The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1894-10-02

uineness of these conversations, but
warned as to the use that INSCRIPTIONS
young man would make of his knowl-
edge.
Mason Welles had indeed been a wit
ness, and an expert one, too for he had
known the Mantell girls from their
childhood, and now, as he reviewed the
singularity of their single conduct, he
was able to trace its course. He remem-
bered long ago hearing his father DR.
Welles, shrewd old physician that he
was discuss the idiosynerasy Of the
Mantell twins "Those children are not
] simpletons, F" his parent had said. ITO
gether they possess all the faculties
! The trouble is that certain ones, due to
the mysterious intimacy of their birth,
they hold in common. Separately each
one is apt to grin and caper like am idiot.
l do not believe that any education,
however thorough, can eradicate this
Stiffness. But when they are kept in
company, as they should be, this per-
version not only disappears, but they
are utterly oblivious that it ever exist
ed. In fact one is the complement of
the other. Together they form the per-
feet circle of common sense. The rem
edy is, and have impressed it ON their
parents, to make them to all intents
and purposes Siamese twins. .
Years had passed since childish
pranks had provoked his fathers speech,
and since then Mason had seen the girls
develop into the fullness of cultured
that there had been time when their
sanity had been a topic for sympathiz-
ing friends. Now, for a truth, he re-
membered it all, as he also remembered
that until this hour he had not seen
them apart. Now, through deduction,
ne comprehended that together the sis
tiers had entertained a highly proper and
respectful admiration for Paul Dupont,
which had affected each OF them when
separated thus disastrously. IF that
little witch Of an Alice could witness
their fond attentions, Mason comment
cd, perhaps she would abandon her
abominable pretense Of pl derry. And
upon this hypothesis he began to scheme
a demonstration.
To Paul in his course of treatment
came no such clarity of vision. But
since his head remained unaffected,
however much his stomach did suffer,
he gained slight approximation to the
situation Evidently what had happened
had happened, incredible though it ap-
peared. The solution rested solely with
old Hodges. Until his return he was
helpless Unless-why, of course, I'M
less he could play one sister against the
other Each had asserted the necessity
of assembling. Undoubtedly, then, if
he could associate with them jointly the
old formality would continue, and, bet
ter still, he would be relieved from the
dreadful apprehension Of separate en-
counter Perhaps, too, that object which
had provoked his approach to Sophronia
might also be achieved. For the next
few days fishing was neglected, and
Paul combined the outdoor study OF bot
any and geology.
So marked change in her husbands
avocation did not escape Alice's sharp,
bright eyes When she commented on
his ttaste for curios, I" as she termed 1t,
PauI's distracted "Eh? Ali presume
So seemed more a disguise than a
slight In word, she grew suspicious,
jealous, unhappy, lamenting as lost
what she had not cared to hold and
burning to prove beyond cavil that
which she would give worlds to disbe-
lieve. That right jolly party became
compound of inanity and Mason Welles
easily its quintessence. However, when
this beamful young man, in his pursuit
of the vicarious mote, suggested jaunt
to the summit, artfully mentioning that
the Mantell girls were going and add
ing, land of course Mr.. Dupont, Alice
agreed with an eagerness which he mis-
interpreted, for her delighted should
have been taken as "heartbroken. "
Nor was this the only error that Mason
made He offended the twins sense Of
decorum, supersensitive in it's entirety,
by ocular reference to their intimacy
with Paul.
II detest that Mr.. Welles, said So
phronia frigidly
HE is abhorrent to all ideas of de-
cency,'' agreed Abigail.
Ill fated Mason, not to have applied
discrimination to his own easel If
such was their united Judgment, what
might not be their individual impulse?
But no man while digging pit ever
whistled more merrily than he. when
we get there, . he meditated, "I'll man.
age to separate the girls, and it will be
hard if / can't arrange to have Dupont
come across one Of them while pretty
Alice is looking on And them
50 settled was Mason in the certainty
of laughing last that he regarded with
composure the way in which the party
took seats in the great mountain wagon,
though it was hardly in accord with his
desire, for Paul and Alice were side by
side, like Darby and Joan, with the
Mantell sisters as prim and demure
neighbors. 1.-THE return will be slightly
| different, " he unused, with triumphant
smile, land it will be dark then too.
/ Conjunction for two unintended
wrongs had drawn Paul to Alice. Be-
| lated appreciation and poignant regret
had dragged Alice close to Paul. To the
/ infinite repugnance of the twins this
couple incontinently INDUCED In soft
and cooling phrases, and more than once
on the drive were undeniably holding
hands. And still worse, when there
was heavy Jolt Paul embraced Alice
with exaggerated tenderness, although
I she was safe and secure in an interior
corner, and the unprotected maidens
who should have been his care were
bobbing up and down like electric balls
Ere the destination was reached that
respectful admiration which the Man
tell girls had shared for Paul Dupont
had faded away, its place permanently
retained by indifferent contempt.
''Sappyl" whispered Sophronia
"'Spoonsp' concurred Abigail.
But hapless Mason Welles was I'M
aware of these changes of sentiment;
otherwise when the cloth was spread on
the ground and the hampers were in
process of unlading he would not have
been so intent on sending Paul hither
and thither and on employing the Man
tell girls with distinctive errands. His
eagerness, too, prevented him from per
ceiving that Alice was studying his
maneuvers with doubt and aversion.
Everything seemed to be working just
to perfection Paul was engrossed with
a kettle, some damp kindlings and a
broken match down in the ravine, hid
from the sight of every one excepting
his wife. Sophronia had been inveigled
on the heights after berries and Abigail
down the road to the farmhouse for
milk, each sister believing that the 9TH
or was close by.
"I'll take a shy at Sophronia first y
Mason resolved. "Thoro's more of the
March hare about her, think " And