, 1888-11-11

NSOSNs
So then Regina was committed, and
she told him all his father had said, and
gave him a sharp little lecture, in which
Justice was very little tempered with
mercy, on his duty to his parent. She
professed a good deal of regard and SYM
patty for Mr.. Fields, and indeed it was
pleasant to see this pretty girl taking the
side of the father, and preaching the
Fourth Commandment. To all this the
young man listened in silence. He was
hard to impress, it seemed, for he made
no reply, and then suddenly he asked:
"Who said all this?"
"Your father"
"But who told him?'
"Your mother-Mrs. Fields"
"And who told herr"
"You told her yourself, and you told
her more than I have spoken IT,"
"Nonsensel"
'But you did. You told her you were
engaged to marry this person. I insist
on having my racquet, Mrs. Fields"
"And this person is-is-a-prize
fghter2"
80 you said"
"Oh Lordl' cried Phil, and he lay
back on the grass and laughed until Re
gina was SO offended she arose and
walked back to the house.
After that she saw no more of Phil
until after supper, when he came to her
as she finished a most stupid game Of
tennis, there being no one engaged in it
who could contest it with her.
miss Scott" said he, Mrs. Fields
would be glad if you could come to her
for n moment"
Regina hesitated, and then said that
she would come presently with pleasure.
Would he be kind enough to say SO
81 think she wished me to bring you,"
replied Phil, boldly and so, not wishing
to expose their quarrel to the public, she
was constrained to go with him, but
she did not speak to him, and in
deed he did not ask her to do So. He
was perfectly silent, and seemed humbled
and quoted enough.
Mrs. Fields was not in the house, but
over by the well-a forlorn and weed
grown place, where only the servants
went. She was sitting on the stump of
a tree. She turned when she heard foot
steps. 81 have waited ages for you,
Phil, " she said.
miss Scott was engaged" replied
Phil, ''and / waited for her. You must
pardon me-" said he, turning to Regina,
''for my mother did not send me for
you, but 1 wanted to ask her a question
before you, and 1 had no alternative.
You would not have come had 1 asked it"
Certainly not;' and Regina turned to
go. Phil laid his hand gently on her
arm,
''Surely," he said, ''you will not be
unfair to me?" And then, all in a
breath, he turned to his s%tepmother.
"Do you remember, -" he said, "when
you once asked me about a glove you
found in my room2 You leased me-"
Mrs. Fields laughed. Certainly. Do
you want me to tell you what you said2"
81 do"
cit wouldn't be polite, Phil"
"Indeed you are mistaken. 1t would
be very polite-and true.n
"You said it belonged to the prettiest
girl in America"
81 cannot see," said Regina, chow
this interests me-"
Phil made no answer to her.
"Then you asked me who she was"
Eyes, and you said she was some sort
Of a professional character"
ga prize hghter2" said Phil.
'Mercyl no. Your father calls her
that, because he is so indignant with you;
but you never said SO. l understood you
perfectly-Seme kind of athlete; not a
teacher of caIisthentcs,~hat something
like it,"
Again did this young man burst into
laughter, but he controlled himself, and
it would not have been wise to have irri-
tated Regina much farther.
''Oh, mother" he said, 'now that
Mrs. Darlington is dead, why do you
want to play her Elisha2 Did l say calls
themes and professional"
II do not care what you said, " cried
Regina; and again she turned, and this
time ran away, leaving poor Phil looking
like the stupid she had called him.
Now Mr.. Fields always said when he
wa congratulated on his daughter-in-law
that he had made the match. He GER
tainly never made the explanation, and
convinced Regina that Phil had said the
glove belonged to ga champion, " and he
never showed the glove to Regina and
made her confess it was hers, and she had
missed it. 1t was very true that the old
gentleman knew that Regina had played
match games of tennis, and had carried
off the title and honors of a champion, F"
hut he never COMPOUNDED her with a
''prize fighter" He always held to a
vague belief in the existence of a repre-
hensible young woman from whom Re-
gina had o. Phil, and that he had in
duced her to do so, and when Phil called
her, by way of a pet name, a synonym,
he asked for no explanation of the joke,
if joke he considered it. 1t was
Phil only who could have told what an
uphill task he had in convincing Regina
that if he loved her now, SO had he loved
her always. How many times before
the summer was over did he hold his
breath thinking of his stepmother's i'm
agination and his fathers credulity. To
have said he was engaged to her was
ever Regina's grievance, and it was diff
cult to persuade her that what was once
a fiction of others should be a fact of
their own. And indeed he made little
Roadway until he found out that she