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Show I TWO LILIAN MARSDENS i J t iy J. A. TIFFANY. $ JS After I had been admitted to tho bar, my father considering it best that I should havo tho opportunity ot paining expcrlanco In a largo city bo-fpro bo-fpro entering his own ofilco, I wont wost, whoro I hecamo associated with r Inw firm, tho head of which was an old college friend of father's. Mr, Mnrsdon Impressed mo nt first as my benu Ideal of n man; whilo Mm. Mnrsden was ono of thoso matronly ma-tronly Indies, with a certain old-world courtliness of manner, sweot and en-doaring. en-doaring. Thero was n son, named Fred, about two years older than I, who appeared to bo a Jolly good follow. fol-low. "Lilian," said Mrs. Mnrsdon, ns a young lady entered tho room, "this Is Mr. Donald Falrchlld. My daughter, Donald." Miss Mnrsden and I shook hands. "This Is Lilian's twentieth birthday," birth-day," Mrs. Mursdon observed, evidently evident-ly for tho purpoBo of relieving my embarrassment em-barrassment "Sho is our only daughter, daugh-ter, Mr. Falrchlld.' "I ,am sure, Miss Marsdon," I said, finding my tonguo at last, "I wish you many very happy returns of your birthday." It would b6 lmpossiblo to convoy any adequato idea of tho unalloyed delight of my first fow days in tho city. At tho end of n wook I had accomplished ac-complished threo things: I had secured se-cured nico room for my prlvato quarters; quar-ters; been assigned n place in tho offices of tho firm, to which I was admitted ad-mitted as a Junior partner, nnd fallen head ovor cars In lovo. Mr. nnd Mrs. Maroden must havo known how things wero going, but tho knowledgo nppearcd to causo them no uneasiness. I had been hero about six months, whon I was entrusted with a commission thnt took mo to Massachusettswhich, Massa-chusettswhich, by tho way, was tho plnco whero Mr. Marsden first bo-came bo-came acquainted with his wife. It was thero that thoy woro marrlod. My business wns to look up tho tltlo to certain rcnl cstato In Boston, nnd to obtain authenticated records proving tho validity of a client's claim thcroto. Boforo.Btartlng vra my Journoy, I declared my passion to Lilian, nnd became hor accopted suitor, with tho approval of her parents. At tho end of threo days I had finished fin-ished my search in Boston and armed myself with certified copies of tho entries discovered. But alas, for my success! f had .fowul-anouiitbUlg else something for which I waB nsriPOKiBr 'iMlrinir that took all the Interest out of my mission and mado Hfe Mear a ) hide-, ous mockery and burden. (, Standing out, as If written in letters let-ters of flro borrowed from tho nether regions, I found this entry in tho record rec-ord of births in Boston. "December 14, 18G0 Lilian AgneB, daughter of John and Kathcrlno MarB-don." MarB-don." And this wns January, 189GI My afllancod, who had been Introduced Intro-duced to mo on her twentieth birthday, birth-day, six months ago, was a charming damsel of thirty-six! When I reached tho ofilco on my return to tho west, I found Fred busy poring over a pllo of muBty documents. docu-ments. "Glad to seo you back, Don," ho said, "I'm Just looking over somo Interesting In-teresting family papers. Father Is at work on our genealogical history. I suppose you know wo camo over in tho Mayflower?" "I wasn't awaro of it," I replied; "but you wouldn't ourprlso mo if you told mo you camo over In tho ark. How did your sister stand tho voy-ago?" voy-ago?" "What tho deuco Is the matter with you, Falrchlld?" Marsden asked- coloring. col-oring. "Well don't you see thlB paper proves sho Is thirty-sir?" Marsden whistled, and then be laughed. "Look hero, Don," ho said; "I think I ought to break your neck, Instead of laughing at you but it's too absurd. My parent's first child was a girl, who was christened Lilian Agnes. I was born nlno years lator; and flvo years after that camo another girl. Lilian was a favorite namo with my father; and tho first child having died in infancy, in-fancy, thoy decided to rovlvo the name. Accordingly, tho second daughter daugh-ter was crlstencd Lilian. And I gavo my head two or threo good bangs against tho wall. After which, I felt better. |