Year: 1876

''All right 1t is settled, then Walk


up to the station with me, and you car


send my trunk along some day when the


wagon is going OFF,


The next evening we arrived at the lit


tie rise in sight OF the station some time


before the train was due, and we sat down


on Il rude stone walk overlooking the val


ley.


by y-the-way," said Fred. II didn't show
you this. believe. She looked So charm


ing | couldn't help it."


And he opened his portfolio, which he


invariably had with him. and showed me


a sketch he had made of Miss Perry the


day she was masquerading, which had
thus far proved SO disastrous to me. 1t


was peysonified lily of the valley, with


the delicate features of her whose name OF


Margaret somehow grated on my ear, and
rs Miss Perry was too formal. had
taken to calling her ''Puss.'


Il saw, Fred, | want this" | said.


Nonsense You'd better let me keep
this. and you take the original"


"A wise man is content with what he
can get" | responded briefly. as | put it
in my satehel


Fred gave mo a curious look. which |
did not interpret till later in the season,
| and made no objection to my appropr!a-
ting his sketch


The sun was sinking behind the noun
tain. the valley we had just left having
been for some time in deep shadow
! "Where are Your canvas and colors ?n
asked. There's an effect of chiaroscttro
that would draw praise from the most
conservative critic


| Fred needed no second hint; and, as he
| painted away. | observed the beautiful et-
| feet, and made occasional jerky remarks
on a variety of subjects, presently saying


How dprUpos that maSquerading wig
was She is, indeed, a lily of the valley,
both lily and valley being in their respec-
tive ways charming in superlative sense"
| The whistle sounded just then, and
started In haste tor the train, leaving Fred
busy on his picture, hardly looking up
when he said goodbye, prophesicd my re
turn In few days.


Several times after my return TO the
city, came near doing so, wondering if
it We're not cowardly in me to strike my
colors at such a moment, and if ''Puss"
did not expect me to come over the noun
tain TO see her


Nearly two months had elapsed, and |
had heard no word from red | was on
the point of putting change Of linen in
satchcl, and taking a two-days' run in
search OF him, and to see If Miss Perry
had returned, when / received Il letter,
which, to say the least. indefinitely post
poned the matter


l give only these parts my reader will
be interested in:


My Dear Boy Congratulate me-that
is. with an if She won't name the day,
| nor positively promise that she ever Will
but it is so well settled in my own mind
that shall order the suit as soon as | ar
rive in town. which will be some day next
week, if | can tear myself away 50 soon


How did do it? Blest if i know |
never dreamed Of such a thing till YOU
dropped that remark you did when | gave
You the sketch of the lady in her masque-
rade dress, that IA wise man is content
with what he can get. which flashed thro'
my brain the intelligence that you had
been rejected. or We're satisfied you would
be. Why. never could conceive for al
ways supposed you to be the favored one,
but | didn't puzzle over the cOnundrum
very long. From that moment | gave my
self up 10 the task Of winning her, and
went at it rough -and-tumble. | never
! went into anything before so reck lesslv,
because never before had | been so seri-
ousv in earnest.


But You dont care for details. Ii none
but the brave deserve the fair have at
least earned the trophy shall henceforth
wear so proudly on my breast"


Before Fred returned from the country.
| was on the Atlantic | had again be-
haved in cowardly manner. and deserted
my colors when a vigorous movement on
my own part. instead Of resulting so,
would have had 4 decidedly contrary re-
suit


But was both blind and stupid could
neither see nor understand what had taken
place, nor how it all tended to my advan-
tage did but follow it up. That knowl-
edge did not come to me till many months
afterward.


On the water. and pressed to the hrim
with work, | had supposed should forget
the little country girl, and return heart
| whole from the European trip | had been
commissioned to take by the house in
| which was engaged; but every day only
added to the intensity of my sut1erings,
and finally the longing felt must forever
be unrealIZed, became so much part of
my existence that even sunlight began to
take its hues from the halt-ripened or
ange.


But the eAieences of the business | was
transacting demanded my continued stay,
and levied such a tax on my mental ca
pacites that | soon began to look upon
my trouble as annoying but not serious,
and as though calous had grown over
! it, and no pain would result from it unless
violent strain were brought to bear up
on it.


| Then disaster came and the house sud
denly failed, leaving me adrit and | was
preparing to return home when | was Of
| tered an advantageous position in Il for
| eign house, a member of which, was
courteously informed, had conserved the
mastery manner in which had managed
| the affairs of the branch which had been
| entrusted to me-"


| So, of course, it transpired that | did
not return to my native land that autumn,
nor the next, norm fact, it was three
years from the time left tor England be-
| fore | returned. landed in the middle of
| August, last summer, and at once began
to hunt up old cronies, by aid of memory
and directories. But had no luck. Fred
| could get no track of. only that he had
just returned from European trip; but
where he might be at that particular time
was uncertain. All for whom | cared in
| the city were out Of town for the warm
weather, or else where | could not readily
find them, and began to think had been
fool to come across the water at so un-
propitious q time. My own immediate
family, found on enquiry, were stopping
| tor few weeks at a remote place. twenty
miles or more beyond the little valley
where Fred and | had summered some
three years before, and toward that point
| turned my face.


Just before sunset the train made halt
at the little village overlooking the valley
where l had met my fate, and where the
last time ! had seen Fred he was engaged
in making sketch of the valley, hardly
taking his eye from the canvas to bid me
his CHEEKY goodbye. For some reason the
train was delayed q few moments, and as
gazed over the valley, the old feeling Of
| thrao yaarC hafora wos incfantlv- c,,rtr;nfr