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Show zled. "I am glad you told roe that," lie said, "for I was entirely mistaken. I thought from your manner with her that you cared for Miss Marsh, not Miss Oldham; Old-ham; and it was just as well, perhaps, that you undeceived me." "I won't spoil the dear lad's happiuess," ho thought, an hour later, when he was alone; "and yet, who would have guessed it? I thought she was free, and that he cared for the other girl. I suppose she was only civil to me because I am his friend," and he betook himself to bed, and, after a night's tossing and tumbling, went back to London by the earliest possible pos-sible train, without taking a formal farewell fare-well of the ladies of the Cottage. Agnes was angry, very angry; she had been most cavalierly treated, as she considered, con-sidered, and longed for some one on whom to vent her ire. "What di'l lib mean by running away without even a word of thanks for the civility they hud 6hown him? He must have thought she was making ryes at him just as if she cared a fig about him, or looked upon him from any other point of view than that of a guide to the East of London! How horribly conceited men were! Oh, there comes Gus! ho might have left us alone for one day," and she went to open the door, and quarrel with her visitor if possible. Qus was a littlo bit cross, too, for Florrie had had to join her relations in Normandy, and lie and tho Old hams were left alone, and things were flat in consequence, though he fancied he should like it. but you must send the pouy carnage for me, you know," ji course; send for you and send you back. You will stay to dinner, won't you?" "You must consult tho girls about that," said Mrs. Oldham, "for I have an idea that they may be busy; they are reading together a good deal, you know." "Miss Marsh went in to write letters, didn't she? I don't know where Agnes has gone," remarked tho young man, rising from his lazy attitude and looking about him. "Oh, there she is, with Nugent, Nu-gent, right at the end of tbo field. How can people be so energetic this weather?" Agnes and Mr. Nugent did not seem to find tho heat oppressive; they are strolling stroll-ing quietly along the shady side of tho field, talking, and were so much interested inter-ested in their conversation that it was quite a long time beforo they returned to the lawn. Agnes was hearing of a world that was new and strange to her, but which seemed tho exact thing she bad desired for years. In the quiet village there was but littlo lit-tlo for an energetic woman to do; but the lifo Mr. Nugent spoko of had opportunities oppor-tunities for every one. Real hard self denying labor among tho poor, depressing depress-ing at times, but cheered Rud lightened by the fellow feeling of many workers, all struggling towards a noble and worthy aim, was tho very work she would have chosen had the choico been given her. ; Now she heard of it from one of the workers, and her face glowed with enthusiasm us she listened, while Mr, Nugent could not help longing to have such ready sympathy and apprecia- CROSS CURRENTS. r "You are such a very independent creature," "1 am not a creature, but an able bodied woman, with all . my wits about me. Why should 1 make believe to be the weak kneed specimen of feminine foolfshness that is your ideal woman?" "Oh, never mind me, do just as you like," cried Mr. Bartlett, testily, as a voice from the inner room called, "What are you two quarreling about now?" "It is only Mr. Bartlett talking non-aense, non-aense, mother," said Agnes, gayly; "he thinks I can't go up to town for a day's hopping without a chaperon." , "Is that all? Why, my dear Gus, Agues always goes about alone. Indeed, Ihcr9 fe ao ono to go with her, so she has to; she has never como to any harm yet;" and Mrs. Oldham looked up appealingly from her sofa. Mr. Bartlett promptly subsided, as he Always did, when any remark of his had brought Mrs. Oldham's poverty into full : view,; Neither Agnes nor her mother ver troubled themselves about the narrowness nar-rowness of their income, but it was a Iiainful subject to Gus, who would will-ngly will-ngly have shared his abundance with them. He returned to tho charge an hour later, when he and Agnes were out in the garden. ' "You might let mo come with you tomorrow," to-morrow," he said, persuasively; "I could eo you over the crossings, at any rate." "Oh, the policeman does that," answered an-swered Agues, merrily. "You aro dying to know what I do with myself, of course, but I don't mean to encourage Ton in inquisitivo habits, so I shall go "It's very nice being together again, isn't it, Aggie?' he said as ho entered "I dont think so at all," she answered, promptly. "I dare say yes don't miss Mr. Nugent, but I am very dull without Florrie, and so aro you, I should think," j she proceeded, rather spitefully, "I only want you, as you know," he I said, not as pleasantly as usual. "Nugent "Nu-gent has promised to come and marry us, and I really think you might make up your mind to it soon." "Marry youl Never! I have told you so a dozen times at least" (which was an exaggeration) "and now, after; flirting with Florrio all the summer, you have the impertinence to ask me again, and to ask Mr. Nugent to marry us, just as if we were engaged. I don!t wonder he went awayl I'm not surprised at all now!" and Agnes suddenly flung herself on the sofa and burst into tears. As to Gus, he stood and gazed at her, open mouthed. For ono thing, he bad never seen her cry since she was a tiuy child; for another, a new idea had penetrated pene-trated his slow brain, and the world seemed upside down. "Florrie! had he flirted with her? No, he had only been blind. lie had had a strange- new feeling for somo time, which had alternately mado him happy and miserable, and which must hare been" Here his meditations were interrupted by Agnes, who had left off crying and recovered her temper. . 0.. J "Don't stand there with your mouth open, Gus," she cried; "you do look 'so silly. Just make up your mind, once and for all, which of us you really care for, and take the next boat for Dieppe. The Marshes will be there till the end of the week." Mr. Bartktt took her advice, and a few days Inter Mr. Nugent, who was trying to work off his bitter disappointment, disappoint-ment, got a letter from Dieppe with the artonishing intelligence that Gus and Florrie were engaged, and that his friend's affection for Agnes was of. a totally to-tally different kind to what he had been led to believe.. "In fact," the letter concluded, con-cluded, "Agnes knew me better than I did myself, and was perfectly right when she brought dear Flo down to stay with her. Don't forget that you have promised to marry us." Hard work was verj pleasant to Mr. Nugent that winter; he threw himself into all the multifarious duties of a town parson, with an energy which had its root in a happy heart. To be sure, nothing noth-ing had been said or settled, but for all that he knew well enough that he would not bo working alone for long, and then there was Gus' wedding to look forward to. Before the wedding came off his prospects had a very satisfactory change, and it was as vicar instead of curate that he asked Agnes to be his wife. "We shall ha vo work enough, and to Bpare," he told her, when the momentous question had been answered, "but you will not fear that; will you, my darling?" To which Agnes answered something about working with him, which cannot be publicly repeated. M. Payne Smith. tion near him to soothonnd cheer him in tlie troubles arid disappointments which were a necessary accompaniment of the work. f "Why don't you cpnio to London and work with us, Miss Oldham?" he asked. "You have strength and onergy. Why wasto them on trifles when you might be doing real good with tbem?" "I don't think my mother could live in London," raid the girl, slowly, "and j wo could not afford it, either. But I sliall'work some day. and meanwhile, I daro say, it is good to have to exercise patience. And I am young enough aa yet," sho added, with a smile, as they returned re-turned to tho lawn to join the others. The afternoon at the Grango was a uccum. Mrs. Oldham sat n a low chair under a great cedar tree, and enjoyed herself quietly; indeed, the view and tho sight of the four merry young people was pleasure enough for her. The tennis court was a very good one, and Gus and Florae played Mr. Nugent and Agnes with great effect. When they were tired Florrio insisted on being taken all over tho house, and gave the master of it intense pleasure by the interest she took in his old pictures,' china, furniture and curios generally. "You can't think what a pleasure this is to me!" she said, when they were examining ex-amining some exquisite wood carving in the library. "We London people live in stucco houses, and buy our artistic properties prop-erties in Regent street, but here they are all growing, so to' speak." v "Everything here has grown with the place, if that is what you mean," replied re-plied Gus. "There is nothing modern, and everything has a history. ' My people peo-ple have lived here since Queen Elizabeth's Eliza-beth's time, and though we aren't either rich or clever, at any rate we are not mushrooms." - "Why should you be rich?" asked Florrie. "If you were a millionaire this bouse would not be grand enough for you, and you wonld spoil it by altering tt. whereas now it is perfect." Gus was pleased. He loved his home and all his ancestral treasures heartily. He loved all the old associations which had grown up in the 300 years since the Grange was built, and he was well aware that there were few families in England who could boast of such a line of worthy gentlemen as those from whom he was descended. Agnes did not care for any of these things, and was at that moment having a long conversation with Mr. Nugent Nu-gent about the evil results of foreign immigration in the east of London, a subject which interested her, but which Gus simply did not understand. He was satisQcd if his tenants and laborers were well housed and fairly prosperous (and it must be owned that. he was an admirable landlord), but the distress he did not see had no pathos for him; it was no business busi-ness of his, and he lacked the imagination imagina-tion which brought it all vividly before the energetic- couplo under the cedar tree. . r . , That evening Agnes stood at her window win-dow and looked out on the peaceful moonlit fields, and longed to bo in the busy human hive sho had been hearing about. Then her face dimpled into a merry smile. "Dear old Gus!" she said, "he has fallen into tho trap, and they will bo thoroughly happy.' I don't think I know any one so fitted to bo his wifo as Flo." Meanwhilo Mr. Bartlett was thinking what a very successful day, it had been, and how nice it was to get Agnes up to the Grange; and it never dawned on his innocent mind that ho had not exchanged a dozen words with her the whole afternoon. after-noon. "So you really go to-morrow," said Gus, as ho and his friend sat smoking, the last evening of Mr. Nugent's holiday. "We shall miss you very much, old fellow, fel-low, but you must como again." "I should like it above everything," was Mr. Nugent's answer. "If I can get away for a few days in the winter, will alone.''- . . , "I wish to goodness you had some one to look after you," growled tho young man. "Don't you think, for your mother's mo-ther's 6ake, you could put up with me?" he went ou, in a pleading tone. "That is either tho third or fourth time that you have proposed to me in the last month," said Miss Oldham, calmly. "If yu do it " again before Christmas I will have you bound over to keep tho peace." '"I wish you would not chaff a fellow bo. I am quite in earnest." "So am 1! I may 'marry someday, hut it, or perhaps I ought to say he, won't he you. So be a sensible boy, Gus, and leave off sentiment. It docs not suit your figure," and Agnes laughed, mischievously. mis-chievously. Gus was used to snubbing, and bore it with a fair amount of fortitude, lie and Agnes had been playfellows since childhood, child-hood, and he had, as he thought, fallen in love with her on his return from Oxford. Ox-ford. ' He had lately got into a habit of proposing or half proposing to her after every one of her numerous squabbles, and always met with the same laughing but unqualified refusal. Agnes looked nn him as a brother, and was extremely fond of him, but Gus Barton was not the yort of man to inspire a clever, practical woman with any very deep affection, tad she could never even take his devotion devo-tion seriously, which was depressing for Gus,' "Florrie, allow me to introduce our squire, Mr. Augustus Bartlett of that ilk Miss Marsh, Gus!" and Agnes iin-Ishcd iin-Ishcd the introduction with a sweeping curtsey. Mr. Bartlett looked distressed. "I did Dot know you were- bringing a friend down," he said, "and I've only got the dog cart here. I suppose you had better drive, and let me walk?" he added. "Should you be very much surprised if -you heard that the greengrocer's cart isvaiting for Miss Marsh's luggage?" cried Agnes. "I wotdd have told you she was coming, only you were so disagreeable dis-agreeable yesterday. We can pack in the dog cart all right;" and so they did. Gus invariably met Agnes at the station sta-tion when she returned from her visits to London, but on this occasion he was much astonished, for she had never brpught a friend back with her before, and this friend was both pretty and charming. She very much enlivened the evening at the cottage, whither Gus trolled as usual after dinner, and, generally gen-erally speaking, made a good impression on her friends; but for all that Mr. Bartlett Bart-lett was not quite happy in her society. He could not help thinking that there must be something uncanny in her sudden sud-den appearance, or else (and this brilliant idea rather took his fancy) Agnes had brought her down for him to fall in love with. "Just as if anything, or anybody, could make mo give up Aggie!" he thdugbt to himself as he went home-v-itrds.- "It would serve her right if I did have a littlo flirtation;" then, as a brilliant idea struck him, "I declare, I'll ask Nugent down,' and ho can look after Hist Marsh' while I take caro of Aggie." Which determination was promptly act-td act-td on.or Gus wrote a letter tjiat night, and sent it off by early post as soon as he came down the following morning. "What do you think of our squire, "Fine, well grown young man, with a restful absence of ideas," answered Mi6s ilarfh, carelessly.. . '. "He has some ideas, buttheyaremain ly practical," said Agnes. "Ho is an ex-. ex-. celleut landlord, besides being a dear good boy, but he certainly is not brill-kiit.' brill-kiit.' "How does he come to reign all alone In this forlorn way?" inquired Florrie. "Has ho no belongings?" "None to speak of. His mother died ! when he was a baby, his father three you have mo?" ,r j "Shall bo delighted; como as soon as you can, and slay as long as you can. One thing you must come for, and I hope it is not very far distant now," proceeded Mr. Bartlett, with something very like a blush. "What is that?" "My wedding!" "My dear boy, I'm delighted to hear it, but I did not know that you had got to that point yet," cried the clergyman, who had watched . his friend's intercourse inter-course with Miss Marsh with strong approval, ap-proval, "Well, tbafs the thing! I don't know what comes over girls, but though I have asked her half a dozen times, she has not said 'Yes' yet," replied the unconscious Gus. "You have certainly lost no time," said his friend; "perhaps she thinks bIio ought. to know you better." "I don't know how she is to do that, considering that we have known each otlifrall our lives, and lived close to each ! other, too." rears ago. 1 think mamma looked after him more than any ono else, though ho has some aunts and ixmsins. Ho and I ire just like brother and sister." "That must bo rather pleasant, as you save no proper brother. Why, surely, lha,t is ho coming up the lane? And Here is soma one with him! Fancy find-log find-log two young men in a country village like this!" Miss Marsh had been at the cottage Ihree days, and was enjoying the fresh bountry air thoroughly; and having a keen interest in her fellow creatures, she bad been studying Gus because there wan up one, elf e to study. Now her at-' at-' lention was distracted by tho new comer, rlio was, indeed, a very, agreeable and interesting specimen of humanity, t Richard Nugent had been at. college V frith Gus, but had been far more suc- tesfcful in the schools, and less in the J Iricket grounds, than his friend. Now , iewasa hardworking London ornate, vhile (Jus was enjoying the less lalw-bus lalw-bus )osition of a wealthy country gen-! Ionian, but their f rii-udshjp was as great j w ever. . - "Mrs. Oldham, will ou come up to j lie J range to-morrow?" wild Gus one ; f'ernoo:i. as lie lay on the grass at her j i'ct. '."N'ligwtit a-id I want to have conin eiinis Willi l!iet;i!-l. and you ckii look j si u'i!l.i'i;.ipii'nn." ; '.'V erj well, 1 will come with rJivwure, j t . j . "iut tilie only came here just before I i did," exclaimed Mr. Nugeut, "or I am miMaken. Don't you mean Miss Marih?" A sudden light glowed on Gus' face; then faded tis rapidly as it had come. "No! 1 don't mean Miss Marsh." lie said slowly. "I jjpvcr thought about her; I lim e always intended ta marry -Wes." It was Mr.NugpMe turn to look juix- . , ..... ...,. |