Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1906 — A SLIGHT MISTAKE [ARTICLE]

A SLIGHT MISTAKE

“Elsie, I believe James Harwood Intends to propose to you tonight” “But, mother, he is so much older than 1 am.” “Well, child, If your heaK does not draw you to him, I will not press you, but I think he is a man any woman might feel proud of, and in my marrying days I" “Why do you talk of your marrying days as though they were over, mother? Do you never think of marrying again?” “My darling, you forget my age,” Whatever else she may have been contemplating saying was cut off by she announcement of “Mr. James Harwood,” a gentleman who In a short time followed bis name and greeted the two ladles rather nervously as he entered. He sat down and for a little while tried to maintain his share in a general conversation, but he seemed uncomfortable and talked In a somewhat preoccupied manner, as though something were weighing on his mind. At last Mrs. Singleton, thinking It politic to leave the two together, made some excuse to go out and rose from her seat. She had reached the door when James Harwood, with an evident effort, leaned fonvard in his chair and said quickly, “Please don’t go, Mrs. Singleton.”' She stopped on the point of leaving the room and came back. She believed that he desired her consent first and thoroughly approved of the straightforward course. Looking at Elsie, she said gently: “I wish, darling, you would answer those cards for me that are in the drawing room. I feel a little fatigued after my drive.” Without requiring a second bidding the girl departed lightly on her errand, leaving her mother alone with their visitor.

Mrs. Singleton was sitting on a low sofa, and James Harwood left his chair and went to sit beside her, his nervousness becoming more marked as he did so. He looked straight In front of him as he said: “Mrs. Singleton, I wished—rather—to speak to you upon a subject. I trust you will hear with me a moment while I”The lady noticed his agitation and was sorry for him. She tried to help him out. “I think I know to what you are alluding. I have been expecting this, James-you will let me call you James? —for some time. Please go on.” “It is kind of you to say that. It makes what I have to say much easier.” He clasped one of his knees with both hands and for the first time looked straight into his companion's face. “I have recently had thoughts, my dear Mrs. Singleton, though I feel much diffidence In telling you—l have lately been contemplating marriage.” “That is exactly what I expected you to say, and I think at your age and In your position it is a very proper course to take.”

“Then may I take It? May Ibe so bold as to assume—that you are not averse—in fact, that you consent?” “That is what I intended to convey. I said just now that I had been a little prepared for this, and I am very glad that you have given me the opportunity of saying, as I truly think, that no woman could wish to find a better husband.”

She looked into his face with a quiet smile as she concluded. For a moment Harwood shuffled nervously on his seat. Then, moving closer to her, he took her hand. Mrs. Singleton looked surprised, but she let It remain.

“Then, as everything is so satisfactorily settled,” he said awkwardly, “would you mind if I—that Is—it seems perhaps a little strange at first—but may I kis3 you?” Mrs. Singleton was more than ever taken aback at this unexpected request, and a flush came over her face. Then she thought that as a prospective son-in-law his request was perhaps not altogether unreasonable, and she turned her face to his, smiling rather consciously as she replied: “Oh, well, I suppose you may, as I am to be your mother!” “My mother!” “Yes; I shall be your mother, shan’t I, If you marry Elsie?” “Marry Elsie! But I want to marry you!” Mrs. Singleton Jumped away from him to the other end of the sofa, and her face flushed scarlet as his meaning burst upon her. There was silence between them for a few minutes. Mrs. Singleton’s eyes were bent upon the ground, and she looked almost like a young girl who had listened to her first declaration of love as the blush on her cheek grew deeper and deeper and then moved downward till It covered the whiteness of her neck. At last she spoke: “And you have been meaning me all this time?” Harwood, now that he bbw the pri»» he thought he had won In danger of slipping from him, came out of his shell and surprised himself by the fervor of his own words.

“Yes; it Is you that I love, you that I have hoped—and then hardly dared to hope—might love me a little In return and give me yourself as an earnest to fill up the emptiness In my life and In my heart Oh, do not take the consent away that I thought I had hardly won!”

For a moment after he had ceased speaking she did not move. Then she turned her face up to his, with her eyes shining, brimful with a joy that she could not hide. “James!” “Yes” “You may still kiss me.”