| Show TOO YOUNG TO MARRY MAREY johnnie madleon dwelt la in normans inn ian when he first came to london ile he was nas tile the only son nun of hla his mother and she was nas a canons widow it was at her desire that he set up his household goods under the timeworn time worn gables ot of normans lun fun for or there also dwelt a kinsman ol of the late canons ca rions arkwright by name who wag n as atuaia alwag a alluded to in the family as a steady plodding young man and was nas supposed to live amid a picturesque litter 0 of briefs and books and the canons widow hoped lie ho might exercise it mildly restraining lu influence dence over johnnie Johnn Je being nearly dearly twice ills his age now the steady plodding young man luau looked forward to hla his arrival without enthusiasm he remembered johnnie as a 0 viry very inky schoolboy of 0 phenomenal lung luiis power and unprepossessing ippe appearance pe arance and felt assured that by now he should have developed into a rakish young man with a taste for or small dogs and large neckties and greatly given to entertaining noisy company well knowing that the chastened chasteney chast ened atmosphere of a cathedral catbe cathe dial town does not necessarily essa rily induce an affection tor for quiet living lu ili the youthful breast johnnie however proved to be a fresh colored amiable youth of K more plentifully endowed with mus muscle c to than with brain power and with no apparent tendency to come immediately to grief amid what nhat arkwright would have called he sometimes for the papers the shoals and of london life ile he neither gambled nor drunk drank nor gave hla his mind too entirely to the lightly clad allurements allure ments of light opera on the contrary he read with industry as ag though already covetous of the woolsack wo lie he danced and dined assiduously at houses of irreproachable proa chable respectability and in 1 ark wrights company cump aily when he did not talk cricket he talked shop then by degrees when returned from nocturnal ad adventures ven tures lie he began to favor arkwright with many confidences regarding hla his attitude toward various members of the other sex fo for r johnnies Joh nales affairs of the heart became at last alarmingly numerous not that be aimed at playing the part of don juan but being of highly inflammable material his heart was successively ignited by a pleasing variety of dal dam n gels fell pate fate brought him face ace to face with the one and inevitable damsel at last however audrey st clair was a dark eyed girl of 20 johnnie thought her bar charmingly treah and natural nat uval mrs Lever sons ball was a rapturous occasion to him and arsi Lever sons niece audrey entirely dispossessed all other idols from that date of the pedestal upon which johnnie had successively placed them of mrs leverson L Lc everson verson herself her L ri ewles said cald that she had been pretty elderly gentlemen had bad been known to call her ber a 1 fine woman while youns young ones thou glit her not tun fun she posses possessed bed an abundance of obviously dyed hair s somewhat effusive mariner manner and a faultless taste in dress the late lamented captain leverson Le Terson had indulged a taste for speculation with disastrous resul ti and hence the few people who remembered hor her wore were surprised to find the widow when sho she returned from a long absence abroad so comfortably installed fr as she was in her bouru at chelsea Johlin le she 5 wed to hold in high favor ile was allowed to take liar her and tier her gilece through the polite mobs of tle the picture galle ilesi lie he never failed to k I 1 appear at tier her at homes and he be frequently made one at tier her theater parties but although he thought mrs leverson a wily kind and all that sort eort of thing thine she would have preferred to see her niece subject to less worldly influences fluen ces than those brought to bear upon her bar in accordance with the fitness of things he vaguely imagined she should always be dressed in white wandering through sheltered rose gardens and luduig indulging 1 ing an amiable solicitude tor for birds and dogs doga and poor old cottagers it a village lady bountiful la in short abort ind and to tell the truth the unconscious maiden would infinitely have preferred a more natural way of ufa life and her bar happiest moments m vere ere spent on her ware mare in the park where johnnie leaning against the railing watched her wistfully ilu could not afford a horse ile ho never told arkward anything about this particular name flame of his bis it was tommy blake who posted up the plodding boung man ni an lu in hla his youthful affairs falia af one afternoon at the club and nd both women seem beem dead nuts on your young friend he be eald incidentally ci el pretty well oft off I 1 sup aup pose iles hea worth precisely halfpenny a year said arkwright with more figure of speech than he ha usually permitted to himself tommy raised his eyebrows as high as ruitaro re permitted and said it was uncommon queer and there was a sort of indian prince no end of a nabob im told wanted to marry the girl and mrs levernon Leve Lever raon sou sent him to the right about in double quick time and she Is not tue the sort to feel shy about bowing down to the golden calf either cant make her out perhaps she ehe thinks her niece too young to marry yet said the plodding young man loan title may be acting merely from a proper regard for her happiness 1 A proper regard for fiddlesticks said cynical mr blake arkwright was waa sitting up late inq one night to finish an erudite paper upon the ethics of modern drama when johnnie stole stola noiselessly into the room and sank into the easiest chair arkwright wrote to the bottom of the pare page and threw down his pen thinking bo be had found an intelligent audience for a reading tor for hla his valuable essay but it was no such matter johnnie was waa occupied with the drama of real life and to judge by his aspect seemed to im nelue that he was cast to play principal tragedian in ili that enthralling piece off 00 color johnnie johnnee le wild said the elder man tentatively no lie ile said smoking savagely peel feel doubtful about your call no I 1 think im pretty safe arkwright stretched out his bis hand to reach his pipe by the way heros heres a letter tor for you johnnie Johnn le from your mother I 1 have just received one from her myself johnnie Johnn le however made no do attempt to take anbe it or he be might nave have spared hla his friend tile the opinions he expressed concerning tile the station in life to which it had pleased providence to call him its beastly you know he explained 1 I may hang on for years and never be nearer marrying than 1 ILM am at the present moment As for proposing to her now as aa the mater sald its decidedly low to get a girl to bind herself to roy any proal promise lse until one has decent prospects arkwright reflected with a flickering smile that johnnie johnnee had probably caught rather the spirit than the letter of his hia mammas admonitions however it was a sign of grace that lie ha remain remembered them at all and he felt sorry for the woebegone youth youre young to think of marrying yet you know he said am I 1 right he be continued after a pause in aup posing blake se Is my informant a certain miss st clair haa occasioned all this trouble leT oil oh if blake has haa told you and the aunt Is awfully decent to me but you are not proposing to marry the aunt Is miss mira st clair herself ls LB 81 she L 1 oh well a fellow never knows that sort of thing you know till he tries his bis chances raid johnnie lu in a in manner ariner which betrayed that he ha thought he knew quite well that his affections were returned as indeed they were and audrey st clair was tar far too rank frank to take any great pains to conceal it oh arkwright what am I 1 to do he said pathetically open your letter Jo Johnn brinle le he be replied and the tone in which he be said it caused the wondering youth to obey promptly ue he looked happy till he remembered that he ought to look bereaved Jo Jobu buriles ship had bad come home just in the nick of time he had always had shadowy expectations o from his bis uncle but he had been to pessimistic to count too much upon him however gout had bad claimed a victim and the canons widow hinted to tier her son that he be had to somo some extent benefited by the event the vanity of riches was exemplified to J Johnn le when after a decent interial he be returned to town the richer by 2 a year but as lie he speedily found minus mrs Lever sons good graces another was reigning favorite with her now lester a picturesque but not very talented painter who was deep in converse condei ba with audrey when alien h made hla his reappearance mrs lira levarson Le greeted johnnie without effusion audrey was more friendly but inopportunely asked him if he had seen Le letters latest picture johnnies Johnn leg soul was already green with jealousy abos lester ha be said that follow fallow with the untidy hair audrey reproachfully fully changed the conversation but johnnie was out of humor and can continued to sulk this lusted lasted for some days and it was waa noticed that urs mrs levercon Leve raon poon continued A to treat himwich him with as much indifference as she ghe becomingly could why does docs she nhe quarrel with a chap for coming into a fortune said tommy 1 blake the close oah beryer of human I 1 nature and why does he hang back when he must see that that little girl la is over liar her ears in love with him but bul he be found no DO solution to these problems johnnie sulked for a month then one afternoon he lumped jumped into a cab drove down to chelsen chelsea aud and mra lever son being alone presently found him self blunderingly declaring that he b would like to bestow his hand upon he be niece the good lady looked aery grave grava you are both young you know sir mr I 1 madison she ehe said nr her mother mar aled v very young n aud very unhappily perhaps that has haa get me agali early 11 but what has haa set you against mo me said johnnie Johnn le reproachfully I 1 nonsense Nona non ense that Is only your imagination but johnnee was waa not strong lu lit that quality so eo mrs lira leverson was waa probably misstating the case audrey was on this occasion til III and invisible she Is too fatigued to bear any ex ei jut just now come in three days time said tier her aunt and I 1 will think over the advisability of sounding her on the subject in the meantime three days later johnnie came to arkwright araw in a state of great perturbation i lira leverson Lever sou had bad left her house and chelsea knew her bar no do more it was only by bribery and corruption that johnnie discovered that she had gone to scarbor but probably aou would id not stay there her plans being unsettled shell surely write to you said d arkwright but no letter cadue within twenty four hours wed better go to scarborough said eald johnnies Johnn les counselor I 1 the truant lady was wa discovered by johnnie la in a hop on the very day of his arrival audrey was so III the doctor advised instant change in the flurry I 1 forgot to write to you the she said after a gasp of surp surprise rise johnnie decided in his haste that all women were wera llara liars and asked when he might hope tasee to see audrey you may come and call tomorrow to morrow morning she may be better then but I 1 think it most undesirable most undesirable that you should make any proposal to her yet or entertain hopes that may be disappointed mrs leverson Levor soo spoke with conviction but deferred explanation and johnnie laid the matter before arkwright the latter privately debated whether there was insanity or some other cupboard skeleton in the girls family rendering matrimony inadvisable or whether johnnie had bad beyn committing enormities that had come to mrs lev araon a oars cars but not to his and ho he was the more mystified when next morning the unhappy lover over came to him pale and blaspheming and told him that mis lira leverson had again red fled before him had bad left her hotel and a brief note to say gay that she was waa boand bound for the continent what Js Is mrs leverson said art arkwright you never told me her credentials denti als widow of a man in the regiment all I 1 kow know n a I 1 d johnnie Johnn le then we can cont consult sult major barshaw bagshaw who la Is an old friend of mine look up tile the trains to Car barchester chester and dont pace about the room like that major bagshaw who was a bachelor greeted ills his visitors cordially when on OB the following morning they call called C d at his quarters he listened gravely while Arl artwright wright told him the strange story of mrs leverson then he cleared his throat threat and asked impressively have you heard of cure core for corris corns he looked from one to another for flu an answer 1 I know continued the tn major deliberately hes hea it a tery rich man but it a self made one and one who has bos sufficient sense ean sa to know that his bis education has therefore been deficient so saba he determined to give his hi only daug daughter h every advantage that money cas can buy and two years ago consulted ma an As aa to the advisability of In trusting her to a lady of position to mrs leverson Le vereon gasped johnnie Johnn le for the sake of poor dandy leverson levercon I 1 mentioned her name came to him and I 1 knew he was involved in debt evl evidently the she Is still hlll she was to a mouth month and all expense to take tak the young lady through europe and to launch her in london I 1 was not aware that it was any part of the agreement that she could call MW miss st SL clair changed his name aam her niece but a 9 deball I 1 should hould not h baa at betrayed confidence but for the strange account you gave me of mrs lever sons behavior of counte ashes in no hurry to see her niece mar married ted floo P a month la Is not to bo be lightly lost but she must bo be desperately hard up to play her cards like that and what do you advise asked johnnie Johnn le your feeling in the matter are not changed by my revelations of course not then with your permission I 1 shall call on my fellow townsman ur mr who Is of course coarse in constant communication with his daughter and put the th facts before him and I 1 bays no doubt we wa shall see aae the tha young lady i here in a few days but possibly her will prefer f t r remain OW ain away the canons canona widow thought corn curing rather it a plebeian trade but was waa mollified when her future daughter lu in law was waa brought to her house and a lady of good position advertises advertis that she la Is prepared to take charge ot of a young lady desiring desi an entree to those thosa exalted circular reli she herself habitually devea A interview cus can tie be a aran arranged aad alck me up UI 1 I 1 i pe I 1 v f s jel 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