ike animation. "Did you think--didn't you know--well,
I declare, I don't actually believe you did. Now ain't it a puzzle,
begad!"

While he jerked out his amazed sentences, his companion, fairly overcome
with the revelation that dawned upon her for the first time, buried her
face in her hands.

"Mis' Patridge," timidly said the agitated wooer, approaching nearer,
"you don't say--that is, do you mean to say that if Cicely Ann could
like me well enough to not be sassy around the house, an' keepin' you
oncomfortable about it, you an' me could hitch on an' be pardners? You
don't mean it now, do you?"

"Mean it!" murmured the widow, her fair cheeks aglow with
suddenly-stirred enthusiasm. "I'm only too happy, Mr. Lightus, I never
thought--"

But at this juncture the rejuvenated wooer ventured to clasp his rough
but honest arms about the blushing prize he had won.

At this juncture, also, Cicely and Rufus happened in, but beat a hasty
and giggling retreat, as they rapidly took in the situation.

All's well that ends well. Hezekiah Lighthouse married the Widow
Partridge, and set young Rufus up in business. As a father the spirited
Cicely yielded him the respect and affection he deserved.

She made but one stipulation. On the marriage morn she whispered the
earnest entreaty: "Mother, _don't_ let him call me Cicely _Ann_!"

A Summer Daisy

A PASTORAL

"Heighho!" yawned Carroll Hamilton, picking up his long legs from the
grass, "this is not making hay while the sun shines," and he proceeded
leisurely to place a camp stool in position, erect an easel, and spread
out sketching materials.

A few bold, rapid strokes transferred a pretty bit of rural landscape to
the canvas, and this much gained, the amateur artist lit a fine Havana
and lazily drifted off again into reverie. His thoughts were not of
a pleasant nature. Why couldn't a man do as he liked in this world?
Here the particular man in his mind--to-wit his own agreeable self,
had devoted his twenty-four years to acquiring sundry dazzling
accomplishments, zonly to have his interest in life dampened by a
matrimonial scheme, hatched long ago in the fertile brains of his own
parents and the parents of his prospective dulcinea in conspiracy.

Yes, a regular wet blanket had awaited his return from Italia's classic
shores. What an insufferable bore to be pledged, promised, all but tied
to an unknown female whose only merit, he wilfully wagered, lay in her
invinc