The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-09-14
Mr.. 0ddie'S COurtshIp.


| lodger, an old bachelor and heart
whole man. That is To say, he was all
three until the day-considerably past
his fortieth blrthday-that a special
| fate took him I'm hand, and brought him
| face to face with the younger OF two
women who had recently come TO live
In one OF the houses opposite. They
We're evidently mother and daughter;
both were comely and the Hast named
of the two had one of the sweetest
faces 1t had ever been Mr.. Oddie's luck
To behold. She happened to drop a
small parcel while walking along their
mutual road and he hurried after her
with IL. Immersed i'm her own thoughts,
the woman did not hear him call po-
Nely 10 her and quite colored up when
the packet was presented, Dut IN"
smile with which she received in went
straight through Mr.. Oddie's somewhat
antiquated waistcoat. All fEe evening
he thought OF that smile, as he read
without the least taking IL in, The
Globe" turnover" which that night
was entitled Faded Relatives When
he went TO bed, he endeavored, with the
aid OF three candles, To get an ilnpar.
tlal view OF that region on the top Oh
his head where the hair ought TO have
bald spot had not troubled him much
up to that time; now he regarded IL
with dlstyust. However. Mr. oddie COM
forted himself with the reflection that
many men at his age were much bdlc.
er, ana that his moustache was what
you might caD spruce.
Mr.. Oddie had led an amiable. pune
tual. uneyentful existence, going to
and returning from the city every
weekday with regularity and Dispatch
the kind of person who IL never asked
for his season ticket. He was comfort
ably off, and had no one dependent up
on him. the few relatives he possessed
lived i'm the shires. Now and then a
batch Of country cousins came up 10
town on pleasure bent Mr.. Oddie
thereupon exertei himself valiantly to
conduct them To Nine. Tussauds. the
Tower, the British Museum and other
places OF wild excitement. AfterWard he
looked little wan and pale for two or
three days, and put up mis- feet after
dinner.
Mr.. Oddie had remained Il bachelor
all these years possibly because nobody
had set To work TO marry him. IL was
not that he objected to women. on the
contrary. he admired the fair sex, as a
whole. quite unreserveily, and had the
incest of dear. old-fashiOned notions
about them. But he had never given his
his landlady looked upon him as a fix
ture.
The returning OF that apparently in
nocent looking parcel marked an epoch.
Life was never the same again TO the
!ittIe old bachelor. He had not watched
Miss Hcxham's gentle face and Well
developed but graceful figure for ten
days before he became convinced that
Il was not good for a. corn dealer To
live alone. 1T hardened him" said Mr.
Oddie to himself, and he stirred his
coffee with self-reproaching sternness.
IA man wsssted softenng influences
about him'-here he hurled "A piece OF
fried ham To the cat: he needed a gen,
tile hand to guide and restrain him.
Mr. Oddie AT this point discovered that
he had forgotten 20 wind his watch up
the night before.
The truth was he was i'm love. and
with a young woman with whom he
had never exchanged a syllable. He
learned her name from his iandlady, an
austere person whose mind was set up
on "a curious form Of religion. and who
did not take much though; about friv-
olous worldly matters. Without object
ing 10 her lodger personally. Mrs. Ro-
per nevertheless, entertained no vain
hopes that he would be saved at the
last day. The elect. who We're To De
caught up on the wings of great bird,
time times. and a-half. would be un-
commonly few. according to Mrs. Ro-
per's belief Two hundred from Liver
pool eighty or thereabouts from North
ampton. her native place. and q matter
of nine thousand or ten ihouSand from
London. the great Babylon. The nusn-
her of the saints would, indeed, he re-
stricted.
Questioned discreetly by her lodger,
this worthy, but depressing, person
could tell him little regarding the Two
ladies who were INW the objects or sucn
tender interest To him They were a
Mrs. and Miss Hexham. SO she heard
and Mrs. Hexham was either dear or
dumb or il might be both, for her
daughter talked on her fingers to her.
and she answered back i'm the same
way.
VAS sflrp as lightning they do It. I'm
told" remarked Mrs. Roper. heaving n
deep sigh '"Tis wonderful. but VIII II
do 'em any good when the last trump
sounds: that's what I want to know p!
VIII you like few peas. billed with a
sprig Of mint, with your dinner tonight
sar?"
Clearly there was not much nforma
tion TO be got out OF Mrs. Roper. a
woman not given TO ordinary gossip.
Just then. too. she and her fellow be-
levers were busy settling the exact
number OF the eject likely 10 ~ w
from Manchester: her thoughts. there
fore. were fully occuUed.
MIR. Oddie's courtship was a very de-
corous affair. In Spain. despite Of his
wears. he would doubtless have adopt
cd the role of an iron ater." a. the
youth who goes counting under his lady
loves balcony is styled. But in sober,
unromantir England the suitor does
not eat iron, ur serenade the queen VI
MS heart on the guitar. He has 10 be
properIy introduced. AM the little corn
dealer knowing this resuectful
custom. would have given anything for
an Introduction which would AZ
lowed him to call and establish
frienfiv relations. The months
passed. and stin ne could not get that
thin. but necessary end of the wedge i'm.
In a village he would certainly have
manpged 10 become ACQUAINTED with
tn. Hexhams I'm a week. but Iond IN
people pride themselves upon having
nothing whatever 20 dowith theirneigh-