The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-11-23
CHAPTER K.

bLATTEkIN9 AND UNEXPECTED.
Asa conscientious man Russell could
not fully persuade himself that Browns
desire for Miss Rays intellectual advance
ment would be adequately met BY the
work OF the Society for General Culture.
Il the society should map out = plan for
! itself ct any meeting he foresaw that ct the
time Of the next assembly there would be
u least seven different ideas of what that
plan had been. and seven opinions of any
thing that might be offered a. : substitute
The resulting debates would not be in the
line Of mental progress.
But 1t was not because Of these consider
atoms that Russell continued TO call upon
Miss Ray a. frequently - the circum-
stances would permit He went because
he found it more and more agreeable to do
20. He was becoming even deeper involved
in money-making schemes of . nature i'll
calculated to make . man feel at peace
with himself. These fancifnl projects APP
peared to spring up without his volition
and to control him. He was their creature.
They gave him living, but for all he
could see they might cut him of with
shilling any day. He regarded himself as
an inflated fraud. and. though this was on
the whole rather pleasant at first, he en-
joyed the variety of feeling honest once in
awhile
And when such desire came to him he
called upon Alice Ray, and talked of the
subjects which interested her a. frankly a.
she herself. and derived pleasure which
he did not understand, but which came to
him because he really was honest in regard
to her, and hadn't thought in his brain
which couldn't have been safely photo
graphed for her inspection or Browns. He
liked her simply as he liked sunshine and
fresh air. She was SO palpably innocent of
small deceits and vanities.
Russell rather liked Mrs. Ray. too. She
was inferior to her daughter in every way.
Even in her youth she had not possessed
half of Alice's beauty, yet at IS she was by
no means the embodied prophecy which
sometimes frightens suitors away. Mental
" she was almost blank, as Brown had
said, but with good instincts and breeding
she had never felt the want A safe mother
for girl, after all; for it is impossible to
inherit evil tendencies from person of no
tendencies whatever.
1t was easy for Russell to win her appro-
baton. He made no special effort to do SO,
but he was innately respectful and of .
most courteous demeanor. Gilbert Ray
had told his wife that Russell was "hust-
Ter who would be heard FROM" and she
had taken this to mean an active young
man who might DO supposed to prefer
theaters and wine suppers OF riotous and
forbidden character. rather than peace and
quietness.
She therefore felt complimented by his
evident delight in the home-like evenings
he spent there, with no more hilarious en-
tertainment than somewhat vacuous con-
versation and little music. Ii he had
been in love with Alice that would have
been another matter, but the maternal eye
detected no sign.
The life of the family was simplicity
itself. They spent almost all their even
ings at home, and enjoyed each others
company in the good old fashion. Alice
sang and played well, and both her parents
were good listeners. though Mrs. Ray had
a slight tendency to somnolency. They
stayed in the city very late that SEASON. 10
Russell's great satisfaction.
He made other acquaintance through
the Society for General Culture. This or
eanizatiou discovered at its second meeting
that the approaching summer would dry
up the springs OF knowledge; and it was
voted and reconsidered ana voted again
and finally settied by general misander-
standing, that the third session should be
the last till fall The girls all pledged
themselves to read during the summer q lot
of books 1.-THE names of which they couldn't
Afterwards remember) and thus gain q
store of wisdom to share when they reas-
sembled.
Russell read the minutes OF the previous
meeting, which he had made ont with
offensive accuracy. The girls all protested
that they never said anything of the sort
or voted that way at all The report was
then amended in such thorough but un-
Ineligible manner that the recording
angel could never have recognized 1t as an
account OF anything which had trAnspired
on earth during his term OF supervision.
This second meeting was not Ut the
"Rays,," but at house near By. All tho
eisls lived within stones throw OF one
another. Through this association Rus-
sell received invitations to one or two
minor social gatherings in the very last
days of town life. Near the end OF June
the Rays went to their summer home on
the Hudson. Il Was not beyond easy &C.
cess from New York, and Russell was
expected to come up frequently during
the summer. This cordially would
have amazed him II the extraordinary
Kindness which had hitherto bean shown