Show MRS COLONEL CLITHEROE 1 sirs mrs colonel 1 aud and the utterance of those words the brown eyes seemed to laugh at their own avin reflection in fit the mirror ind and as the prettily curved lips parted they showed the perfect teeth do I 1 look it john do 1 I for I 1 am intensely ely anxious as to tle the effect which I 1 shall produce on your friends and nel huers tile the gray halrid handsome husband shook liis ills hoail head with a smile hardly I 1 nin afraid rose A casual ob observer serNer would be more inore likely to think you yon were a young lady spending tile the holidays with her grandfather fortunately tuna tely however the residents la in these parts know who you are I 1 expect they all waster muster strong nt at church tills this morning to get a good stare nt it you rose clithroe took her husbands arm as they passed through the gateway of the priory the colonel had inherited the property froni from an uncle not long iong before ills marriage it looks more inore matronly to take your arm john she said laughing put hut then her mood changed and she looked grave adding 1 I do really real feel nervous I 1 dont w want ant those these people who have known you all jour i our life to say I 1 am too young arid and to too middy giddy and too alto altogether mother unworthy IV to be your wife do you think they will nill be prejudiced against me by my app appearance on ra ace I 1 ell chose 0 S e a bonnet and this ion long s sealskin coat because they make me inc older than the hat ha t and jacket dont be anxious child and the colonel pressed the hand which rested on his arm unless people are hopt hopelessly stupid ind and shortsighted short sighted they must see at a glance that you von are tile the most charming of young women and I 1 am tile the most fortunate of men and blessed together beyond my 1113 deserts but whatever they think and whatever they say the fact remains that me aae are entirely satisfied with each other 1 I am more than satisfied and rose koso spoke emphatically 1 I often wonder why such happiness should mine come to me inc when so many women are arc miserably married ried it was rather a romantic little story as things go in these prosaic times that story of how rose itose asart became mrs colonel clitheroe when she was 18 ind and he be was 40 46 rose declared that she had been in love with him all her life certainly at 2 years old she had bad been in ili the habit of assuring him roscell Ros lell marry sou aou when ashes big whereupon he always answered all right little woman ill wait for you tile the childs passionate devotion to the handsome officer was nas quite an amusement to her parents hut but when ills his regiment was ordelee off to india and they saw the little face grow white ana aim thin and hoard heard her h sobs they lau laughed elivd no ao longer iven after she ceased to cry for kosila Ko Rosl cs colonel eha lie never forgot him the pretty baby had grown to a tall slim girl of 1 13 N when lie those these two tino friL friends lids met again by that time rose nose dysart was a pupil at a small and select boarding school in ili the llie environs of paris and on one of the f frequent visits NN which willell her father and lix mother other paid to their darling they came by chance chaiko across colonel clitheroe who also was spending a few days in the gly gay capital how is rosie hosic has slie she forgotten ine wore were among ills his first questions mis dysart laughed roso rose Is tit at school at come with us as tills this afternoon tall and then judge for yourself whether you haic been forgotten the gill hall not grown roell stiff nud and shy she was immensely im delighted to see her friend again and she told him so uc ile joked her about her baby overtures s toward hini lie ho reminded her of how she would drag a footstool foot stool across tile the room and by its aid climb to ili his knee ind and busy her small hands with ills his hair on the alie pretext of making him nice BU an tidy 1 I have grown gray since those days lie he bald N ith halt half a sigh whereupon miss rose itose declared that slie site liked gray liale best each hamud to please the other they seized in a moment on oil each others meaning they appeared to divine each others thoughts 1 I shall come colne agalli again sat said colonel clitheroe Clit herce when the visitors hour was over and study must be begin in 1 I see sec that you yon and I 1 shall be excellent frie friends na as we were eleven years ago however he made inside no second visit to the at neuilly sur seine ills his old uncles illness recalled him suddenly to england and rose dysart was a finished young lady and about to bu be introduced into society before she had bad the pleasure ot of meeting her colonel again this girls face was not strictly beautiful but it mas n as a charming face she was immensely admired both by men and women and there must be something thin lovable as well weil its as lovely locay tit in a young lady of 17 when those hose of her own sox sex express since sincere re admiration and can praise her wholeheartedly whole heartedly she will certainly marry young said elderly people but it never Z occurred to any ot of them to suppose that tills this sunny faced rose dysart would refuse throe three eligible men inen simply because she loved a middle aged colonel like many other parents mr and sirs mrs desart seemed to regard their dau daughter ahter ns as little more inore than a child the they scarcely realized that others viewed her differently of course like other girls rose must go into society they said but we hope it may be years ye ars and years before we have to part with her ind and they wore were quill dell delighted eted that she should refuse her first three offers of marriage it was nas in the spring and just before her eighteenth birthday that the ts left their pretty sussex home for it a furnished house at uton eton place which they hall had hired for the season at a somewhat exorbitant rent to the great joy of 0 rose colonel clitheroe was one of the first callers ile he also was in III town for two or three months having during the previous year burled buried his old uncle and inherited the property propel prop eity ty my dear follow fellow said ur mr dysart to him with the familiarity of a friend of long iong standi standing Dg you really ought not to remain unmarried try to remember that you are depriving some woman ol 01 nix an excellent home and a still more excellent husband A man inan in ili the prime of life well off good looking retired from the army where lies the hindrance simply in this replied the colonel 1 I have never been in ili love and I 1 should be afraid to marry now that I 1 am past the tender passion you see there is no three 3 gears earst system in matrimony it has to be till death do us part mr dysart laughed you yon must not be allowed to remain a bachelor my dear Clit clitheroe herce I 1 shall look round for sonie some nice woman of about five ivo and thirty and try my irly prentice hand at matchmaking match making no dont you get married colonel Colon cl I 1 exclaimed exclaim cd rose who iho was inas in the loozl room 1 I like you best as you are indeed I 1 think changes chang are arc almost dis agreeable it Is pleasanter plea santer sauter for things to go on pretty much the same I 1 mean to romain remain single all my life so as never to have to leave father and kotlier another mot lier you will be to leave us its when the right man loan and right arrive said mrs dysart you yon may lay not think so now girls never do before they are really lit in love lore but lit in all probability tile the time will come when of 3 our own wish and will you will go a away from us rose shook her head 1 I cant think so mother however let us ua talk of some more interesting subject of my beius presented for instance can you picture me colonel making my courtesy and kissing the hand of royalty I 1 hope I 1 sh sli cliant int ant turn awkward and shy at the last ino moment ment I 1 ought not for as a little gill a 1 I counterpane in place of a train I 1 have practiced my manner over and oer again they all laughed no I 1 scarcely think you will be shy said colonel clitheroe besides beside the moment makes the man they say so of course it makes the woman the important day canio camo rose dysart was simply yet alega elegantly ally dressed ind and her fresh soung boung face won its fair share of notice as ahe awaited among the alie crowd of debutantes then followed six weeks of gaiety gayety concerts opera dances garden parties riding in the row nevertheless elss tile the girl was glad when her father decided to re to the country before midsummer everything seemed beautiful and endeared by absence the trees had exchanged their first freshness of tender green tor for the ripeness of summer beauty the hawthorn and bluebells bluebelle blue bells were over arid and done clone with but the foll foliage of the woods see seemed tried lovely by contrast with nith hyde park colonel clitheroe Clithe ioe was to lie be one clue ot the after season guests at the Dys arts country house he followed then them within a fortnight ot of the departure from eton place was anything troubling him was in he unwell those were the questions they asked him for lie lid did not seen seem so cheerful as usual and lie was apt to drop into tits its ot or lillison lillis musing ln g so that even the N olce oice of rose male liin start as one who returns suddenly croul the land of dreams to reality the fact was that ho he had promised to ex execute a commission which was it to liu him colonel a bright faced guardsman hall had said to him out one day 1 ill 1111 tell you yon a secret I 1 nal am iu in love NN with 1 t 11 roc debart Dy birt tall and I 1 shall ceier care for another girl now you nad and my father were boss together and you are arc the olde oldest A friend I 1 possess in ili the world S ray ay iy a good word for me will you she be thinks you yon infallible on oil every point slie she has told tile me herself that there 1 Is no oue one like 1111 you yon colonel Clith clitheroe eroc worked ii vigorously porously orous ly at it tuft of grass with fill tile the toe of ills boot tor for some moments before answering have hare you yon spoken for yourself lie he suddenly ily inquired not in plain words every time I 1 try to get round to tile the point there seems a difficulty but I 1 would try nay my luck again and ngien it if I 1 thought I 1 might win rose in the end cud speak up for me inc wont you ton colonel t if a favorable moment comes bul bill I 1 dont see what my recommendation can do for you she known you nil III her life ind and she think you worth any number nui riber of young fellows put er said hawdon Itaw don the chief subject of conversation when we dance or when we sit hit out together seems seeing to be the perfections of colonel ClIth ertic and ive had to tell her all I 1 could think of 0 about you von when the regiment was out oat in india after exhausting facts I 1 try fiction seeing that it Is the only way to win will a smile i anil the young fellow laughed the gray bilged ruan man of six and forty was ins thinking over this conversation ne as the train carried him down don to sussex but lie he thought of it even more fis as soon koon as rose nose in fit her bright young beauty stood food before him harry rawdon was a good fellow enough but not good enough for the Dys arts daughter who indeed would be worthy of 0 such a wife nevertheless reflected tile the colonel 1 I knew his father when we were both boys at school I 1 must do i my n y best for foi harry and one of these days I 1 will sound rose on the subject and got get an idea of the state of her ber heart opportunities of private chat wore were riot not difficult to find mr and mrs dysart regarded colonel clitheroe Cli as a sort of venerable friend with whom rose might be sent to walk tall talk or ride without outraging even the narrowest notions of pro propriety yet the colonel felt a shrinking front from mentioning the subject of young raw dons desires and from speaking up for his ninny many excellent qualities he liked much better to talk over dear clear old times ns as rose called her golden days of childhood 1 I must have been a positive nuisance to you 1 I colonel she said one lay day as they paced side hide by side the terraced walk while waiting the summons to breakfast 1 I know I 1 was always running after you yet et you yon never seemed cross and bored 1 I should think not lui indeed leed and the colonel laughed your advances were so flattering I 1 could not reckon up ill the times you assured me your intention to marry me ine when you grow grew big enough ah ab child and now a cloud followed the smile 1 I suppose one ot those these days I 1 shall stand among your wedding weddle guests and I 1 dont think I 1 shall enjoy the ceremony a bit you will never be a guest ind and now rose roo colored yet held out her hand as lna ely as when she was a child colonel I 1 am going to do something dreadful 1 I suppose se please never tell tc 11 anyone and please say no it if you would rather give eive that answer but I 1 am big enough now and I 1 tell you exactly what I 1 did when I 1 was 2 0 years old ill marry you or I 1 shall certainly never mairy anyone and in that moment nellt colonel clitheroe knew that though his hair was plentifully streaked with gray and though ills his face had lines on it which nothing but the passage of years cau can trace lie loved rose itose dysart as a man inan loves duly only once in ili 1 a I lifetime it was only when ho he told mr and mrs dysart of his good fortune that lie he remembered harry raw Ram duns commission never ni mind liall said rose yon your rec r of him as a 1 husband would not have been of the slightest use I 1 have loved first ind last and always en e or er since I 1 was two that Is how there came caine to I 1 be e a noung all bright ait girl irl bno bearing t alie ll 11 title of mis ills colonel Cli clithroe walked by the sido do of ber elderly husband one sunny sunday to the accompaniment of the church bells snow in his bis hall hair summer in her face yet the they were anere happy baly will a happiness which is the portion of very few of tile men and women whom the world considers well mell matched household words |