Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1906-07-06
"A QUESTIONING;
- a a ROMANCE q REALITY.
BY MISS ANNIE EDWARDS.

view. 1 lninR you. my uedf, at AL
events, are not fitting person to de-
cry marriage"
n think we came to a decision some
time ago that there was one subject
Of which you and would never speak
until It was forced upon us My mar
riager-the clear voice falters a bit
'can have no connection. in the whole
wide world, with you"
None. Possibly that is the fact
that has made me think of opening a
domestic happiness account on my own
behalf"
There is a little pause after this;
then:
at would be asking too muchr' ex-
claims the girls voice, petulantly; "it
would be trenching on ground too deli
cate for an outside observer, to inquire
the name of your intendedT
81 put much the same question to
myself to-day"
"To yourself-what absurdlty|
"At breakfast; limiting my speeula-
tlons, for forms sake, to the company
present. Naturally, but for forming
ham would have fixed on Lady
Lydia"
THAT goes without saying. You for
get, perhaps, that Lady Lydia's great
est charm is-Afr. birmingham"
"Afterward. coming down, with
crash, from the ideal to the actual and
earnest l thought-You need not look
or. e,aorpf,ti rnr- r,onr ohftd 7 ~, ,or-
fectly in earnest"
"Seornful? 1? How wonderful ones
face must belle one at timesw
That could not do better than
think of Agatha de Mauley."
"a widow"
al adore widows"
CUnder the shelter Of the rock be-
meath, Mrs. Chester coIors. Sir John
Severne is looking singularly, unac-
eountably i'll at his easel
"a woman who has been already
married" proceeds the voice masculine,
with slow emphasis-"a woman who
has been once trained, however badly,
in the way wherein she should go. must
have gained some rudimentary knowl-
edge of the art of dining. If the first
husband has temper, she has prob
ably been drilled to putting on her bon=-
net with dispatch. Two cardinal yir-
tues This brings us to a question of
the late Mr.. de Mauley's temper"
'Do you know what am thinking"
cries the girl, impatiently. 81 am
thinking that every month, every hour
sou live. you grow more and more
foolish"
81 know it. At two-and-thirty years
Of age am fool enough still to carry a
heart about with me, somewhere"
"A heartr she repeats mockingly.
"a heart that beats for Agatha de
Mauleyp
"of course, if you choose to say So"
"A designing creature, old enough to
be your grandmother, and fast, extrav-
Agant enouga-nO! l should be sorry
to finish the comparison. Married to
Agatha de Afauley, you would be in
fail. both of you. in fortnight. Now.
if you were to turn your thoughts to
Matte Rivers"
ASeu JWenty-mne. emancipdteu 10
the extent of living alone in chambers,
suspected by her enemies Of the most
advanced theology, and by her friends
Of the very heaviest fiirtations, and at
the present moment collecting mate
ciais for three-volumn novel; 1t is a
curious fact" the speaker remarks, de-
liberately. like a man carefully ran
sacking the storehouse of his thoughts,
"a deuced curious fact-that all the
new looking people who go about the
world in yachts should be accompanied
by writing woman in search Of ma
terials for a novel. l met with pre-
cisely the same thing last autumn
somewhere on the Levant, was it,"
cousin Felix. you may not be very
deep in some subjects. not quite as
deep as Fraulein Schnapper, for in
stance But for generalizations, at
once rapid and profound, don't know
your equal"
''Yes. If I had Clementina and
dictionary constantly at hand believe
might pass muster in time"
Sir john Severne springs 10 his feet
with an abruptness that sends his
color-box, pencils and Daphne's por-
trait spinning!