Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-20

sono. Never was q quiet and orderly house
hold transformed so suddenly into bea'
garden or a happy man turned into such
completely miserable one.
"You don't look happy" Mrs Westma-
colt had remarked to him one morning.
'You are pale and q little off color. You
should come with me for ten-miis spin
zpon the tandem"
''I am troubled about my girlz" They
were walking up and down in the-gsrden.
From time to time there sounded from the
house behind them the long, sad wall Of q
French horn.
''That is Ida," said he. "She has taken
TO practising on that dreadful instrument in
the intervals Of her chemistry. And Clara
Is quite as bad. declare it is getting quite
uncomfortable"
'Ah. doctor! doctori'' she cried, shaking
her forefnger with a CLEAN Of her white
teeth. ''You must live up to your princi-
ples-you must give your daughters the
rnme liberty as you advoca.s for other
women"
"I must beg to differ from you, madam -
'Still you are inconsistent"
Excuse me, madam, do not see the
matter in the same light. And I should be
obliged to you if you would use your inf1u-
ence with my daughter to dissuade her"
.'You wish to make me einconsistent, too.
''Then you retuse?"
'I an afraid that cannot interfere"
The doctor was very angry. VERY well,
madam" said he. In that case can only
say that have the honor TO wish you 8
very good morning." He raised his broad
hor nd De ho
path, while the widow looked after him
with twinkling eyes. She was surprised
herself to find that ehe liked the doctor bet
ter the more masculine and aggressive he
became. 1t was unreasonable and against
all principle, and vet so it was, and no argu-
ment could mend the matter.
Very hot and angry, the doctor retired
into his room and sat down to read his pa
per Ida had retired, and the distant walls
OF her bugle showed that she was upstairs
in her boudoir. Clara sat opposite to him
The doctor glanced at her and his eyes re-
nained fixed in astonishment upon the
front of her skirt.
"Iy dear Clara" he cried, "you have
torn your sllirt!'
His daughter laughed and smoothed out
her frock. To mis- horror he saw the red
plush of the chair where the dress ough. to
'Tt is all torn," he cried 'What have
you done?"
''AIy dear papa" said she, "what do You
know about the mysteries of ladies' dress?
This is a divided skirt
Then he saw that Il was indeed so az
ranged, and that his daughter was clad in
bort Of loose, extremely long knickerbockers.
Her father shook his head sadly. "Your
dear mother would not have liked it, Clara"
said he.
For moment the conspiracy was upon
the point OF collapsing. There was some
thing in the gentleness of his rebuke and
IN his appeal TO her mother which brought
the tears to her eyes, and in another instant
she would have been kneeling beside him
with everything confessed, when the door
few open and her sister Ida came bounding
into the room. She wore short gray skirt,
like that of Mrs. Westmacott, and she held
it mp in each hand and danced about among
tie furniture.
Il feel quite the Gaiety girlr' she cried.
'HOw delicious it must be to be upon the
Ttagel You can't think how nice this dress
Is, papa. One teels so free in it And
Isn't Clara charming?
go to YOUR room this instant and take It
off, thuEdered the doctor. 81 call it high
ly improper, and no daughter Of mine shall
wear IJ.'
dpd- lIp!Operi w Nv, II ls tue eAaCt
model of Mrs. Westmncott's
''T say it is improper. And yours also,
Claral Your conduct is really outrageous
You drive me out OF the house. am going
10 my club in town. have no CON-
fort or peace of mind in my
own house. viii stand it no longer. I
may be late tonight. I shall go to the
British medical meeting But when re-
turn l shall hope to find that you have re-
considered your conduct, and that you have
shaken yourself clear of the pernicious in
huenees which have recently made such an
alteration in your conduct" He seized his |
hat, slammed the dining ronm door, and |
few minutes later they heard the crash of
the big front CUTE.
Victory, Clara, VictoryT cried Eda, still |
plrouettlng around the furniture. "Did |
you hear what he said? Pernicious intlu. |
ences! Don't you understand, Clara? WHY |
DO you sit there so pale and GUM? Why |
don't you get up and dance?'
''Oh, shall be so glad when fits over,
Ida. do hate to give him pain. Surely he |
he's learned now that it is very unpleasant
to spend ones life with reformers"
''He has almost learned il, Clara Just |
one more little lesson. We must not risk |
aii AZ this last moment"
"WhRt would you do, Ida? Oh, don't do |
anything too dreadful I feel that we have
gone too far already"
'Oh, we can do it very nicely. You see
we are both engaged and that makes it very
easy. Harold will do what you ask him,
especially as you have told him the reason
why, and my Charles will do it without
even wanting to know the reason. Now
you know what Mrs. Westmacott thinks |
shout the reserve of young ladies' Mere
prudery, afectationsand relic of the dark |
eges OF tie Zensna Those were her words,
were they not?"
''WhaE then?"
"Well, now we must pu. It in practice. |
We are reducing all her other vices to prac- |
tice, and we must not shirk this one
''But what would you do? Oh, don t |
look so wicked, Ida! You look like some |
evil, little fairy, with your golden hair and |
dancing mlschievous eyes, I know that |
you are going to propose something dread \
fulp'
1--WE must give little supper tonight"
The two invitations were dispatched, re. |
ceived and accepted. Harold was already a |
confident, and he understood that this was /
some further development of the plot. |
As 10 Charles, he was SO accustomed to |
eccentricity, in the person of his
sunt, that the only thing which could sur
prise HIM would be rigid observance of
etiquette. At 9 o'clock they entered the
dining room of No 2 to find the master of
the house absent, a red-shaded lamp, a
snowv cloth, a pleasant little feast, and the
two whom they would have chosen, as their