The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1895-04-25

his right senses. If a man is not in
his right senses, he is deserving of our
pity, not our blame. 1 wish you good
evening"" And he left her looking
after him like one bewildered.
1t may have been a letter she wrote
to Will that night, or it may have
been one that Ernest wrote refusing
the loan, but for some reason Will
came home few days later. He had
learned new way to carry his cane,
and his bows were more profound than
ever; but his accomplishments seemed
to have small effect upon his father
and brother. AS for Ruth-well, it
may have been that she had grown
tired of giving admiration, love,
everything, and receiving in return
Indifferent attention. When woman
begins to draw comparisons between
her sweetheart and other men things
are not as they should be, for love
knows no comparisons. She did think,
and often, of the way Ernest had
spoken to her, and of the manner in
which Will talked, as if she were the
one favored in their love affairs.
And yet. to her, Ernest was nothing
in the world but Wills brother. When
Ernest thought of it seriously, he had
never been anything to any one, but
Wills brother. He had been so I'M
assuming, had cared SO little for ap-
pearances, and Will had cared SO
much. Ernest was an excellent busi-
ness man; he did the thinking, Will
did the talking; Will used all of his
ideas as if they were his own, and
transacted business for his father in an
easy, off-hand way, forgetting to men
ton that Ernest had spent hours of
careful thought and study before the
line of action had been decided upon.
1t had been the same when they were
children. Ernest read book care
fully; Will read a criticism upon it,
combined it with Ernest's opinion.
and carried on brilliant conversations
upon it with older people, impressing
all with his remarkable mind, while
Ernest sat by and said nothing.
Ernest had realized this for n long
time, but there had never been any
reason to care before; he did care
now.
81 am not good enough for Ruth, he
said to himself. 81 do not know any
one who is; and | would not for the
world make her think less of Will if
1 thought he loved her or would make
her happy; but he would not so L in
tend to let her see how superficial is
his knowledge, and what shallow
man he is.
When Ernest Wilson made reso-
luton it was as good as accomplished,
but this was the most difficult under
taking of his life; for he intended not
only to prove to Ruth that she was
wasting her affections on man who
cared nothing for her, but to teach
his little world to speak of him as
90 m &
brother.
He was so accustomed to sit by ST.
lently when questions were discussed,
knowing all the time that he had more
knowledge of the subject than those
who were talking, that it produced n
surprise that amounted almost to a
sensation when he first began to ex-
press his opinion in modest way.
1t was very hard for him, as he was
not only a modest man, but timid
one as well, and had been long In the
background; he succeeded well with
the men, however, and with dogged
determination to carry his resolution
through, he was not willing to stop
until he convinced all his friends that
he had q mind and opinions of his
own.
They were not so long in finding it
out as he had been, fortunately, and
soon he began to be spoken OF as
Ernest instead of "Will's brother,
or "Mr. Wilson's other son." Much
of the attention he had formerly given
to business he turned upon himself, to
the delight of his mother, who under
stood him better than any one else IN
the world, as is the way with mothers,
always, or nearly always. She en-
couraged him, then she went further;
she dropped word here and there OF