Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1908-03-26
THuRMONr FREDERICK COUNTY, MD, THURSDAY. MARCH 2G

-, i y
and changed you would not care to
speak Of them now"
"Grand, because I am twenty-oneT'
"And master of Yatton-"
"And your next-door neighbor," said
Clifford, quickly. 1--WE shall live from
henceforth within half mile of each
other. Miss Grand, hope we shall be
good friends"
II hope so, Mr.. Mohun," said Jane,
demurely.
"You used to be so awfully taken up
with your studies and your cottage Wis
iting that there was no chance Of see.
ing you except at church; and then,
you know, you never by any chance
took your eyes from your prayer book.
Are you as deeply engaged now? Does
the old woman with wonderful bonnets
and indomitable rectltude OF principle
hold you in bondage yetr'
"You mean Miss Lynch, my dear
good auntie, as call her still, although
she is really no relation to me. Yes,
aunte lives with me always. but as
my friend, my Nndest friend and com.
panion, not my governess. am past
twenty now. have done with lessons
and with bondage long ago."
"And spend your whole time, instead
Of part of it, in aiding and abetting Mr..
Follett, as you used to dor
"And spend my whole time," said
Jane, with her shy smile. "as selfishly
and uselessly as any human being liv'
ing"
"Impossiblew
"But l can assure you Of it, Mr.. Mo
hun. am not near as industrious or
praiseworthy in any way as l was at
afteen. The fact is, have really moth
Ing whatever to do. don't visit much.
Mr.. Follett and Miss Brown and every
body else care a great deal more Tor
Miss Lynch's conversation than they 90
for mine; and as to duty, dare say
should like it very much indeed II 1t
happened to come in my way. but. un-
fortunately, It never does, and SO l am
Idle"
"What a dreadful condition of life"
ITO a well-regulated mind, no doubt;
but I am sorry to say I am perfectly
contented, and never find any OF my
days long enough. If every hour OF
them was filed with some appropriate
duty-as all the books on education say
they ought to bel am quite sure
should not be happier than l am In my
idleness."
IT am glad anyway that your idleness
brings you here" said Clifford; and as
he spoke he threw away his half-
smoked cigar and most unmistakably
prepared himself to walk by James
side. II hope you-and-Miss Lynch
ofen come here in the summer even
ings, Miss GrandT"
II come here about five evenings
week, Mr.. Mohun. My favorite walk
indeed think the only very pretty
walk we possess-is through the WOODS
to Haldon. am going there now"
"Would you mind my going, tooT
"Oh, thank you! should be very
clad indeedw but she colored very
forclbly again. II am only SURPRISED
Mt your being here, not IN the village
on such an evening as this"
And then Clifford, with good deal OF
warmth, entered upon all he had gone
through since that morning in the way
of speech making and congratulations;
and how thankful he had been, at last,
TO steal away by himself into the
woods ("little thinking whom l should
find here, Miss Grand!D; and Miss
Grand, her shyness gradually leaving
her, confessed that she, too, had
stolen away, because public festivities
oppressed her-especially festivities at
which everybody felt called upon to
make rapturous speeches about the vir-
tues of somebody else-and then they
began to laugh together over little
childish jests of former days; and Gil
ford asked her, gravely, If she ever got
valentines now? And, II she did, he
hoped the spelling in them was better
than in some that he remembered writ
ing when he was sixteen; and, final
ly, by the time they reached the moor
both had thoroughly and forever over
come the constraint Of their meeting
and were talking almost with the old
boy and girl frankness Of five years be-
fore.
It is fearfully easy thing for man
to fall in love at twenty-one.
Before they had sauntered together
for half an hour upon the moor, Cir.
ford's pulse was beating faster and
faster with every look Jane threw to
him from her soft eyes. He had ac-
knowledged to himself that she was
precisely the one woman above all
other women whom it would be pos
sible for him to love; had thought over
several of his friends who had married
as Young as twenty -one, and formed
rapid but strong conclusions as to the
wisdom of following in the same steps
without delay.
Miss Grand knew nothing Of the
world and was very little vain of her
own charms. But, in whatever else a
woman may be ignorant one thing she
always knows-the precise extent to
which any man has lost his head about
her. AS Mohun lay on the smooth
heather beside the stone where she had
seated herself to watch the sunset,
Jane knew perfectly, and without look
ing toward him, how intently and with
what boyish, outspoken admiration his
eyes dweit on her face; she felt how
his voice sank as he answered her;
and like true, although very innocent,
daughter Of the common mother, Miss
Grand's manner grew more thoroughly
frank and Indifferent with every grow