The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-12-15
tonished gaze and letter, which read

| tOn1SneQ gaze ana letter, Wnlcn reaQ
as follows
".Siy Allow me to return your
property, which by some mistake was
sent to me. AS to my style, con-
slider it presumptuous on your part to
pass any comment on what cannot
possibly be of interest or concern of
yours. l must heartily indorse your
desire to discontinue all future cores
pondence, as your insults are only
less clever than your compliments.
Yours, &c.,
MABELLE WHITNEY"
Poor John. read it with sinking
heart, too utterly miserable to ex-
press the surprise it merited. An
other riddle to read, he thought.
Was the whole world turning topsy
turvy and with it his powers of CON-
prehension? First, letter of accep-
tance for an invitation which he had
not given, and now this whitening re-
fusal and the return of his poor de-
spised violets. Well, goodbye to
his dreams of love and future bliss
and the castles he had built in his
vain ambition. The disappointment
he would bear so bravely no one
would suspect its existence. But
how explain to Miss Davenport her
mistake, and, picking up her letter,
he carefully reread it, Her quota
tion of the word accept was bit
strange. Its blindness suggested his
own use of the word. What if he
had made mistake in the letters and
inclosed them in the wrong envelopes?
In that case he could understand all
but his own asinine stupidity. Was
ever man in such a box before? En-
gagged by letter to a girl he did not
love and refused by the woman he
did love and in way that left no
chance for explanation that he could
see. Perhaps later he might find a
way to enlighten her as to matters, but
how to explain to Miss Davenport
without cruelty wounding her pride
and making matters worse? Of
course he must call tonight and take
her to the concert, trusting for some
chance to straighten out this tangle.
John Hobbs never forgot that eve
ming, and how he avoided actually
committing himself by asking that
question he presumed he was expect
ed to ask, but in spite of his uncom-
Portable position and unenviable
frame of mind he found himself en-
joying the music, and could not but
notice his companions attractive face
and charm of manner, and that her
we'll bred composure was enhanced
by quiet modesty and seriousness
of manner to which he had been blind
before.
Somehow John found himself say
ing he would call on Sunday evening,
which he did, and really enjoyed the
companionship of these two refined
women. This call was repeated sew
eral times during the following
month, and still John had not asked
the question, but on the contrary had
begun to wonder why he had not be-
fore noticed the many attractive quail
ties Miss Davenport possessed As
no words of explanation had passed
between him and Mabelle Whitney, it
was useless to anticipate any hope in
that direction.
As for Mildred Davenport he had
grown to admire the many beautiful
qualities of her womanly sweetness.
AS daughter she was devoted and
thoughtful, and then the thought
grew into his mind, would she not
make an ideal wife to the man who
should be fortunate enough to win
her? Had he really any chance, he
asked himself, dozen times a day,
and one night soon after he quietly
told Mildred the whole story, saying,
"And now that my mistake has been
the means of my finding out what
real love is and should be, will you,
knowing all the story of my stupid
blunder and happy awakening to
better, truer affection, accept de-
votion which will prove my whole
life is yours and yours only?" and
Mildred's acceptance was given and
not implied.