The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1890-08-07
MARION AND MILL|CENT,

HlhlllUN hlfU WltllUlHt IL
'Of course | can't advise you,n said
Marion Lang, rejecting responsibility.
No" assented Millicent Dormer.
You ought to know whether you
care to marry man whoAlet me see
how old is this Mr.. Kane?"
Il don't know. Thirty-three or five,
suppose"
Yes. Well, he's nobody yet, yoaI
know, and if man is not somebody
before forty the cha noes are"
Yes, yes, | know! oh. | know. You
are quite right. He won't do at all.
Young lawyers always have miser-
able struggle getting on. don't krow
just how much he makes year. but |
suppose it's dismally little. Gertrude
Pycke married one of his chums last
winter. But see what she came to.
Her father helped her. too. But they
lived in an awfully small way. No, 1
see clearly that it is not to be thought
of.
And, having reached this conclusion,
Millicent looked questioningly at
Marion. The latter was year or two
older, handsome, collected impressive,
large and fair She laughed out:
My dear Millicent, / believe YOU
really care for this Gerald Kane. You
want me now to tell you that you had
better accept him for | suppose he has
already proposed, she added.
Mi!licent made no reply to this.
Well" continued Marion, Il cannot
tell you that. l don't think you would
do well to marry him. Oh. dare say
he's delightful-these ineligible crea-
ture are always fascinating. That
makes it Ill the harder to have an eve
to the future. But unless one is very
silly one tries not to let ones self be
carried away. If YOU marry Gerald
Kane YOU will proqably live in Il mite
of house. You will probably have Il
servant who won't wear II cap-that
class of servants objects to caps. YOU
know. You will have to give up the
continent in summer and take board
somewhere quite near the city, where
Mr. Kane can 90 in and out to his
business conveniently every day. You
="
'Oh, Marion! Don'tm
Marion laughed again, showing all
her magnificent teeth.
Am telling you any thing but the
truth? Is not that what you will have
to do?n
Mllcent, her hands in her lap. sat
the picture of detection in her blue and
white boudoir. Involuntarilv she cast
glance around it and Marion followed
the processes of her thought. 1t was
a dainty place. 1t was full of flowers,
books (Which Millicent rarely opened),
bric-a-brac, soft rugs, pictures. 1t was
a sheltered and perfumed bower, and
indubitably 1t was the right setting for
Millicent, who was delicate and slight.
and violet-eyed and fastidious, and
not accustomed To rough encounters
with the world. Marion came closer
TO her friend and with fine movement
of her handsome arms her slender
beautiful hands drew the younger girls
fair face down to her shoulder. Such
demonstrations were rare with Marion
Lang.
II am sorry, dear. if you really care
for him. she murmured. And Mil
licent cried a little and then pushed
her friend away.
Marion had her on her mind the rest
of the day.
Il hope she does not care very much
for him." she thought. at is hard, l
suppose" From personal experience
she did not know whether it was hard
or not. She consoled herself at last
by remembering, though there seemed
Il certain disloyalty in the act, that,
perhaps, after ALL Nillicent. sweet as
she was and gentle. and lovely, was
not capable or caring as deeply as some
others. Now, il | really loved IA man
very much-but no. | hope | should
have sense enough to do just what
Millicent is doing"
That was in the last days of the
spring. Before another fortnight had
elapsed Millicent had sailed for the
continent still free, and so far as Marion
could see, looking bright and happy
enough, and Marion herself had left
town with an invalid aunt for quiet
summer on the Devonshire coast.
1t is fearfully and wonderfully
stupid" she wrote in her first letter to
Millicent, land | shall read Browning
and Herbert Spencer for four months
without intermission. This letter
she drove to the village office herself
10 post. 1t was hot dav, and when
Marion discovered that there was no
one in sight to take her letter or to
hold her horse while she dismounted
from her cart, she was filled with an
unreasonable irritation. Her pug
barked and she administered to him a
sharp rebukc with her fan, while the
horse l;ageted reStleSsly.
AT that moment Il dark man in light
tweed, looking very cold. passed and
observed the predicament of the young
woman, by this time flushed and angry
of glance, and suppressed smile.
May | take your letter." he said
civillv.
Marion's blue eyes met his in a
straight look from under the rim of her
broad white hat. The man was an adj
mirer of beauty. He thought he had
never seen handSomer creature.
Thank YOU" And the cart ratified
down the road. raising Il little cloud of
white dust which mounted slowly in
the STILL hot air
The following day Marion calling on
friend in the cottage next to her
aunt's. discovered sitting on the piazza
her deliverer of the morning before
1T was very considerate of YOU to
come to my rescue, Mr.. Crane she
laughed.