The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1897-11-13

luctantly give up all idea OF joining me
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 jealousy guarded from
intrusion. Sir Walter had died six
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. Well, after
mother had succeeded in convincing me
of her inability to get me even second
hand mount, Uncle Thomas had unex-
pectedly chimed in by saying: "Well,
Kathie, if you don't mind having very
frst-class bike. I'll 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 wished he
had bought himself 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-
bic, and at the time appointed / started,
watched from the gate by my evidently
admiring uncle. Creak, creak. went the
old ramshackle. It was awful! What
should 1 do when joined the others,
every one of whom owned first-class
mount? Should I turn back and pre-
tend that had spill? Oh, there was
no pretense required, for, giving an
extra groan, my mount collapsed and it
and I rolled over into the dust below.
When 1 picked myself up found the
rim off and the spokes all twisted and
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, 1 could not but rejoice at my es-
cape from the criticisms of Florrie and
her friends.
Still, there was no use hurrying;
the day was lovely. So, dragging my
wheel to shady bank, sat down
and began to make daisy chain, and
had almost completed it when gig
drove rapidly round the corner. was
on the wrong side of the road, and
right in its track. 1t took the driver
all his time to pull up to escape driv-
ing over me, and jumping quickly to
my feet tried to get my unfortunate
bike out of the way, but it was use
less; it's ruin was complete. Quickly
descending, the driver showed great
concern at what he called his stupid
ity, but I only laughed, and informed
him that he had only completed the
wreck; and, almost before 1 knew
what was about. told the whole
story of my uncle's gift and my dis
appointment. He seemed quite amused
at the recital, and then told me that he
himself was just going to Cliff Court,
Sir Walters demesne, and would have
great pleasure in driving me there. /
was not hard to persuade, and after
he had helped me to place-the remains
of my bicycle carefully behind the
hedge, off we started, passing on the
road the doctor and his guests. So
after all it was who got the first
glimpse of the beautiful court. and