The Red Cloud chief., 1889-05-17

| I think I'll spend most of my time in
the barn: take my meals on the back
porch; baked apples and milk, beans,
| any thing you may have to spare. J.
can't face a young lady who prefers
cave-dwellers to ordinary people. and
who will look a whole Glacial Period
at me across the table,"
"Ralph, you ought to have moro
| sense than to talk so. Folks might
think you wero afraid her learnin'
would put yours in the shade" sugA
gested Ralph's mother, wickedly.
Then she reminded him that it was
two hours yet till tea-time. and that
there was q berry pie cut in the pap
try, along with some nice rOot-beer
made by Ruth's own hands.
"Root-beer! All, Sanscrit roots, l
suppose"
"Try it. You'll taste dandelion
and burdOck plain enough, I'll war
rant" They went downstairs to-
gether.
And then-and then, in the cham
Der they had left, a little dressing
closet softly opened, and a neatly
combed head vas thrust out.
"Oh, how small it makes you feel
to overhear people talking. even when
you can't help it! If I had only been
dressed, and could have walked right
out! And to think he never once
looked at the upper shelf where the
poetry is! How ignorant of him to
suppose 1 can not enjoy these precious
books without being q stiff, angular,
'strong-minded' old thing! l wanted
to like dear Auntie Wakefeld's only
son, but now l can not Such o mar
row. conceited fellow! I've half q
mind to fool him by acting the part Of
. frivolous, fashionable girl, without
an idea in her head. I could do 1t.
But he isn't worth the trouble. Bet
ter leave his majesty entirely to him.
self"
Nevertheless. it was q very cour.
teous and agreeable young man whom
Ruth found when. two hours later,
she descended to the tea table and was
formally introduced to Mr.. Ralph
Wakefield.
For several days their acquaintance
made little progress. When not en-
gagged in household duties the young
lady wandered in the woods and
fields, as had been her wont, or sat
in her little room holding sweet COM
partnership with the %slandered books.
When she talked with Ralph, it was
usually about the dressing of a salad,
the relative merits of currant jelly and
raspberry jam. or the kind of gerani-
ums that always prospered best under
her care. Once when she asked his
opinion as to the trimming most ap-
propriate for the caps she was making
for his mother-whether he preferred
quilted ribbon or muslin frills-and he
answered that he knew not one from
the other, she vas moved to tell him
In the most innocent manner that she
had some books upstairs which he
needed to read for instruction. All the
young mans attempts to draw out any
opinions she might have ended in
failure. He received but the shortest
and dryest Of answera Yet there was
at such times something In her
eyes and in her manner that puzzled
him. She could not school her tell-tale
features into proper immobility, and
after q time Ralph's wonderment be.
gan to border on enlightenment
Finding himself growing more in.
terested in her every day, in spite of
her reserve, he changed his tactics
and entertained her with common
place topics-his life in the city, his
Law studies, his ideas Of jurisprudeuce,
tho acquaintances he had made, his
outlook for the future. Gradually the
amiability Of each found full play; in
terest and confidence grew up on both
sides. and. In spite of her grim re-
solves, Ruth found herself almost un-
consciously acting once more some
thing like her real sell. Still, she
fought against the change, and might
have continued to fight, until
"October; with her hair adame,
Flushed brow. and purple finger tipaL
Across tho Southern orchards came,
And touched the apple with her lips"
had not an accident q veritable acci-
dent. happened to her sewing-ma-
chine.
Strangely enough, Ruth began scold-
ing, not the machine, but tho work.
''Oh, the supreme folly Of modern
dress-making! / am 50 tired of hens
and tucks, bands and rufles, puf1ngs
and Fittings! And now that the hem
mer win not hem, and the gatherer
win not gather, what can I do with
this mass Of trimming? Auntie, I
hope that II I ever come into this
world q second time q great wave of
reform will have swept away all such
dummery a. muslin puts and rufles."
"Same Of potato-bugs," murmured
Father Wakefield. sleepily, from his
chair.
A voice from the doorstep. II
have M desire tn nm fhia AMI.