Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1890-01-14
BEING ENGAGED.

felt that she wootd almost Be Wiling to furego
the pleasure Of hearing man ask if he
| might come to see her Sunday might, if that
pleasure were TO result IN such Tsze Is this,
| She could not account for her suffering from
such guilty feeling when she was not guilty
of anything, unless it were of being so at
| tractive that gentleman desired her society
At this thought she blushed, and then COM
mon sense whispered to her that she was not
attractive
1t was of no use to try to look her mother
in the face, and she gave up the attempt.
AfteS terrible silence Mrs. Green cried ont:
''Tnever! / declare never dir
Mehitable trembled
He was a-weighin' the ROSTERS, n she said,
feebly.
He want a-weighin' no roosters when
you n he was stan'in' by the fence, without
bein' nigh no ROSTERS was the stern reply.
Aehitable felt that there was nothing for
her to say, and so she said nothing. She only
tried to hold herself so that her mother should
be as little aggravated as possible.
''Has that man buried his second wife!n
''He has,
"Oh, gracious landi"
Here Mrs. Green deliberately withdrew
her hands from the back of the chair, sat
tious carefulness, began to unite the hand
kerchief from her head and to fold it ON her
knees When she had done this. she looked
up at her girl and made this inquiry:
when d. he bury herf'
"About six months ago."
"Hes been mourner ever sence, s'poseF"
81 s'pose So" dejectedly came from Mehit-
ables lips.
no wac ov,1a t<h vo
herself IN some way. She knew that she had
right to receive Mr. Smiths addresses. but
this knowledge was of Ingulariy little avail
to her.
She was immensely astonished and indefin-
ably alarmed when her mother said, rising
to her feet as she spoke:
Eve mustn't be foolin' here If we want
to get them bunnits sewed fore the man
comes"
Mehitable eagerly sat down to the straw
work. For two hours she expected, every
time her mother opened her lips, to hear
something more Of the dread subject. But
no, Mrs. Green was remarkably amiable, and
''the gentlemen" wsre not mentioned In any
way.
1t will be guessed that Mrs. Green had not
Farnsworth shrewdness as well. What she
said to herself was; ''If go aginst that
Parrot Smith, she'll take up an the more for
him. SO I'll hold my tongue"
She was one Of those exceptional women
who, having resolved to hold her tongue, can
do so.
Thus it came to be Saturday night. When
Mehitable went upstairs to her cold and dis
Oh or lxx>v
lamp in her hand before her foot-square look
ing glass She was meditating the act Of
doing her hair up in ''crimps" She had not
hitherto had any occasion for crimps, but it
seemed to her now that the time had come
for this adornnent. When she had gone to
the library that afternoon she had stopped
into the store and bought pair of crimFdng
pins. These instruments were shaped like
very stout hair pins, each furnished with
slide which confined the hair. Whenshe had
come into the house she had felt as if her
mother could see these articles, although they
were wrapped up at the bottom of her pocket,
and her circular was over her pocket. She
never felt exactly certain how far her
mothers knowledge extended.
1t was cold in her chamber. The wind
made loud whistiing when it was that side
occupant of the room was not cold She
looked at herself full front, quartering, and
tried to see her face IN profile, with but poor
success Finally, she set down the lamp,
with dreary sigh.
"I,m jest a fright that's what l be-" she
said aloud
She held the crimping pins for a long time
in her hand. She wondered how they would
going to stay over Sunday somewhere, and
then she, Mehitable, might experiment. with
those pins. But her mother never went
away. She was always there to oversee every
thing. Mehitable shuddered at the thought
of what might be said when her hair was
seen dene up IN those pins.
Then kind of CONFUSION of courage
came to her, and she did what she believed
to be the braTest act of her life She
twisted her hair up in those instruments, and
without waiting to consider what she bad
done or what she should do on the morrow,
she hurriedly crep. to her bed.
When she went down stairs the next
morning, Mrs. Green did not seem to see that
her girl had her head bound UP in handker
ctrief which carefully concealed her brows.
Tho excessive amiabihty continued even UP
room after their late dinner, in her best
black wooden dress and With a wavy fluff of
iron gray hair over her forehead. That
Mrs Green experienced a shock at that mo-
rnent cannot be doubted. but she did not
make it manifest.
The two women sat m the kitchen. The
elder one bad book of the Psalms, In very
large print, open on her lap. She appeared
~
hoiding Bible, but she did not even make
the pretense of perusins it. She was think
ing that the fire was ready to touch OF" In
the settn' room stOve, and wondering how
long it would be before The room would be
warm if Mr.. Smith should come And if he
came, what would be sayi She had done
the barn chores full bali hour earlier than
she had ever done them before, and her
mother had made 10 remark
If he came, what would he sayi This ques-
ton required again and again she could
not, by any possibility, put il from her mind
1t humn1ed over and over n her tho0ghts-
1t Is pitiabse TO have 30 rebate that Mehi.- |
able had never had Sunday uighsoompanyH |
in all her life She lad hay belief that /
this was very sad fact, and she hoped that I
II might never besaid with truth of her again 1
Surely somebody bad driven into the yard; |
somebody said Whoa" very loudly and en- /
phaticaaly.
Il guezs we're goin' TO have callers hut /
able, said Mrs. Green sweetly. you run 4
right n light the settn' room stove, n II
20 20 the door"
While Mebitable was lighting the stove
her mother ushered into the kitchen Mr.. Al 1
phonso Smith be sad ne guessed re might /
= wall tzis S h.s hos r. q an Il 4 tle barn,
a. twas kinder BAN cut