The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-03-03

COUSIN WILLIE.

said her cousin Catherine, with a
smile, as she bent forward to pick up
a dead leaf off her geranium.
Millicent and Catherine More were
girls of twenty-five and twenty-five
"old maids" the seventeen-year-
olders called them-who taught
school and supported themselves COM
fortably by their own unaided efforts.
Millicent was pretty, with red lips,
a clear, bright complexion and hair
touched with the warm auburn gold
that artists copy and poets rave of,
and Millicent had not quite given up
her little dream of love and matri-
mony.
Catherine was small and plain, with
ordinary gray eyes, hair like every
body else's and not the slightest pre-
tentions to beauty.
Upon this particular December af-
ternoon, just as the girls were deplor-
ing the monotony of their daily life,
the postman tapped at the door with
a letter.
ooh, Uncle George is dead in Aus
tralia," gasped Millicent.
"Oh, Milly-and he has left an
orphan boy p added Catherine, the
tears brimming into her eyes. eve
must adopt him, Milly-we must
bring him up"
Milly drew back a little.
"I don't see why" she said, some
what coldly. "Uncle George never
did anything for u.s..
Perhaps, dear, he was even poorer
than we. At all events, he is dead
now-and the child is left alone in
the world. I'll sit down and write to
the lawyer this minute"
4 x X X
1t was lovely June day, with the
sky blue and clear as baby's eyes
and the air full of scents from the
blossoming buckwheat fields. Cath
crime More, having not without diff
Guilty, obtained temporary substi-
tute in her school, went to New York
to meet her new charge on the steam
er Harvest Lass, which had been tel
egraphed from Sandy Hook the day
before.
''Little Willie will know me, she
said to herself, because sent my
photograph by the last mail. / want
ed my face to seem familiar to him,
poor lone lamb"
She stood on the pier eagerly scan
ming the countenance of every child
that landed, her face frightened once
or twice as she saw boy whom she
thought might be little Willie. when
all of sudden a hand was laid light
looking up into a handsome bronzed
face far above her.
"Sir |" she cried, starting back.
"I beg your pardon, said a frank,
pleasant voice. ''I did not mean to
alarm you. But is this Miss More ?"
She inclined her head.
''I am your cousin William.
And this time Catherine started
back in more surprise than ever.
"Sir," she said, "you are mistaken.
Willie is little boy"
Hardly" returned the tall stran-
ger, unless you would call me a little
boy. Dear Cousin Kitty, no one ever
told you 1 was child or poor. 1t
was your own inference. Thank
heaven, I am independent and veal
thy, and, as 1 have come to mans es-
tate, 1 think it is rather my duty to
take care of you than allow you to
take care of me"
Catherine looked at her handsome
cousin in mute astonishment. This
grand upsetting of all her theories and
ideas was more than she could COM
prehend just at once.
''But Will
But Catherine. Nay, my dear
little gray-eyed cousin, the lawyers
have told me how willing you were to
adopt and care for the homeless or
phan, and how my Cousin Millicent
shrank from the task. And from the
bottom of my heart I thank you for
what your are ready to do"
How Dorcas started when she saw
what a sort of fellow ''little Willie"
had proved to be. How Mrs. Hopper
giggled behind her bonnet frames
when she thought of the little child S
crib and the picture books upstairs.
"Of course, such an elegant gentle
man as that will go to the hotel, 4"
said Mrs. Hopper. But he did not.
He stayed at the cottage, sleeping on
the back parlor sofa until other ac-
commodations could be provided for
him. And When Millicent came over
with her prettiest smile and out
stretched hand the young Australian
received her with an odd, curt cold
ness that made her feel excessively
uncomfortable.
"You see, Cousin Milly," said he,
"you didn't want to be bothered with
me; you thought the Australian au-
thorities ought to be compelled to pro-
vide for me-"
And when Mrs. Hopper heard that
little Catherins More was to marry
her rich cousin she was not at all sur
prised.
cts the most natural thing in the
world" said she, "only it's pity
that Catherine isn't a little prettier. !"
But Catherine More was satisfied
with her lovers declaration that to
him her face was the sweetest in all
the world. .-Exokange.
THE Kansas city journal says that
college boy and his best girl were
out driving one afternoon. They