The Republican., 1897-10-14

luctantly give up all idea of-joining the
picnic, and had so longed to go; for
one thing, it was the first time Sir Wal
ter's demesne had ever been accessible,
and that in itself made me more anxious
to see the beautiful grounds that had
always been so iealously guarded from
intrusion Sir Walter had died siS
months before, and the heir that he had
never seen had given permission for
this special party to hold their meet in
his demesne; and, by the way, he had
not seen the place himself, but was eX-
pected to arrive at an early date. Per
haps | ought to have said that his agent
had given the doctors party leave to
see the grounds, and not he. We'll, after
mother had succeeded in convincing me
of her inability to get me even second
hand mount, Uncle Thomas had uneX-
pectedly chiIned in by saying: well,
Kathie. if you don't mind having a very
tfrst-class bike, TIL get you one" Twas
both astonished and delighted, and
kissed the old man effusively and went
to bed quite happy; and now, just be-
fore the day of the meet, he had brought
this monstrosity! Well, [ must not be
too hard on the old man, but l wished he
had bought himself a new coat instead.
The collect for rain was unanswered;
so was my desire for sudden sickness.
never felt better in my life, and the sky
was cloudless, so there was nothing for
it but to put bold face on the inevita-
BILE, and at the time appointed started,
watched from the gate by my evidently
admiring uncle. Creak, creak, went the
old ramshackle. 1t was awful! What
should I do when ] Joined the others
every one of whom owned first-class
mount? Should l turn back and pre-
tend that I had spill? Oh, there was
no pretense required, for, giving an
extra groan, my mount collapsed and il
and I rolled over into the dust below
When [ picked myself up | found the
rim off and the spokes all twisted anc
broken; there was nothing for it but
to drag the remains back to the cottage
and take up my daily duties, and, while
feeling sorry for uncle's disappoint
ment, I could not but rejoice at my es
cape from the criticisms of Florrie ant
her friends.
Still, there was no use hurrying
the day was lovely. So, dragging my
wheel to shady bank, l sat dowr
and began to make a daisy chain, anC
had almost completed it when a gig
drove rapidly round the corner. wa
on the wrong side of the road, ant
right in its track. 1t took the drive
all his time to pull up to escape driv
ing over me. and jumping quickly t.
my feet | tried to get my unfortunat
| bike out of the way. but it was use
less; its ruin was complete. Quickl.
descending, the driver showed grea
concern at what he called his stupid
itv, but | only laughed, and INFORMED
him that he had only completed tn
wreck; and. almost before | kneH
what | was about, l told the Who'll
story of my uncle's gift and my dis
appointment. He seemed quite amuse
at the recital, and then told me that h
himself was just going to Cliff Cour'
Sir Walters demesne, and would hav
great pleasure in driving me there.
was not hard to persuade, and afte
he had helped me to place the remain
of my bicycle carefully behind tn
hedge. off we started, passing on tn
road the doctor and his guests.
after all it was I who got the frs
glimpse of the beautiful court, an