The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-11-02

w u1S OA GetE TN are you balh1uB
about?'' 50
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 sympathy for Mr. Fields, and in
deed it was pleasant to see this pretty
girl taking the side of the father, and
preaching the fifth commandment.
TosaH this the young man listened in
silence. He was hard to impress, it
seemed, for he made no reply, and then
suddenly he asked:
ssWho' said all this?''
"Your father"
''But who told him?"
''Your mother-Mrs. Fields
Sand who told her?"
''You told her yourself, and you told
hermOre than 1 have spoken of. +"
''Nonsensei'a
'sBt1t4-ytou did. You told her you
were engaged to marry this person. I
insist on havings my racquet, Mr..
'sAnd this person is-is-a-prize-
fghter?''
$50 you said"
''Oh Lordp' cried Phil, and he lay
back on the grass and laughed until
Regina 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 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
onemOment.n
Regina hesitated, and then said that
she would come presently with pleas
ure. Would he be kind enough to say
so? ..
II think she wished me to bring
you,p replied Phil, boldly; and so, not
wishing to expose their quarrel to the
public, she was constrained to go with
him, bat she did not speak to him, and
indeed he did not ask her to do so, He
was perfectly silent, and seemed
humbled and quieted enough.
Mrs. Fields. was not in the house.
weed-grown place, where only the
servants went. She was sitting on
the stump of tree. She turned when
she heard footsteps. II 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 wanted to ask her a
question before you, and had no al
tentative. You would not have come
had asked it-n .-.
T 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
| breath, he turned to his step-mother.
''Do you remember - he said, when
you once asked me about glove you
found in my room? You leased me. "
| Mrs. Fields laughed. Certainly.
Do you want me to tell what you
| saidP" s
Il do"
cit wouldn't be polite, Phil"
Indeed you are mistaken. ItwOuld
| be very pOlite-and true"
''YOu said it belonged to the pref
test girl in America
! II can not 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"
"a prize-fghter?' said Phil
Mercy! no. Your father calls her
that, because he is so indignant with
stood you perfectly. Some kind Of
athlete; not a teacher of calisthenics,
but something like it.
Again did this young man burst into
laughter; but he controlled himself,
| and 1t would not have been wise to
have irritated Regina much farther.
"Oh, mother" he said, ''now that
Mrs. harrington is dead, why do you
want to play her ElishaP Did / say
| calisthenics and professionals"
Il do not care what you said," cried
Regina; and again she turned, and this
time ran away, leaving poor Phil look
/
Now Mr.. Fields always said when
| he was congratulated on his daughter
/ in-law that he made the match. He
| certainly never made the explanation,
and convinced Regina that Phil had
1 said the glove belonged to ''a cham
| piOn," and he never showed the glove
/ to Regina and made her confess that it
was hers, and she had missed it. It
was very true that the old gentleman
knew that Regina played match games
/ of tennis, and had carried off the title
4 and hOnors of a champion" but he
never COMPOUNDED her with a "prize-
! fighter" He always held to a vague
| belief in the existence of a reprehensi-
bic young woman from whom Regina
had won Phil, and that he had induced
| 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 up
hill task he had in convincing Regina
that if he loved now, so had he loved
her always. How many times before
the summer was over did he hold his
breath thinking of his step-mother's
imagination and his fathers credulity.
To have said he was engaged to her
was ever Regina's grievance, and it
was difficult 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 liked men in business after
she found he was in a brewery. and
that Wall street was not enticing to
her.