Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-10-03

Miss Ferris explained very gracefully
that the young ladies at Riverview were
her cousins, whom she was visiting fol
the first time, and thatshe had expected
them to meet her, and preferred to wait
rather than have Mr.. Rylance telephone
to Appleton for the solitary village
hack. And SO they got on very cheer.
fully until the arrival of the carriage
from Riverview, which contained the
dashing Misses Ferris-Kate and Milly.
You darling, how did you get here?'
''They telephoned us from the station
that the train was two hours late"
"And how did you come to know
Fredp"
'tAnd where's your trunk?"
To this bewildering attack Dolly
found. after a while, a chance to reply
that the express was so late that her
father had advised the way-train as q
possible means of saving her cousins I'M
necessary waiting. Mr.. Rylance further
explained that he had been fortunate
enough to be of some little service to
| Miss Ferris, and that he had introduced
himself.
The trunk was found, the young ladies
we're all volubly and 1utteringly put
into the carriage, when the whistle Of
the long-delayed train was heard. A
hasty gosd-by, and he found himself
just in time to have the train tagged.
He flung himself into a comfortable
seat, and hastily tearing a leaf from his
notebook. wrote:
"DEAR E~vERIDGE:-I am ready to keep my
share of the pledge we once made each other.
/ I have found NV idoQ1 and v011 Qro the fPaf
TO hear it. She shall be the second. She's
some, I've seen her, and been conquered.
lovely baby blonde face to her sweet, soft
voice; and best of all, old fellow. 1 have posi-.
tive proof that she isn't that pet horror of
market-'a %spieindidly educated girl
TITS the most curious thing, but she has
been brought up according to my latest the.
Ssy' n amen Il Isl sb sell b yo9 Mrs. whg Ry1ap Mevg + F m,gH
consent, and I can be a pretty stubborn sol
dior at a siege. Tn not mad, but l intend to
be: Be sure you keep your pledge as l have
but after 2 while:
FIRED RYLANCE."
A day or two later the threatened
siege began. There was an uninter-
rupted series of picnics and drives and
walks, all arranged by MI. Rylance,
and all given in Dolly's favor, and all
conspicuous by Fred's absolute devotion
to the yellow-haired visitor at River
view.
She furnished him more food for re-
Election than any n he had ever met.
Until he met Dolly he had had some
sneaking doubts of his --latest theory"
viz, that provided a woman were thor
oughly refined, the less she had of
''book larnin'," the nor charming she
would be. But here it was, the only
example he had ever seen, and the most
startling and complete vindication of
his ideas.
She was quite as bright as her cous-
ms, and after the most careful scrutiny
he failed to find a single occasion upon
which her lack of a common school
education" placed her at a disadvan-
tage. To be sure, he wasn't quite fair.
He never permitted the conversation to
turn upon books, and he could not help
wondering at times what people would
say when Mrs. Fred Rylance's accept
ances or regrets were conveyed always
in her husbands writing. One glance,
however, at Dolly's bright animated
face was enough to dispel all these
troublesome doubts. His curiosity ran
high at times as to how this singular
state of things had come about. A re-
mark Of Milly's gave him a little light.
She said once: "Isn't Dolly lovelyp
And it is SO strange that she is. She
has been brought up entirely by her
father, who has the most unheard-of
ideas on the subject of educating. or
rather not educating, girls. lisa won
der she isn't spoiled."'
''Pity more women weren't spoiled
in the same way" growled Fred.
Save for her confession at the station,
two circumstances only betrayed her
ignorance. He used to post letters al
most daily to her father, but always ad-
dressed in Kate's writing. The other
was that he came upon her once in the
library, and found her reading Horper's
Monthly upside down.
This really touched him. There was
something pathetic in the idea that she
SO felt the difference between herself
and other girls that she was led into
this childish way of pretending that she
"a not SO ignorant as he might think
from her inability to write. He longed
to tell her that he at least valued her
all the more because she hadn't been
spoiled by ridiculous theories of educa-
ton. He found an occasion.
They were talking one day-that is,
Kate and Milly were-of a woman's
novel that was running in one of the
magazines. Dolly had been very silent,
and Fred judged that his time had come
for declaring his preference for un-
schooled and unlessoned femininity.
Throwing himself back on the grass,
and gazing up at the blue patches OF
heaven visible through the network OF
boughs above him, he announced, die
tatorially:
81 never intend to read a line again
from the pen OF any woman. It's all
nonsense. There's my friend Dan
forth, who has married Miss Colby
she calls herself Daisy Earle on paper,
I believe. Fancy a man deliberately
selecting a literary wife! Oh no; any
thing but an educated and superior
female companion"
Dolly looked conscious and embar-
raised, but was silent. Kate retorted:
ooh, you goose! You are like all the
other men in the world, thoroughly in
consistent. I notice that in real life
Won never. nurSue sweet ipnoranoo &c