The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-02-14

Mr.. Grundy'S when the bell rang tor
recess who, under one pretext or
another, beguiled Patty to linger after
hours, till the dusk shut them in alone
with the stars, while he walked home
ward with her, repeating some Incl
dents of his travels, reciting some
passionate sonnet of his own. 1t was
not Rob who left a rose on her desk
one morning with love verse when
the sentiment is pretty and personal,
one does not blame the poet because
he is not Milton one is too apt to
think he is.
Rob had never attempted a rhyme
in his life. If Mrs. Grundy, junior,
had not been summering at the Swiss
Lakes no doubt she would have de-
vised way to end the love making
of her nephew, but there was nobody
to interfere old Madame Grundy
was too deaf and purblind to remem-
Der that such things as youth and
love existed. That Paul Spencer,
with his poetic inspirations, his faith
omless yes, his worldly lore, his
experience and popularity, should sue
for a word with a poverty stricken
governess, should hang upon her will
and court her presence, captivated
Patty's imagination and touched her
heart. They would sit over the en-
bers of the schoolroom fire while he
bewitched her with stories from the
operas and sung their most love 1orn
airs in his fine tenor till the tears
stood in Patty's pretty eyes, or he
would bring his violin at odd moments
and improvise some tender melody to
be dedicated to her, till she began to
believe him an unappreciated Mozart.
Perhaps the fact that Paul Spencer S
wife would possess and enjoy every
thing from which Patty Morris had
been cut off may have lent her hero
a halo, may have made his eloquence
more eloquent, his tongue more per-
suasive. But if it was so Patty was
unconscious of it; there was nothing
mercenary in her nature, she was only
human, although Rob thought her
divine. She had conviction that if
Paul had been born a plowboy he
would have found his place on Par
nassus that though he should waken
one day to find her nature too narrow
and incomplete for his companionship,
she should not blame him over-much,
nor unlove him, but carry the remem-
brance of her happiness SHUT into her
heart like faded rose pressed in a
book of poems. 1t is perhaps we'll
that we begin life with an oversupply
of sentiment, we should otherwise
have so little left at the journeys end.
Very likely Patty never thought of
Rob as lover at all |; he was the
friend of the family, a schoolmate,
about whom there were no reserves or
mysteries perhaps he even seemed
commonplace and unfinished beside
Mr.. Spencer, with his invulnerable
the world. In the meantime things
had begun to brighten a little in the
Morris family; Mrs. Morris had the
house painted and the blinds renew
ed; there was a new carpet in the
drawing room and the girls had new
suits and hats, not homemade not
all at once, but by almost impercepti-
BILE degrees, the shabby Morris man
sion had begun to blossom into ele-
gance and the shabby toilets to follow
suit. Anita had new piano in ex-
chage for the old one, and singing
master.
Mamma" said the wise Lena,
"are we living on Our principal, or
where do you get so much money!"
"I have realized on something your
father left" answered her mother.
Patty's engagement was conhded to
no one outside the family except to
Rob. The fact was, Mr.. Spencer was
not quite prepared to acknowledge it
to his friends; his mother, who had
views of her own for him, might have
something disagreeable to say, and al
though he proposed to have his own
way in the end, he naturally hated a
scene, and believed that affairs would
finally adjust themselves without his
interference in the meantime he was
enjoying himself. 1t did not strike
Mrs. Morris strangely that the affair
should be kept private for awhile,
till Mrs. Grundy should return from
the Swiss Lakes, and Mr.. Grundy
take holiday, occupied as she was
with her own concerns. That any
one should object to her Patty
would seem preposterous. In her
opinion a Doctors family ranked with
the first in the land, and it did not oc-
cur to her that any one could think
differently to be member of the
faculty was to belong to the aristocra-
cy. As things began to brighten in
the Morris family the girls began to
be invited out more and more; it was
found that Anita had fine drawing
room voice and obliging disposition,
that Lena could talk art with the
esthetes, and that young men flocked
to the soiree which Patty attended.
Moreover it was known through Mr..
Bert, broker, that Mrs. Morris had
invested in United States bonds.
81 thought that the doctor left
them as poor as church mouse" he
said to his wife.
80 he did but she has realized
on something I hear. I can't think
what maybe he had Alabama claims,
or perhaps some stock they held may
have risen."
'Their stock has gone up with a
vengeance, said Mr.. Bert.
eyes, it's the Morrises here and
the Morrises there; one never used
to hear of them till the other day.
Did you get the bitters I begged you
to remember 7"
Couldn't recall the name to save
my SOUL"
''They are not warranted to save
-o,.1 14J,, n1I Mrc