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10002 WILD’ MARGARET. |
the sweet, downcast face beside him: :
“It matters a great deal, my dear Blair; but I’m ad-—
7
,
“You seem half asleep here at Sefton,” he-said pleas-
antly. a
~ “The old clerk grunted. —_ 7 a
‘‘T think we be sometimes, sir,’’ he said. “‘But, you |
_ gee, it’s a miserable place now the coach has given up run-.
ning through. Them railways and steam indians have
a’most ruined the country.” -
‘How long ago is it since the last coach ran?”’ asked »
- Mr. Ambrose.
_The poor old man looked bored to death. « of
.“ Thirty—forty year,” he said. ‘I can’t call to mind
exactly; my memory hain’t what it were.”
Mr. Ambrose wished him good-day, and without tipping —
him—he did not want to fix himself in the old man’s feeble
memory—and repaired to the inn.
He called fora glass of ale, which he took care not to.
_ drink, and asked for a paper. . CO
The landlord brought him a local one.
‘*Could I see a London one?” asked Mr. Ambrose.
The landlord shook his head. ‘
"* All the news as we care about, such as the state of the.
_crops, and the prices at Coving Garden Market, is in that .
there paper; we don’t trouble about a Lunnon one,” he . .
said.
Mr. Ambrose nodded and smiled, paid for his ale, and
~ went back to London. | .
. “Sefton is the place,” he said. ‘‘It is so out, of the
~ world that they never see a London newspaper; so asleep
that the noise of the great world rushing onward never
_ wakes it, and the parson and clerk are faster asleep than
anything else in it!” oo
He described the place in glowing colors to Margaret and
Blair, a few nights afterward, as they three were sitting.
in a cool corner of the Botanical Gardens.
‘‘A most delightful nook, my dear Miss Margaret; quite
a typical old English village. I could spend the rest of my
days there, and if I were going to be married—alas! why
should it be one’s fate to assist at other people’s happi- . .
ness; and have none oneself?—it is the place of all others
should choose for the ceremony.”? -
_ ‘ What does it matter where the church is?” said Blair,
in his blunt fashion, and with a point-blank look of love at
dressing Miss Margaret, who can appreciate the beauties
of a scene, being an artist. I assure you. it is a most
charming spot, and it is so quiet and out of the way that
really think one might commit bigamy three times run:
~
“ #
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