The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1910-02-25

There is no doubt that HOratlO
King Vantine took himself seriously.
He was a Boston youth, we'll edu-
Gated. we'll hammered, his family was
one of the oldest, and his prospects
we're excellent. When he left Har-
yard he was called to New York and
given a fine opening in his Uncle John
Steele Arlingtons importing house.
There he was making the most OF the
opportunity.
Into this regular and well ordered
life bombshell suddenly dropped. 1t
took the form of a letter that was
4 laid on his desk by the Office mes
senger.
Horatio read the letter through,
and then read it through again.
Our dear COUSIN" it began, eve
want to know you and know you right
away. Aunt Emiline Glover wrote to
us that you were in New York, and
we've been looking for you ever since.
We are your second cousins, you
know, Jane and Ann and Susan Wal
lace. Your father and our mother
were first cousins, and that's what
gives us claim on you. At first we
y thought we would come down and
storm your office, and while Jane
grappled your uncle, Ann and Susan
would kidnap you. But then we re-
membered that while that might do
in wild and woolly Oregon-that's
where we hail 'front.' wouldn't be
strictly proper in Moo Yawk, don't
you know So we are going to be
painfully formal and awfully prim,
and give you the high handshake in
the most easterly fashion. If you
please, cousin, we want you to come
up to our present abiding place and
take tea with us tomorrow evening,
and afterward you are to escort us
to little reception to which we are
privileged to bring a young man
friend. We are visiting with a dear
friend and neighbor from Oregon who
moved to New York several years
ago. She joins us in the invitation,
as you will find when you read her
note. AS you are quite sure to know
nothing about us, perhaps it would
be well to relieve your anxiety by
explaining that we are neither maiden
ladies nor Undergraduates. Jane adj
mits she is twenty-five, Ann is twenty
and Susan is eighteen. Other par
ticulars will be furnished on applica-
ton. And now, our dear and only
cousin, we are just perishing to meet
you They tell US you are awfully
nice-so you may rest assured that
we are strongly prejudiced in your
favor. Till tomorrow evening, then.
Afectionately, Jane, Ann, Susan"
Horatio picked up the note that had
slipped from between the pages. 1t
was an endorsement of his cousins
invitation, penned by their hostess
nicely worded note, that came from
home in an excellent residence Sec
ton.
Horatio drew long breath. Here
was something he never before had
encountered. His relatives were few
in number and most of them were
residents of the old home town in
New England. He dimly remembered
TO have heard of the cousin of his
fathers who had gone West when
only boy, but he had fancied that
this spirit of adventure was looked
upon as out of harmony with the
staid and dignified traditions of the
family. He was sure he had not
heard his fathers cousin mentioned
since he himself was boy. And now
these wild Western girls had swooped
down on him from the Oregonian
wilds and claimed relationship with
him in the most familiar terms, and
torcibly taken possession of him, leav-
ing no chance for escape.
Jane and Ann and Susan!
What would his aristocratic old
uncle, his mothers only brother,
think of these hoydens! But he
mustn't be permitted to see them.
There was no reason why he should
know OF their presence. If he learned
they wegSpin New York he would in
sist upon having them to luncheon.
Jane and Ann and Susan!
Well, he would accept the invita-
ton. There was no way out of that.
AT least, it would be better to meet
them than to offer trumped up ex-
cuse and stay away. If he didn't go
to the tea they would be sure to hunt
MIN up attthe counting room. He
would meet them and If they proved
positively insupportable he would
nave his uncle send him on a trade
extension trip to Rio de Janeiro.
Jane and Ann and Susan!
He opened a drawer and drew out
sheet of paper.
wonder why Western people ever
were created?" he softly growled.
1t was frigid little note that he
sent the three girls. Correctly
phrased and neatly penned, it was as
lacking in cordially as a Vermont
snowbank. 1t was polite and tame
and distant. He was pleased to learn
tnat his cousins were in the city, and
ne was pleased to accept their invita-
ton to tea on the twenty-fourth, and
equally pleased to accompany them
TO the subsequent reception, And he
closed the conventional missive with,