Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1899-05-09

before whom Mr.. Shirley detailed the
circumstance and produced the evidence,
unanimously agreed that his bodily health
and perhaps his very life might be inn
periled # he still persisted in opposing
the wishes of his masters.
They implOred and abjured him to relent,
and worked on his feelings to such an eX-
tent that he went home impressed with an
awful sense of some impending doom,
some terrible calamity that was about
to burst on his offending head.
III.
Meanwhile the situation had become
as unbearabe to Sydney as it had to
Doris all their plans for communicating
having so far failed, the natural course
of events having taken a turn for which
no provision had been made. A love so
intense as his could stand the separation
no longer.
That very afternoon he would go bold
" to the house and ask to see his be-
loved; her father might say or do as he
pleased. The resolution once formed he
was in a state of feverish impotence to
put it into practice He would start
at once. And start he did, wondering
what reception he would receive at the
hands Of her parent, and hoping that
he might not be invested with the
Order of the Boot. But Providence had
prepared him for a surprise, one of
those Kaleidoscope changes which ever
make the ''best-laid schemes of mice and
| men gang aft aglee."
Scarcely had he reached the gate when
a telegraph boy ran up and handed him
a message. Sydney's first thought, of
| course, was Doris-then. some dire dis
aster. AS soon as his impatient hands
had ripped off the covering he read:
~ '!Richdp. Shirley
An invitation from the very man
whom he had been mentally picturing as
kicking him out of the house.
Say III be there like shot," he said
to the astonished messenger, then recol-
lecting himself, mo answer" and the
next instant he was speeding to the sta
ton to catch the train then due. His re-
ception surprised him as much as the
telegram. He was welcomed at the
threshold by Mr.. Shirley and taken into
the study, his host beaming with the
very essence of affability. After a few
ings of the throat, Mr.. Shirley addressed
him thus:
I'm refusing your ardent request for
the hand of my daughter | believed that
| was acting in the best interests of my
| only child. | know nothing against you
indeed, much to your advantage; but
the principal reason that induced me to
take the course [ did was your openly
expressed disbelief Of matters of which
| you could not possibly be a judge.
Young man, read that and with dra-
| matte flourish he handed him the mes
| sage.
| After infinitely detailing the circum-
| stances of its arrival. he continued:
In compliance with the command
therein expressed I have sent for you,
60 give my consent to your union with
my daughter, and [ am not without
nope that the mysterious message you
nave before you may be the means of
converting you by its tangible existence
ana the forglylng nature Of its con-
Tents
Sydney gazed at the paper bewildered,
speechless. This was a complete foorer.
ell, now, go to Doris, she awaits
! you IN the draWlng-roOm. Leave the
| paper here, 1t is too precious to trust out
| of my sight. [ have to 60 out now on
business, but if you will give me call,
say tomorrow evening at s o'clock
shall be prepared to discuss matters
with YOU
1t IS needless to attempt to describe
the rapturous meeting of the reunited
lovers Those readers who have expert
enced such bHssful moments can picture
It Tor themselves, and those who have
not, may rest assured that to them the
gates OF Paradise still stand unre-
veaIed
The next evening Sydney kept his ap-
p01ntnent with Mr.. Shirley, whose eX-
uoerant delight seemed to show that a
heavy load had fallen from his mind.
Then he would go through the Incl
dents OF the mysterious arrival again.
| taxing Sydney by the arm and leading
hIm round the room, all the while ey7
planning how matters stood on the event
full night.
You see. the gas was alight, just as
| 1t IS now. and the window was fastened
| look at it-cannot be opened from the
| outside; and the blind was drawn right
down, like this. The only other means
OF lngress is the door, locked Ali I
nave not locked it, and as he spoke he
| shot the bolt. At the same instant a
loud ting caused both men to spring
round and rush to the table There,
floating on the liquid in one of the
glasses, was another tiny roll of paper.
Shot from somewhere. it had evidently
struck the glass, making it ring. Unfold
| ed, the contents ran:
| 1t IS well. We are satisfied" Again
| from Ihlbet and the date the current
| day. 1t was with very different feelings
| that the two men gaZed at the piece of
paper. Mr.. Shirley's face bore a calm
| expression which told Of a thankfulness
That danger was past, and that he felt
| O1tIS 11IOlc dI peace WITH MS masters,
while Sydney stood aghast in the pres
ee.nce Of the .unfathomable, his hair brist-
ling on his head and his teeth chattering
! from very fear. At last ne could bear it no
longer, and f1inging open the door, he
rushed out, nor paused until he found
himself outside the front door in the pure
night air with the canopy of heaven and
| tWlnkllng stars above him.
"
A train is throbbing swiftly northward,
| bearing among its passengers two that
have that day been made man and wife.
| The bridegroom sits absorbed in his
| thoughts, seeming Obvious to the fact
that what should be all the world to him
sits by his side. 1t is not that one deity
thrown slipper has made a bruise on his
forehead, nor that sundry grains of rice
had slipped down between his collar and
| his neck. When, then, was the cause?
What makes you so quiet, dear?''
| asks the bride
He starts as one called from another
| world
L am bewildered, love. Those mes
sages, how real and yet how very inn
| possible. [ cannot believe, and yet