Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-11-05
DORA'S LESSON.
BY PERCY TAYLOR.
Summers come.
-Inter-Ocear

Dora Senterdine was right, quite
right. She knew she was, or she GERS
tainly would not have kept on repeat
ing that declaration over and over to
herself, as the cars bore her swiftly
along on her solitary journey.
OF course she was right. She had
only showed proper spirit In doing
as she had, and any one who kuew
the circumstances would uphold her
in her course. She was not a child to
be ordered about and be kept IN lead
ing strings, and she had endured it
long enough. It would do Roger good
(strange what a choking came to her
throat as she thought of him now tAat
the distance between them was grow
ing mornentarily greater it would DO
him good to see that she was determin-
ed and able to assert her WE individ-
uality and will about something. She
had submitted quietly far too long al
ready, and he would see now that she
meant 10 do SO no longer.
How fast the train was goingl She
wondered how many miles an hour it
was making. If Roger were with her
he would be able to tell her, for he was
always able and willing to answer her
many questions, but Roger was not
mere. On the contrary Roger was far
behind, and she was here alone for the
express purpose Of leaving him far be-
hind.
She looked at her watch with a
weary little sigh. Ten minutes Of
two. She had been on her way two
hours already. Surprising, by any
accident Roger had come home from
the office early, and found her note
upon the dressing table in his room.
She wondered if he would telegraph
after her, and then dismissed the
thought with scornful little smile.
He would be too proud and too angry
to do that, she knew; he would SIM
ply let ner go her own way In silence
and would send no weird, and stretch
forth no hand, to bring her back.
And it was better SO. She had cnos~
her own course, not deliberately it
was true, for she. had taken this step
la fit OF anger, but taken it was,
and now she would GO straight ahead
and take the consequences.
They would be glad to see her at
home she knew. Tney had been urg-
ing Her LC WISH HILL LUZ u iOUS
and she knew that they would well
come her gladly. She was little un~
certain how they would feel when
they learned that she had given up
the experiment CT married life and
come home to stay. Her mother sure~
Iy would upheld her, for it was her
mothers unwise and unreas0ning in
diligence which was chiefly to blame
for the fact that her pretty daughter
Dora had grown to years Of wOman~
hood with the impetuous, ill~disciplin-
ed disposition of a spoiled child. Her
mother would surely take her side Of
the question, but her father---
Dora drew her cloak around her a
little more closely, and looked dscid-
eddy uncomfortable, as she thought of
the grave, kindly-eyed man whose
friend Roger Senteraine had been
long before he was his daughter's
husband.
Her father would look at the mat
ter very differently she knew; he was
man always. and he was a just man
always, and he would want to under
stand the affair thoroughly before he
decided in faver of either, but still
Dora had confidence enough in her
own powers of cajolery to feel quite
sure that even though her father
might not thoroughly indorse her
conduct he would not openly blame
or reproach her, and that he most GER
tainly would never mske her feel IN
any way that she was not as welcome
al I'D as we'll beloved, AS IN the girlish
days before she left his home for one
of her own.
"Hs r own home" How proud and
happvy Dora had been In those first
DAYS before the novelty of being sole
mi eess of the pretty house which
= .er had bought and furnished SC