The record-union., 1896-03-07

ing. He offered no explanation. After
the coffee had been poured. Grace de-
manded:
well, uncle, I shoald like to know
what you were doing when we came
in?"
why, you see,' said the Professor,
81 had just been spouting Hamlet.
You know he was always doing some
thing foolish just after saying some
thing wise I had declaimed,
What is he whose grief
Bears such emphasis?
and since there was no Ophelia's grave
for me to leap into, I had to jump on a
chair
Leo, smiling at the recollection, made
no answer to the Professors question as
to whether she had heard him declaim
Hamlet but he did not notice the
omission He was turning over the
leaves of the book that she had handed
him Suddenly in a full voice, he be-
gan:
whether it's nobler in the mind
Owl" for a sharp pain interrupted him.
His face was contracted for several
minutes, then the old smile stole back,
and he said:
Vi COURSE you We DeS ul W write
your Shakespeare essay?
Leo looked up quickly. Was Mr.
Lyman making fun of her? Competi-
ton was open to the seniors for prize
of $50 offered for the best essay on the
women of Shakespeare and of George
Eliot. Leo had no more thought of
trying for this prize than she had
thought of running for Congress. A
multitude of unaccustomed thoughts
flashed through her mind before she
answered Professor Lyman. He was
regarding her sympathetically
do you mean it, Mr.. LYMAN
"Assurement pourquoi pas, of
course"
But I can't write
You lack the spirit of the Irishman
who thought he could play the organ
though he never had tried"
But / haven't read enough"
'sThere is such a thing as reading too
much. mademoiselle"
''But l can't write like that she
added for she knew that she had been
thought clever at sketches and editor
ials for the Literary Monthly" and
that as a suory-teller she could hold a
group of girls spellbound. Now, for the
first time she caught a glimpse of the
possibilities of this talent The thought
made her heart beat fast
Professor Lyman closed his eyes with
a gesture of mock WEAKNESS familiar to
Leo. She slipped from the room with
out speaking.
Three or four students who were en-
hracing the privileges of vacation by
suoEhalling in the corridor were sur
prised to see her pass them by. The
same girls were amazed after luncheon
when she went to the library. But
their astonishment was slight in COM
parison with that of her most intimate
friends, who, when they returned to
college, found Leo to all appearances
dig" Leo. the idle, the careless, Sc
verely called by Professor Stone the
instigator of mirth''-what had come
over her? So speedy a conversion was
inexplicable. Her room was trans
formed Jars and baskets were pushed
far under the couch, and mighty tones
covered the top The alcohol stove
that one had usually found burning
under some. savory concoction was re-
placed by a reading lamp. The plants
on the window sill had been pushed
aside. not for box of candy, but for a,
pile of Rolfe's Shakespeares. On the
window seat, day by day, sat Leo her
self, scribbling, scratching out, tearing
up sheets of paper and screwing her
pretty face past all recognition
OF course the girls guessed what this
meant, but the question was, why? Leo
offered no explanation She hardly knew