Evening star., 1899-04-01

worthiness. l was relieved at last by his
confidence.
y was engaged once he said at last
with reminiscent eye on the shuv-a' penny
board.
so near as thatr'
He looked at me. $50 near as that. Fact
Is He looked about him brought his face
close to mine, lowered his voice and fenced
on an unsympathetic world with Il grimy
hdnd. III she ain dead or married to
some one else or anything-I'm engaged
stN. Now He confirmed this statement
with mods and facial cOntOrtionS. Still"
he said, ending the paUtoE!.me. and broke
into reckless smile at my surprise.
Run away" he explained further with
corruscating eyebrows. come ONE
That amt all
YOU'D 'ardly believe it." he said but
l found 4 treasure Found a regular treas
L fancied This was irony. and did not per
haps greet il with proper surprise. Yes" ."
he said Il found treasure. And come
ONE. | tell You | could surprise you with
things that has happened to me-" And for
some time he was content to repeat that he
had found d treaSurc-and left il.
L made no vulgar cIamor for story but
l became attentive To Mr.. Brisher's bodily
needs and presently led him back to the
deserted lady.
She was nice girl" he said-a little
sadly l thought. And Respectable
He raised his eyebrows and tightened his
mouth TO express extreme respecta --lity-
1T was a long way from ere. Essex in
fact. Near Colchester. 1t was when l was
up IN L1ndOn-in the buildin' trade. | was
smart young chap then / can tell Won
sim, ad best ciO'es, : good as anybody
At-Silk at, mind you" Mr.. Brisher' $
hand shot above his head toward the inf
nite TO indicate a silk hat of the highest
Y Imbreia-savins 5. Very careful / was
He Was pensiye for q little while, think
ing. as We must all come TO think sooner or
later, Of the vanished brightness of youth
But he refrained from the opportUne moral
L got to know 'er through Il man what
was engaged to 'er sister She was SION
ping In London for bit with an aunt that
al shop. This aunt was very particular
they was all very particular people all
er people was-and wouldn't let 'er sister
go out with this feller except 'er other sis
ter, my girl that is, went with them. So q
brought me into II, sort of to ease the
crowding. We used to go walks in Batter
sea Park Of a Sunday afternoon | liked 'er
from the start, and, well though | saw il
Who shouldnt-she liked me. You know 'ow
il is, L dessay?'
pretended l did.
And when this chap married 'er sister
I'm and me was great frends-what must
e 90 put arst me down 10 Colchester close
by where she lived. Naturally, l was in
rO1uced TO 'er people. and. We'll very soon
her and me was engaged" He repeated
engaged She lived at 'one with or
father and mother. quite the lady in a very
nice little ouse with garden, and remark
du4c ieSpSCtdDie people tney was. Rich Won
might call EN- Almost. They owned their
own ouSe-got 1t out of the building So
cfety, and cheap. because the chap who 'ad
II before was burglar and in prison-and
theS ad bit OF free old land and some
cottages and money invested; they was
What you d call snug and warm | tell Won
was on. Furniture, too. Why, they 'ad a
planner- Jane-'er name was Jape-used To
play II sundays. and very nice she played,
too There wasn't 'ardly i'm toon in the
book she couldn't play
Many's the evenin' we've met and SING
inns. me and 'er and the family.
Er Iather was quite a leadin' man in
chapel You should ha' seen him sundays
interruptiR the minister and eiysIn' o1t
ms lie ad gold spectacies, / remember
ana used to look over EN- at Won while he
sang hearty-he was always great on sing
In earty TO the Lord and when he GOT ~.
O. tOOn 'arf the people went after ;irnNaIl
ways Z was that sort of man And to
walk ind i'm in is nice black clotbes-'is
at was brimmer-made one regular nrord
10 De engaged to such a father-in-law. And
when the summer came / went down there
and stopped a fortnight ~
Now you know there was a sort of
Itch, said Mr.. Brisher We wanted 70
marry; me and Jane did, and get things
settled But e said l 'ad to get a proper
position first Consequently there was a
itch Consequently when I went down
tnere was anxious to show that I was a
good: useful sort of chap, like Show i
Seer '"ihs Ike
made sympathetic noise
AND down at the bottom of their gar
den was 2 bit Of wild part like. So l says
! says: 1t 'ud look NICE"
Too much expense he says
Not penny. says 1. I'm a dab al
rockeries; lemme make You one You see
10 eiped my brother make rockery in the
beer garden be'ind his tap, so L knew 'ow