Bad Hugh

"It may appear unladylike, I know, but I think it right to stay by

Ellen. By the way," and Alice spoke rapidly now, "the doctor says

you'll never get well so long as you keep so closely in the house. You

are able to ride, and I promised to coax you out to-morrow, if the day

is fine. I shall not take a refusal," she continued, as he shook his

head. "I am getting quite vain of my horsemanship. I shall feel quite

proud of your escort, even if I have to tease for it; so, remember, you

are mine for a part of to-morrow."

She drew her hand from his, and with another of her radiant smiles,

swept from the room, leaving him in a maze of blissful bewilderment.

Never till this morning had a hope entered Hugh's heart that Alice

Johnson might be won. Except her, there was not a girl in all the world

who had ever awakened the slightest emotion within his heart, and Alice

had seemed so far removed from him that to dream of her was worse than

useless. She would never esteem him save as a friend, and until this

morning Hugh had fancied he could be satisfied with that, but there was

something in the way her little fingers twined themselves around his,

something in her manner, which prompted the wild hope that in an

unguarded moment she had betrayed herself, had permitted him a glimpse

of what was in her mind, only a glimpse, but enough to make the poor

deluded man giddy with happiness. She, the Golden Haired, could be won,

and should be won.

"My wife, my Alice, my Golden Hair," he kept repeating to himself,

until, in his weak state, the perspiration dropped from every pore, and

his mother, when she came to him, asked in much alarm what was the

matter.

He could not tell her of his newly-born joy, so he answered evasively: "Rocket is sold to-day. Is not that matter enough?"

"Poor Hugh, I wish so much that I was rich!" the mother sighed, as she

wiped the sweat drops from his brow, arranged his pillows more

comfortably, and then, sitting down beside him, said, hesitatingly--"I

have another letter from 'Lina. Can you hear it now, or will you read it

for yourself?"

It was strange how the mention of 'Lina embittered at once Hugh's cup of

bliss, making him answer pettishly: "She has waited long enough, I think. Give it to me, please," and taking

the letter that morning received, he read first that 'Lina was much

obliged for the seventy-five dollars, and thought they must be growing

generous, as she only asked for fifty.