The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1905-01-07

I pened. but | confess he paused-''l
confess | should like to know how you
managed to @ci here
Her eyes opened wide in astonishm"nt.
How came here? She repeated.
.Why. Berkeley invited me, of course.
/ Mother and were to have come down to
/ .cthcr by the 4 dock train. In the al-
ternoon She had to pay an important call,
and We arranged to 20 separately to the
/ station and meet here.
| And one missed the tram. did 1t
myself last night, he ab>cr, ed, with erin,
Yes. was the culprit, and moi finding
mother anywhere presumed She had gone
/ on. 81 got into the slow one that left ten
minute later. When arrived here there
/ was nobody to meet me, aud ! engaged 4
carriage to drive me to Weston House,
] Bruce Merriott laughed he had srl>ped
/ the situation.
You did not happen by any chance to
say Welston Lodge? he inquired, mildly.
| =. 1t was a slip noticed in the paper an
uouneing your engagement and
( She gave start.
Weston Lodge =, She exclaimed,
Why. | believe
+ He lc, the way to the window, and she
( followed wonderiugly lie pointed across
/ the country TO tiny hill a short distance
away
Behind that Hill is Wel,ton Ilouse--it
belongs to my cousin Berkeley. This,
Wels,ou Lodge, is the property Of my
aunt. Miss Barbara MerrioIt
There was a dazei expression on the
girl : pretty face.
You mean tn say that We actually
come To the wrong house she cried.
And mother /, over there. suppose,
wondering why stayed at homie
The hlra seemed to tickle Miss Rlrlara.
for She llu.hcI untjl the irar~ ran down
her ia,,..
Il uaiarall, mi,,o-,k You lor oue Of the
,i,itors gguor Nir,I me we're c,,a,ug.
she saSG+,l
The girl ~,oa,i gazing hlankly At Mer
not then. rs she Saw smile gradually
rr,er r,uu,I hi, rnoulh. she br'ke into !
laugh herself
Miss Rari.arl r.s>. irnm her chair. She
was struggling Ia suppress her laughter
Nv dear Rnl,e. sou must be- nearly
iAmi,h,7l We have just finished Sll
down. aud lerhal- yoa eas further en-
tighten Mj~y t,rc,tou Willis | order the
lunch. she added moving tn the door.
Iie al down with alacri,y and helped
hiun...lf To some ham The girl went to
Ihs head Of the table aud paarci him cut
>aur r,fe, She vas wonderfully grace
iul. be- reflected Then aS hc tnok the
cup from her thrir r}e~ met. lie saw
her hte, tr-nabl. wlIh l,~ir,. ta smile and
ihey l-o,h laughed
.Thi, is alugst curious, he sad a
>.,luel tn the episode of the fan.
She .aijrnly turned round on him.
What a -lleudtd pond for skating ?
,hr exclaimed, p1s> the iet' bear yei
Il "a, afraid | shall have TO bare you
with quite li,tle history, be aid. EliSe
you eou quite understand the peculiar
circumstance m the case, Her lE~ part
vi in vonlerment, and he laughed
You sec. Berkeley and |, although tirsl
cousins, are NJ, friends in iact-doub,les,
very wl~rly-hc refuses To recognize my
existence
\ look oE anxiety crossed her face, and
she waitc,l eagerly for him to continue
You Il hear it ,,on enough from Bcrke,
ley. ~ | may as Well tell you now. The
story runs rather ike two penny melo-
drama, Tie paused aud looked acFoSs
the grounds The affair happened when
| va, 4, c,lle.e--a httle question Of iorg
ins my father name to a bank oheqns,
The girl shiyered.
..Circamstanlial evidence proved beyond
doubt that WAS the culprit, he continued.
speaking sill in the same light tone. And
though the affair was hushed up, my father
decided wss too utterly bad to have any
thing 10 DO with, and 50 promptly disln
herited me vanished to Australia,
whence | have only just returned. Berke-
ley on my fathers death, very properly
stepped into the cSiate>--virtue rewarded,
iii, voice came TO a stop. The girl had
zone very white, and was watching him IN
trntly He turned his head, and he read
the inquiry in her eyes
oh, everybody believed il, You know,
be said. with a smile. That i, with the
exception Of Aunt Barbara-and she, ro,',
Is in disgrace for having invited me here.
/ / m afraid they'n never forgive her
There was moment silence then he
turned to her with a frank smile
- now you see your position: y"u
have unwittiugiy Strayed into the enemy
camp Il wouldn quite do, would 1t, for
you to pass the morning skating in the
company Of family disgrace man who
once committed i criminal action
She lookej up into hi, brouzed face and
/ gazri CRITICALLY at him.
Ne. with snch man that would not
/ do at all She said at length, slowly
Yet il YOU do not mind, should like to
stay and skate with you.
That's quite nice of you! he said,
with queer little laugh.
The door opened, and Miss Barbara re
I turned Her nephew Sprang with laugh
/ toward her.
/ Aunt. Miss Gretton is going to stay to
| lunch ior some skating, ~ you need not
/ hurry about sending note round. An
/ hour or 50 more does not matter when they
probably think she Is sill in London. Come
along, Miss Gretton
1t was a perfect winter morning. aud
the ice was in the pink Of condition Mer-
riott skated well. aud was delighted to
find that his companion was every bit his
equal
At last they heard the luncheon bell
ring, and they took off their skates relnct
antly.
They found Miss Merriott botting let
ter she had just written. She read 1t
through TO them with smile Of satisiac
tion:
Dear Berkeley--The lady to whom you
have the honor to be engaged came here
by mistake last night She stopped this
morning for some skating, and will come
over to you after tea. so if You will kindly
send brougham say at o clock, she will
he in readiness. Your atfectionate aunt