The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-12-01
and glancing inquiringly at Nubbins.

Sttlu IL Vile Udy, eXCldllQoQ
Nubbins, raising his voice to shout.
Gay? Oh, well, l try to be, but it's
rather hard sometimes for lone fe-
male to keep up her spir''-
A clammy perspiration broke out on
Nubbins. Excuse me-" he interrupted
hastily. 81 said a fine day; not gay,
but day; day, dayW
"Say? Let 'em say what they're a
mind to. l guess Abigail Doolittle has
got money enough, so she don't ask
any odds Of anybody-present compa-
ny excepted. Of course it is different
with you. The minute my nephew in
troduced us to each other l felt that
we were going to be friends-intimate
friends, as l might say
Nubbins' face was now the color of
an Italian sunset, and he was earnest
ly longing for the bottom to drop out
of the car and let him through or fol
some other catastrophe to come to his
rescue, but as usual in such cases his
lOngings were in vain, and amid the
subdued chickering's of the more
thoughtless of the passengers his com
panion calmly went on:
Yes, Mr.. Nubbins, the very instant
set my eyes on you l said to myself,
Here is a congenial soul, a man that
can trust and hope we shall have no
secrets from each other. l am rich,
but wealth is not all that is worth liv-
ing for. You may be poor, Mr.. Bub-
bins
"My name is Nubbins, madam, not
Bubbinsp' shouted the embarrassed
bachelor, ''and II you will change the
subject to something less personal l
shall be greatly obliged to you"
"Obliged to me? Not at all, Mr..
Grubbins. No obligation whatever. !
am only too happy
"Great Peters!" groaned Nubbins,
"what on earth is the old lady driving
at, anyhow And then raising his
voice he fairly howled, Madam, your
nephew expects me to see you safely
off the train at Troy, and I'll do It.
but In the meantime propose
''To adjourn to the smoking car and
stay there until we reach your sta
tion," Nubbins was about to say, but
Miss Doolittle was too quick for him
Her ear caught the word propose, and
| that was enough for her. The su
| preme moment Of her life had arrived
| at last-or at least she thought it hat
and with a cry of Joy she Topped
| over on Nubbins' shoulder, knocking
his hat off and sending it spinning
across the aisle and nearly smashing il
his ribs against the side of the seat.
| "Oh, you dear, good man. felt SURE
right from the start that you wer
going to propose! l knew the symp
toms right off, and What's the mat
ter, lovey? Hain't been taken sick al
Of sudden, have your
But Nubbins, who had wriggled on
Of the seat and (without waiting to Sc
cure his hat was frantically sprintini
down the aisle in the direction Of tn
smoker, answered not
Dashing out of the door and slam
ming it shut behind him, he scoote'
across the platform and disappears
into the car ahead, and as he droppe'
into a corner seat next to the coal bo.
he gasped:
"By George! That was pretty mar
/ uOW eSCdpt LUZ ulC. Ii L utOA ~
away just as l did she'd have hunte
up a minister, In case there was on
to be had on the train, and married m
in spite of myself"
Half an hour later, when his courag
had begun to return (but not sufficient
ly to induce him to again enter the ca
containing Miss Doolittle), Nubbin
l % III
would you like to earn $5p'
"Just try me and see," responded tn
brakeman, with wink.
"All right. Go back into the mex
car and tell the six foot female in th
last car that I'm dead and that tn
corpse would like his hat"
"Yes, sir"
"And then, after you bring me m
hat, if you will stand guard and Sc
that she doesn't get in here to slobbe
. over my remains between here an
Troy, and when the train reaches ther
help her off with her bundles and Sc
that she stays off, I'll see that you &c
the V and another on top of it,"
, "Yes, sir. Just leave 1T to me, an
, I'll fix it all right, SIR
Il And five minutes later Nubbins ha
his rescued hat, now somewhat th
worse for wear. pulled down over h
! eyes and was peacefully doing in hi
seat, while the vigilant brakeman
r with one S. fee in his pocket and
second in view only 40 miles ava,
was doing picket duty at the door,
: New York Mail and Express.