The Wilmington daily Republican., 1901-10-14
THE END OF IT ALE.

Dolly and had been arguing.as we ugu
lly had. But, strange to say neither o! III
had enjoyed it. 1t was a regularly under
stood institution between us that we would
quarrel about once in so often. 1t was such
> lot of fun making up.
Dolly and | were not engaged Tut some
time we were going TO be. This was an
other regularly understood institution be.
tween us. This was lot of fun, also, par
ticuarly as our respective families-the
heads Of them, rather-had long ago decided
that we had better keep apart for some
time to come. Because they had so de-
cided, and sterny forbidden any engage
ment until we should be OF age, at least, we
gloried in the fact that we should be ell
gagged some time. And tonight, for the
first time, we had enjoyed neither the quar-
rel nor the reconciliation, and neither OF us
had made any reference to that coming en-
gagelncnt.
/ had been rather silent about it for
some time was so anxious 10 make the
enger.Ecnt Il reality, ard | hardly knew
how to set about it, Dolly, feared, had
i, been silent recently fer quite other causes.
The grim old aunt with whom she lived
! and who was her guardian would harm my
. ttUSp al Sit CpuHl, itlt SuIt pphy iC-
I ported that sna, TOO, had been silent con-
ccrn!na the coming engagement for some
| time. As opposition is always food for
| Dolly'S determination, ! was not as grate-
J tul for thie silence on the part of her aunt as
! ! might have been
| While ] was wondering now how to rem.
! der the engagement an actual fact instead
| OF an cphcmeral promise. Boly's voice
broke the silence snappshly.
This is the last quarrel | will ever have
(! with YOU it announced, to my aston!sh-
mcrt.
81 hope 50. Dolly" answered goirg over
and sitting down on the sofa beside her.
Il detcst cowardicc," said Dolly, still more
ucrimoniously.
Il loatne it," answered, still very much
in the dark.
We've done nothing but quarrel and
fight for years" ! fancied tears in her
voice. although her snapsing eyes belied
the fancy. I'm tired OF it, and ! never
mean to quarrel with You again"
Dolly" said h. pica>iingy, tell me what
I've done to annoy you
was conscious, Immediately, Of having
taken the wrong tack.
"Noshing!" You would have thought she
wnS ready TO eat ne. from her tone and
manner. i've been just as much to blame
for all the quarrelirg as you have. But I'm
tired and sick of it all
She turned from me pettishly and pulled
the fringe off an entire side OF the prettiest
sofa pillow beside her before she spoke
again.
"Eve.yhody is making fun of the way we
al aud fr-'t ~ ! rly
spoken in low voice. The girls make
my lila Il burden. teasing mel
"Tney make nre a burden asking when
you are going to let me propose
Dolly Shrugged her shoulder disdainfully,
but | knew was on the right tack. dared
not draw any closer. but | did venture to
lay my band on hcrs-a l:ttle tinidly, but she
liled the actio none the less for that-and
| pushed my advantage to the full and i'm.
mchlately.
ITS rather unkind OF you to keep me in
this position 50 long, Dolly | continued.
"It's hard on fellow to be known as hang
ing about a womun, with netting settled,
for so long. Haven't proved my devotion
yet, Dolly"
| knew she'd like this sort of talk. Wom-
en- always do. And when they're dying to
be kind to you they don't mind accepting
any reasonable opportunity Of yielding
their forgiveness graeiously. Besides, it
was stating the matter nicely to say Dolly
had kept me in this indefinite position. We
had both taken and stad in it, for reasons
Of mutual fun and enjoyment, and, until
recently, | hadn't suffered at all. The lel-
lows had troubled me little bit of late.
Dolly regarded me gravey, and her snap.
ping eyes sottened. The hand over which
mine rested trcmhled a little. | took my
cue from that hand. Gathering courage,
folded my own long fingers around it. Then
| said what | had been longing to say for
so long.
Dolly I whispered, "why need either
of us suffer from f,n.makng any longer?
You were Of age last Monday although
really hadn't remembered the fact in this
connection before-'I was OF age some time
ago. Why shouldn't we leave off talking of
the time vixen We are going to be engaged
and be engaged Immediately? We're neith-
er of US children, to be dictated to, any
longer Lets be engaged right now. Dolly"
"lignt now!' Dolly's eyes were wide. her
tone wondering. "You don't mean now
this minute"
II do, Dolly" said l. firmly. "This second,
now, this moment and emphasized my
assevegations with kiss.
"YouIl have to persuade me- said Dolly,
all laughing, when she emerged from my
arms And | was busily engaged in per
shading her when the door opened and her
aunt walked into the room.
But Dolly and l are nervous, tempera-
and we can both move quickly,
upon occa sion. Doly's aunt, who is a most
old lady, noticed that we were as
far apart as TIE room allowed us to be as
ioon as size had come in.
"Ueydey. What's ali this" she cried, in
terestcdly. ",rhc beginning Of another of
your spasms of quarrelirg and fighting, l
suppose"
And then il was that Dolly gave evil !
dence Of having been successfully ''per-
suaded.'
20, no, dear aunt she said, softly, with |
a lovely glance in my direction, its the
end Of them all. x hicago Tribune.