Miscellany.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 480, 1 March 1881, Page 2

Miscellany.

FOOLING HIM. - : ; \. It was the livery-stable keeper wfio had Mr Gunn arrested and taken before the magistrate upon as charge of hiring , ,?? l vehicle and not paying for it. When Mr Gunn was asked as to his: version of the matter in question, be !"/ said— % " You see, your Honor, I was courting* a girl named Emilj—Emily ButterwickAnd, on Tuesday, as she seemed a littlecold towards me, I thought I would please her, majbe, by asking her to take a drive. " She said she would go, and when I drove the carriage from the livery stable , -rehe got in. We had got but a short distance, when sh« asked me to stop, and a young man came up and spoke i > her. " She said his name was Jones, and he w?8 an;old friend of feet nuotberfyatid would 1 mind giving him a lift att far t.9 the station, so that he could takethe tif.in. ' : " I said I would, and that Jones mirjht drive ; bat as Jones declared he didn't know how to manage horses, he got into the back seat by the side of Emily." " Seemed hard to you, did it ? " ask«tl the magistratJ. " Well, pretty hard. But I drove on, bo's to catch the train, until I heard something that sounded like kissing; then I had suspicions, but when I looked round Jones Baid he had accidentally torn the curtst?o« "He saw that- I noticed his arm around Emily, so he said he had to keep it thereto hold the curtain to prevent it from flapping." « Considered it thin, did you? asked the magistrate. "Well, you know, I didn't like it much; but I whipped up the horses, and Emily and Jones were silent, until I looked round and saw her head on Jones' shoulder. Jones was awful smart, snd quick as a flash he said— " ' She feels better now. Had a sudden fainting spell, and would have dropped rijlit over if 1 hadn't caught her. Her mother warned me to catch her whenever she was taken this way. Drive right on. I will do what I can to make her comfortable.'

'•' That's what Jones said." "Did she seem comfortable?" asked the justice.

" Too comfortable, it apre.ired to me. But I went ahead for another minute or two, and then took another glance, when it looked to me as if Emily hud very suddenly gotten better, and was kissing Jones."

" Revived, had she ? " " Hut Jones said—

" Gunn, Miss Butterwick here was just whispering to me a message she wanted me to comey to a friend. Don t m'nd us. That ofi-horso is acting a little skittish ; you'd better keep your eyes on him." " What did Emily Bay ? " " Oh, nothing.

"Jones appeared to be running thifage, although it was my entertainment. However, just then wo reached the station, and when I stopped to let Jones out he

said—

" You needn't stop, Gunn ; my mind is changed.

" 111 take the night train. I have to see a man out here by the cemetery."

"So then I told him I thought he ought to drive and let me sit back, but he smiled and said that Miss Butterwick's life wouldn't be safe with him at the lines, or he'd be glad to oblige me, or words to that effect."

" Perfectly isnorant about horses, was he ? " asked the magistrate. " Let on to be anyway. And so I drove on, convinced that there was no more hugging and kissing going on behind me than the law allowed, until we came in front of a chemists.

" Jones asked me to stop, and I did.

" Then he wanted me to get out and buy some camphor to help Emily's nerves.

" Why can't you go in and get it ?" I

asked.

" I can't lea?e this fainting invalid," he said.

" And I can't leave the horse," I said. But Emily she chimed in wlthr—; " Oh, do go, Mr Gunn, for my sake!" " And so I handed my reins to Jones, and I got out, and entered the shop.

" When I came oit the carriage was gone, and I never heard from it again until Emily dropped ire a note day or two later apologising for running off with Jones, and saying that they had driven straight to a preacher and been married, because her father had refused to leb her marry Jones openly at home. Jones brought , the carriage to the stable after the ceremony, but he was in such a state of happiness that he forgot to pay the bill

"Now it don't seem exactly the thing that I should pay for having Jones play it on me in that awful manner, does it V*

" The case is dismissed," said the magistrate. "If I vvere Gunn I would go to the stake tafore I would settle."

And then the man started off to hunt up Jones.