The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-01-19

He kicked and screamed. His fluffy faii
hair was rutfied: he looked the picture of a
little demon.
"Presairye u.s. said the little dress
maker. 1t was the first time any exaggera.
tion of feeling had come into her life She
was half fascinated and half tel rified by
this unexpected ourst. ''Presairvev' she
repeated afterwards what prompted her
hut She stepped TO the cor, wrapped a
blanket round Thrift, and did not stop to
think till she had deposited him safely in
her own house. 1t was characteristic OF
Jean Lawrence that she never reasoned out
why she had done this action Certainly
she never regretted it. 1t was quite an easy
matter to settle the disposal of Thrift with
his father. He was only too glad to be rid
of the burden.
The first cIashing of wills occurred over
the same little black frock. Thrift un-
gratefully refused to have anything to sdo
with it. Miss Lawrence was lerplexet. 1t
would never do to dress him in colors on a
Sunday. She compromised by making him
a white frock, with broad black sash. 1t
set off the childd's fairness, but still more
it satisfied her sense OF fitness.
Jean Lawrence always thought of that
episode as an epoch in her life. The next
epoch was the sudden resolve of Thrills
father to go 10 America. Jean Lawrence
lived in state of tension till he had
sailed. 1t seemed incredible to her that he
could wish to leave his boy behind She
only saw the extreme desirability of Thrift
in any manner and .way. Thrills father
did rot. NJ,
1t was soon after this that Jean Law
rence's old lover returned to his native
village. This caused more thought in the
village than Jean herself gave to it. 1t was
ten years since John Forbes and she had
been going to be married, and ten years is
a long time in a woman's life! Since Thrift
had entered her life she was utterly oblivi-
Gus of anything except her work. The more
money she made. the more she could do for
Thrift.
Jean Lawrence had always kept to her
self, and no one knew why she and John
Forbes had never married.
Her old mother was alive then, and every
one knew she would have liked the match.
John Forbes had come back grayer and
older than he had gone away, but he was
richer and even more able to afford wife,
Time had not gone well with Jean. She
was thin and small always and she had had
a hard life of work. Her sparse drab hair
was beginning to be sprinkled with gray.
She looked older than she really was. The
village came to the conclusion that John
Forbes would go by her, and seek
younger BONNER woman" The two most
gave no cause for gossip.
John Forbes would sometimes stop as he
was passing the little cottage and say few
words. There never was any allusion to
past times between them. They called each
other Mr.. Forbes and Miss Lawrence studi-
ousIy. That was the only clue either of
them had there was mutual past between
them.
On the Sundays that Jean went to church
her thoughts were always divided between
the BARN at home and the psalms, to her
great discontinued John Forbes would
sometimes overtake her. They talked of
The sermon; then of the crops and the
weather. By degrees these subjects gained
an easy familiarity, and only varied with
the seasons.
!, No one was more surprised than Jean
when John Forbes ASKED her, one day, to
marry him. She stared at him in emot ion
less calm.