The Cook County herald., 1895-08-17


clamation, not at this act, but at the
act of the girl she was keenly watch
ing. ~. E
"GraciOus! Ernestine has vaulted
the fence almost without an effort
Philip smiled under his big brown
mustache and an amused twinkle
frightened his dark eyes.
''Ernestine? Oh, she is an atMetes" ,"
he responded, watching the slight dark
figure coming Whistling up sle lane.
"She can send her brown mare over
any fence or ditch that can take
with Badger Bill, I assure you. Not
only that, but she's the captain of
ladies' boat club, and can make mile
in three minutes on her bicycle"
Mrs. Devereaux looked at him in
dumb horror a moment. Then she re-
Piled:
And you look on smiling at all
this-nay, talk as if you admired her
for it!'' she exclaimed at last. *You
have brought her up like a. great over
grown tomboy, instead of lady-like,
Intelligent girl, fitted for some use in
the world. She ought to be going to
school instead of jumping bitches with
horses and leaping fences with dogs
like stable boy"
A quick dark flush mounted to Phils
broad, high brow.
''But she does go to school," he said
resentfully, ''in the village-a very
good school; but there isn't any now;
it's the summer vacation"
Mrs. Devereaux shrugged her shoul-
ders.
ga village school-bad! She should
1ln To foi ic1,
where she could learn to behave her
self decently and earn her livelihood.
She has no fortune, 1 believe; her
/ mother simply left her name. You
should certainly educate her to earn
her own living, to be independent of
your charity in her womanhood at
least. She is almost a woman-seven-
teen. Why, I was married at that
age"
The amusement in his eyes had fed,
look.
Was he Wronging Ernestine Willard
by letting her receive an education
and be happy in her own way?
Would she blame him, wish to be in
dependent of him in her WOmanhood? ?
It shocked and panied him to think
u,
that many girls married at her pres
ent age.
He had enjoyed the tomboyism and
daring and frank careleSsness Of the
merry little madcap quite as much as
many an athletic feat.
And he had found her such a gay,
glad, apt pupil, such an ever-interest-
ing companion.
He had taught her many things that
would have shocked his naughty Sis
ter, more even than her expert riding
{ and fence leaping,5 among them to
shoot on the wing with a pretty little
rifle he had given her, or revolver,
and to play "poker' many an evening
to many a time relieve him of pocket
money.
Yes, he saw it now; this was wrong,
all wrong.
Ernestine would soon be a woman.
and, though he never meant that she
should earn her own living, on any ac-
count, she would have to go out into
the world and mingle with other wom-
en-.
If she felt lost and out of place
among them; if she could not equal
them in refinement, knowledge, accom-
plishments, would she not blame her
guardian, and justly?
The thought haunted him all day
and unpleasantly.
When Ernestine asked him to Join
her in ride to the trout stream, he
answered her shortly, so shortly that
she looked at him in amazement,
Had she displeased him? How? Well
She couldn't go riding now; and tears
OF pain and resentment blinded her
eyes While she hunted up fishing
tackle took the eager Newfoundland
into the secluded June woods, where
dWelt the timid trout under the shad-
oW of tangled underground.
Mrs. DevereauX had been at Darke-
wood but two days. when she became
so terribly bored with loneliness, that
She spoke to Philip, about asking some
people down from Madison some thir
ty miles distant.
He carelessly assured her that she
was welcome to ask whoever she want
ed whenever she wanted them: but
there was no one for whose coming he
especially cared; he had been q her
nit, so long. etc.
SO she asked a number of society
people-people supposed to be wealthy
cultured and all that was desira BILE:
yet Philip Drake had never been SO
bored in all his life
How languid and inane all the vom-
en- were, painted, fashionable dolls.
who were shocked at the Modernism of
Ernestine because it required physical
daring. Their daring was all moral.
they firted scandalously, married and
single; and the men
Bah! there was nothing manly about
them. They were mere followers of
the pretty butterflies of fashion: all.
except one
Gerald Graham was not a character
to be despised by man or woman:
there was something so frank so no.
BILE, and manly about him that he was
instead, one to be admired even by
his enemies-a handsome young fell
low of thirty, with lots of brains. lots
Of daring, physical and moral, and
plenty Of money.
After a week at Philip brakes rural
home, during which Mrs. Deyerea71x