Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1901-01-12
A BIT OF BRAID,

"ClumSy!' she said i'll Il voice ringing
with scorn. She caught up her skirt, just
raising it from the ground, and FASTENED
on. But she threw a few more or less ac-
ceptabe home thrusts over her shoulder
as she went.
They had reached the landing stage
where the boat was mOOred. The girl
proceeded to take her place in it with the
calmness and ease which only come 20
her sex through practice and long suffer-
ing. She was seated with the ropes in
her hands, before she ready looked up at
the man who had followed hcr-into the
boat 10y this time.
you might at least apologize" she
said.
Il do apologize" he replied. very
humbly." His manner and the laughter
in his eyes did not, however, accord Who'll
" with such an attitude.
"Wcll, really she began, but he in
terruptcd her.
81 will go further-you will grant it Is
long way further. l will explain"
There seems room for it,
He was quite a genius at Selling his
chances. He took her words as Il con-
ccsSion and dipped his souls into the wa
ter ut the same time.
Il shall be able to talk so much better
when we are moving" he said artfully.
81 fancy my stroke may prove as worthy
of comment as your brothers." he added.
He was still smiling, and he noted with
growing satisfaction, that so was she.
"Well, of all the
"And you do not even know who | am!
| Check? Oh, don't be hard Luck if you
like. am proverbially lucky. ! am not
to blame for that, am |? Your brother
| told you he was expecting his college
chum, Charles Dean? | was just coming
along. Neither of you saw me. | heard
| you send him back for your cape He
| paused, with sudden conjunction.
you are not coldY' he questioned anX
| iously. 81 forgot. and | have nothing in
the way of a wrap to offer you"
mo, | am not cold" she said as stihy
as she could.
"You walked on, you know, and th"n
| temptation seized mean evil spirit dis
guised. most charmingly disguised, y
| piece of braid-and | could not resist it,.
| l was only afraid you would think | had
| been suspiciously quick for a brother
81 just wasn't thinking" she admitted,
dimpling.
The mood for confession grew on him.
"Or that you might look round" said he
81 wish
"No, don't say it. Hear me out first.
| Honestly, | was not entirely actuated by
motives of mere selfshness, as might at
! first appear. | put it to myself like this:
| Here is a charming girl going to spend a
most perfectly delightful summer after
noon on the river with no more exciting
companion than the brother she has
known from her earliest days, whose
thoughts are as open to her as her own;
| who hasn't a popularity, or even vir-
| tue, left undiscovered. ! argued with my
self about it. Should let such a paltry
thing as the lack of an introduction pre-
vent me from giving this girl a treat
"Oh," she cried, you really are
Eyes" he said, "it stands to reason
even as study-a sort of UNEMPLOYED
continent so to speak. A strange young
man in such a case must present himself
| in the light of an acquisition"
Her eyes were dancing. why don't
you say such an exceedingly nice young
man while you are about itT' she asked
mockingly.
81 will go one better" said he, with
your permission. Such an exceptionally
nice pair And he bowed.
"Oh, you are dreadful-dreadful" But
she did not say it as a fact to be de-
plored. She looked away from the soft
summer landscape down to the edge of
her serge skirt, with its trimming Of
braid and the fateful loop.
"They ID sew these so insecurely," she
said. You haven't pin to spare"
at seems almost a pity" said he while
she busted herself over it, "but ! suppose
| it will be just as well now"
The afternoon was, as he had said, de-
Iightful. and his swift stroke left nothing
TO be desired. 1t was not cold, after all,
and she never gave another thought to
| the cape until she saw it, when at last
| they got back. hanging deserted on the
boathouan door, where her brother had
left it when he arrived there, to find her
| vanished.
The brother and sister were very alike
in disposition and took things lightly and
Us they came. So he never openly re-
scented her desertion. Perhaps. as her
new friend pointed out, he, too, had his
more than adequate compensation.
This is just story of the inevitable,
for the man of resource was something
| of a character reader. and he had looked
at the girl before he stepped.
She called it. in her kindcst moods, an
anticipation but he maintained that lie
gave the incident its most appropriate IL
tie when he named it "forerunner.'
And this it was.
The weather favored them, and his
visit heightened from n weeks end to a
week and more-ample time for man
Of such ready methods to win for himself
| q girl not indspOSPd to be won. Thus his
visit to the brother ended in his marriage
| with the sster-an old tale. but often a
| very pleasant one.
1t was later in the season, and boating
interests had given way to the necessity
of stocktaking in fashionable wearing
apparel and discussions on the relative
merits of new and antique furniture.
al could almost wish" she said sweet
", "that it was possible to trim white
satin wedding dress with braid in sort
Of squiggly pattern Of loops and turns
"If you contemplate having one loop
pendent to trip me up during the cere-
mony." he said laughingly, 81 am off,
"Then perhaps it is just as we'll to re-
serve braid as trimming for serge ana
cloth" she said.-Chicago Times-llerald.
A Wing with n WaE.
A we'll known broker, who docs bust
ness near the corner of Broad and Chest
nut streets, has the odd faculty of being