simply being
that the mystery lies in those arrange
ments of an ever inscrutable Providence,
by which it is established that the sexes
shall be eternally divided, however APP
pearances may sometimes contradict the
fact, by an impossible gulf Of mutual
misunderstanding.
When Harry was seized with these
dreams, he was so moved by them that
, he turned away from the agitated group
laughing and chattering about the Har-
r kins family, and went and stood peer
, ing through the honeysuckle vine at the
other end of the gallery. Charley called
to him, and he did not hear her:
/ "Mr. Harry" cried one of the
; other girls Charley wants to know
, what you are going to wear"
Excuse me-" said Harry, coming
toward them, but then he forgot to
n make any reply, in the distraction of
/. seeing Charley's brown eyes turned up
1 to his, and unable to endure just then
the glancing frivolity of the talk he
picked up his hat and strolled down the
i walk.
Charley felt distinctly miserable that
q she had been snubbed so she laughed
I with merry abandon at tho information
that Art Harkins never, under any cir
q cumstances, took off his hat and would
a undoubtedly eat Dade's wedding supper
with it on, and then she danced away
!. into the big empty hall, dragged her
v self slowly up the stairs and crept of
y into an unfrequented garrett. In the
3 crowded house, this, since she fell il
!. love and needed one, had become hel
y place of meditation She was over
! wrought by the unaccustomed and star
!. Ting amount of sensation her days nov
brought her, and by dramatically pic
p turing various unpleasant possibilitie
to herself as probabilities, though no
a in the least really believing in them
:. she managed to relieve herself by few
70 tears, and then she crept over to th
&c one small square low window that Ii
a the place. She sat on the floor and press
a ed her face against the glass and CAV
=, herself up to further dreaming, but nov
10 of vague, sweet possibilities, probabili
Is ties, surely, SURELY
;. There were no other windows in tn
!. house that looked down into the corne
Of the green yard she saw. 1t was shell
|. tered by big trellised grapevine, AM
4. beneath its shade was an old gardel
s. bench.
a. When Harry found chance to dra
er Mrs. Peytee to this spot for confiden
r. tial interview, it was under the delu
e. sion that it was invisible to all indoors
b. He and Mrs. Peytee were always yer
re good friends, and now, seized with
III sudden need of a sympathetic ear,
Of was to her that he turned. That ide
10 about the ring that had slipped throug
his head became fixed now by nothin
I'd more or less personal to himself or Cha
of ley than the chance he saw Of maxim
le it an easy pretext for telling his tale
Id Mrs. Peytee.
b. Come, sit around by the grapevir
lie with me, ;" he said when, turning BAG
IN to the house in his restless trampinl
id he met her in the yard.
h. Mrs Peytee was always gracious, an
Dir she took his arm with fiattering air
as possession and interest, and draggir
he her fresh trailing muslins after her 81
ne sought with him the seclusion of Il
rustic bench beneath the shadow OF Il